Program Context

The need for accountability in the purchase and utilization of educational technology has never been greater. Budget battles, calls to cut and even eliminate funding, efforts to dismantle innovative programs such as Virginia’s Instructional Technology Resource Teacher (ITRT) initiative - all stem from a lack of awareness of the criticality of technology integration in enhancing teaching and learning.

And with ever increasing competitiveness in the global marketplace, the stakes rise even higher. As reported in a recent survey of public attitudes in the United States, There is near universal agreement (99 percent) that teaching 21st century skills is important to our country’s future economic success.¹ Problem-solving, creativity, innovation, collaboration – these are the skills that are vital to our future. And technology enables them all.

In a review of the evolution in the use of technology in K-12 schools, a recent Technology Counts survey² noted that much progress had occurred over the past 10 years in improving schools’ access to technology, but that significant deficits remain, particularly in the area of teacher competency:

•	Only nineteen states (38%) require teachers to take technology coursework or testing as a condition of initial licensure.
•	Only nine states (18%) require teachers to demonstrate technology proficiency or take technology coursework for recertification.
•	Only seventeen states (34%) offer teachers professional or financial incentives for the use of technology (technology integration).

The survey concludes:

How states grapple with evolving demands for… educator competency…, and for improved integration of cutting-edge technology into instruction remain to be seen.³

The absence of adequate professional development, particularly in view of the rapid evolution of technology, leads to profound obsolescence of knowledge. For example, without adequate professional development over a teacher’s career:

•	Teachers with 15 or more years of experience would have missed the introduction and evolution of the World Wide Web.
•	Teachers with 5 or more years of experience would have all but missed the rise of Web 2.0 and Google; they could be described as existing in the era Before Google (B.G.).

According to estimates derived from U. S. Census Bureau data, almost half of all teachers have been teaching for 15 years or more, and 84% have taught for 5 years or more.⁴

Of course, many teachers and divisions provide for professional development even without standards-based requirements to do so. However, even among these forward thinking educators and schools, the implementation of suitable professional development is often inconsistent, leading to great variance in the knowledge and skills acquired across divisions.

Further, when such standards do exist, they are often outdated and inadequate to address the reality of technology-enhanced teaching and learning in the 21st Century. See the accompanying handout – Teacher and Technology– Teacher and Technology Timeline: The Context for Strategic Recertification for a closer look at this issue.⁵

1	http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/documents/p21_pollreport_2pg.pdf. Retrieved November 29, 2007.
2	http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2007/03/29/30dsr.h26.html. Retrieved February 11, 2008.
3	http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2007/03/29/30dsr.h26.html. Retrieved February 11, 2008.
4	http://www.census.gov/prod/2007pubs/08statab/educ.pdf. Table 241: Public Elementary and Secondary School Teachers—Selected Characteristics: 2004−2005. Retrieved February 10, 2008.
5	Teacher and Technology Timeline: The Context for Strategic Recertification. (2008). JMU Partnership for 21st Century Skills, Harrisonburg, VA: James Madison University.