INFORMATIONAL LETTER:   7

 

POLICY CODE:   IJND

 

TO:                 Superintendents of Schools

 

FROM:               J. Duke Albanese, Commissioner

 

DATE:             July 26, 2002

 

SUBJECT:      Technology Planning Guidelines

 

 

The following are the 2002 Maine Technology Planning Guidelines. These guidelines for Maine school administrative units have also been shared on listservs for technology coordinators and library media specialists.  

 

Technology plans should be sent to the Maine Department of Education for approval.  In addition to the name of your school administrative unit, please include a name and position, address, email address, and phone number in the contact information for your technology plan. One copy of your technology plan may be mailed to:

 

Sylvia K. Norton

Maine Department of Education

c/o Maine State Library

64 State House Station

Augusta, ME  04333

 

or, if the completed plan is part of your website,  you may reference the url in email to sylvia.k.norton@state.me.us. 

 

The 2002 Guidelines should be used for new technology plans, replacing expired ones, that have not been received by the Maine Department of Education or for new technology plans that that will expire by or after June 30, 2003.  If you have any questions on these guidelines, please contact Sylvia K. Norton at 1-800-322-8899.

 

 

 

Maine Technology Planning Guidelines  (July 2002)-  Final Draft 05/29/02

 

In the tradition of its antecedents, this set of planning guidelines seeks to provide Maine school administrative units districts with a technology planning tool that will lead them through the a process of planning for technology integration to a comprehensive and useful document that meets all of the requirements for state and federal technology programming.  It incorporates the previous technology planning guidelines with current E-Rate and Ed Tech guidance.

 

To be eligible for these programs, each Maine school district, LEA,administrative unit is required to file with the Department of Education a long range strategic educational technology plan, either as an LEA an SAU or within a consorticonsortium. a. Plans should cover three years of implementation.

 

Educational technology plans will be approved for the three 3 years described in the plan, ending June 30th of the third 3^rd year. A new plan must be submitted for approval prior to July 1 of the year in which the plan is intended to be implemented. Yearly revisions, when submitted and approved, will extend an existing plan for an additional year, but must be submitted before the final year of a plan.

 

For a Tech Plantechnology plan to be approved, the following requirements must bemust be included, with each section clearly identified and in this order:

 

1.  Community and Parental Iinvolvement – Involve a broad representation of the school community in the planning process.  Include a description of how the technology will be used effectively to promote community and parental involvement and increase communication with parents, including a description of how parents will be informed about the technology and its proper use.

 

2.  Vision  - Establish a vision statement linking the tools of technology with areas such as curriculum content, instructional practices, professional development strategies, and enhanced services. (If you have already established a school or district-wide vision statement you may use it rather than establishing a separate statement, so as long as it encompasses the requirements above.)

 

3. Goals – Articulate specific goals, aligned with the Maine Learning Results, for using advanced technology to improve student academic achievement.

 

4. Identify Necessary Technology – Include a technology assessment.  Gather information about technology currently in use so that what will be needed to meet new goals can be determined.  (Iinclude a list of the equipment and telecommunication services that are that are necessary to reach the goals).

 

5.  Collaboration with Aadult Lliteracy Sservice Pproviders – Describe how the program will be developed, where applicable, in collaboration with adult literacy service providers.

 

6. Strategies for iImproving Aacademic Aachievement and Tteacher Eeffectiveness – Describe how funds, specifically Ed Tech funds wheren applicable, will be used to improve academic achievement, including the technology literacy of all students attending schools served by the SAULEA; and describe how funds expended will improve the capacity of all teachers in schools served by the SAULEA to integrate technology effectively into curriculaum and instruction.

 

7.  Integration of Ttechnology with Ccurricula, Iinstruction, and Aassessment – Describe how technology (including software and electronically delivered learning materials) will be integrated into curricula, instruction, and assessment and include a timeline for this integration.

 

8. Technology Ttype and Ccosts, and Ccoordination with Ffunding Rresources –   Develop a step-by-step action plan, with timeline, whichthat includes goals, activities, required hardware and software, costs, and funding sources. Describe the type and costs of technology to be acquired and how it fits within the current structure (use the list developed in the technology assessment in # 4, above.).  Designate sources of funding, specifically Ed Tech funds, E-Rate funds, and coordination with funds from other Federal programs, and state and local sources , that support technology acquisition and integration. (The example below is available as an( Excel document for an optional template).

 

TECHNOLOGY TYPE, COST, AND FUNDING SOURCE
GOALS	ACTIVITIES	HARDWARE/SOFTWARE	COSTS	FUNDING SOURCE

 

 See template provided for this activity.)

 

9.  Supporting Rresources – Describe the supporting resources such as services, software, other electronically delivered learning materials, and print resources that will be acquired to ensure successful and effective uses of technology.

 

10. Steps to Iincrease Aaccessibility – Describe the steps being taken to ensure that all students and teachers have increased access to technology.  The description must include how Ed Tech funds, if applicable, will be used to help students in high-poverty and high-needs schools, or in schools identified for improvement or corrective action under Ssection 1116 of Title I; and how the steps taken will ensure that teachers are prepared to integrate technology effectively into curricula and instruction.

 

11.  Promotion of Various Ccurricula and Tteaching Sstrategies that Iintegrate Ttechnology – Describe how various curricula and teaching strategies that integrate technology effectively into the general curriculuma and instruction will be identified and promoted based on a review of relevant research, and promoted to leading to improvements in student academic achievement.

 

12.  Professional Ddevelopment – Describe how ongoing, sustained professional development for teachers, principals, administrators, and school library media personnel will be provided to further the effective use of technology in the classroom andor library media center.

 

13. Innovative Ddelivery Sstrategies – Articulate Describe how the development and use of innovative strategies for the delivery of specialized or rigorous courses and curricula through the use of technology, including distance-learning technologies, will be encouraged, particularly in areas that would not otherwise have access to such courses or curricula due to geographical distances or insufficient resources.

 

14. Accountability Mmeasures – Describe the process and accountability measures which will be used to evaluate the extent to which the plan activities are effective in integrating technology into curriculuma and instruction, increasing the ability of teachers to teach, and enabling students to reach Maine’s Learning Results.