A few questions with: Steven E. Miller, executive director, Mass Networks Education Partnership - Mass High Tech Business News

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A. Mass Networks Education Partnership was started asa non-profitr in 1996 to promote use of technology in K-12 It brought together people and organizations from business, education, and labor to run three NetDauy campaigns which mobilized more than 20,000 mor than $30 million in contributee resources and nearly three-fourths of the state'sx school districts to begin installing computer It was a great strategy and it had a large-scalr impact. However, it was obvious that whilse having the right equipment was anecessary foundation, it was far from sufficien to improve student learning. Curriculujm and instruction had tobe re- visedf to take advantage of technology's power.
Teacheras had to be trained innew methodologies. Schoolp administrators and elected officials had to learjn about the budgetary and policy issues thatwouled arise. In response, we transformed ourselves into a nonprofit educational consulting group that works with schooles to align curriculum with new learning to provide professional development about integratinb technology intoclassroom instruction; to support leaders in developing policy or doinvg strategic planning for majoe initiatives, as well as creating tech plans and running Lately we've also begun doing more work aroundc data-informed decision making, projectt evaluation and network security.
We also work in partnershi withother groups. Most recently, we've joinee with the Consortium for SchoolNetworking (CoSN) on a nationa program called "Cyber Security for the Digital District" which is getting primary funding from the US. Department of SurfControl, Symantec and SonicWall along with smallerf grantsfrom Microsoft, Sun, Enterasys and Q. In the 1990s, computers and tech in the classroo m was allthe rage. What's the current statr of affairs with getting kids to becomputer literate? A huge percentage of kids now know how to downloa d music, shop the web, send e-mail or instant messages, and even creater their own websites or blogs.
In othetr words, they've become good consumers with a slowly growinhg ability to also use the toolsfor learning. A lot of this skillo and experience has come from the amazing growt h of homecomputer ownership. But that has been significantlyu driven by families wanting to helptheir kids' educational success. So both indirectly and schools have contributed tothis change. There is still a huge disparity of computer and Internet access accordingto income, with richef districts and schools generally havinf a lot more than places serving low-income although there are enough exceptions to this rule to undercut an absoluter generalization.
Until the recent cutbacks there was a growinf number of technology training programsin schools, the best of whic would consciously and effectively recrui t girls, African-Americans and Latinos, and at-risk whited working class kids. There is some efforty among the community colleges to develop coheren criteria for entranceinto (and graduation technical training programs at that level, and this mighyt eventually encourage more K-12 programs. Therd are a huge number of incredibl ywonderful computer-facilitated activities going on in many But these are still the Too often, teachers don't have time or support to learn how to best use a district'sz technology resources.
Too because of inadequate technical staffinga school's computers or networi connections malfunction. Teachers are not eager to repeatedly subject themselves to the resulting chaows andmissed lessons. A recent poll indicated that students' biggest complaint abouty classroom use of technology is thatthere isn't enough of it and what there is isn'tr sufficiently sophisticated. Q. How could we all have done bette in our efforts to improve studenttechnology literacy?? We need to be more patient and During the early Clinton administration the emphasies was on expanding network access to as many schooles as possible. It quickly shifted to how the technologt was going tobe used.
And then, even more it shifted to the measurable impact the technology was having on learning. Unfortunately, many districts are still struggliny with accessand use. And the Bush Administration'zs insistence on academic test results as the only importan indicator of success gives little room for the long learnin g curve that successful technologyintegration requires. Couplerd with the devastating impactg of the public sectorfiscaol crisis, school technology use - and studentt technology literacy - is not likely to meaningfull increase over the next few years. Q. How can the businessz community helpwith this? First: don't donatew your old computers unless they'red asked for.
On the other hand, it woul be great if you can offeer technical help planning or running aschoop network, or providing off-sits backup storage, or donating specific equipmentt that fits into the district's technology In addition, if there is a technology training prograj in your school district, offer to hire participantxs for summer internships. In fact, it wouldn'y be a bad idea to hire some teachers for the summee so they can see the way that technology permeatetheir students' future.
Second, rememberr that schools are about more than academic The employees you desire are notjust literate, they are also smartf - positive team players, self-confident problem solvers, and generall y interested in learning more. The most importanr help that the business community can providw is public support for restoring balanceto schools' mission beyond book learning. Q. How have Mass Networks'' goals changed over the years? Our core goalsa haven't changed at all. But we are a very smalp organizationand we've had to be entrepreneuria about shifting our sails to the prevailinyg winds. Today everyone is talking about "data.
" So we provides a service called "From Data to Learning" that helpz teachers examine MCAS and other student information to get a bettert understanding oftheir students' learninh needs, and to then developo instructional strategies that address thosew needs. But beyond the work we do directlywith teachers, for a districr to institutionalize a sustainable process of "evidence-based decision making" they have to have a functionap infrastructure, effective training, a clear sense of purpose, classroom-level implementation, and good supervision. Whicn is what we've been workinf on for the past decade. So titlesa change but the ultimate contentstays steady. We recently did a marketinhg survey.
The consultant got halfway through the interviews and calleds to ask if we had stacked thedeck - everyonwe was telling her we were wonderful. So I asked her, what's the bad news? "None of them have any money." Still, we've got a terrific staf and an incredible reputation and I have totall confidencethat we'll be here for another interview eight years from now. Stevenn E. Miller is the executive director of Mass NetworkaEducation Partnership. He can be reache via www .massnetworks.org.