In a letter sent to its members after Obama's speech, the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) said it has been "working closely with the Obama-Biden transition team and responding to many questions regarding costs of implementing technology-rich classrooms, including the hardware, software, content, professional development, and IT support."
The letter continued: "We have also been able to share data and research on why this will [not only] stimulate the economy, but also accelerate transformation in schools."
According to SETDA's calculations, it would cost about $11,695 to equip a single classroom with 21st-century technology. With an estimated 844,409 Title I-eligible classrooms that haven't been fully equipped, that works out to a cost of about $9.9 billion to outfit all of the nation's K-12 classrooms--or less than 2 percent of a stimulus package worth a total of $800 billion.
$11,695 seems like a great deal of money per classroom. I'm thinking some of our folks have outfitted a room for a fraction of this cost. The article mentions content, software, PD and IT support. I'm not sure how much all of that adds to the cost and it would be tough to quantify on a per-classroom basis. I think some of my districts were wondering if this might mean computer hardware and wireless network implementations. This article would suggest that it may be focused on other things, though I suppose one could argue that a notebook/tablet and wireless access are critical parts of a 21st-century classroom.
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