Technology Planning

This is a hot topic with school districts and it's a burdensome one to say the least. At some point, perhaps I'll address the larger debate of what a strong technology plan should look like. I have strong CIOs who believe that the technology plan should reflect the instructional goals of the district. I also have strong CIOs who insist that the technology plan should focus specifically on the technology components. I can't completely agree with one or disagree with another in this case.

Specific to this posting, I wanted to point out that Kentucky's technology planning requirements are very much in line with requirements that other states have related to their K-12 technology planning. A few quick examples:

Missouri has a tech plan approval checklist. It requires goals, strategies, action steps, funding sources, responsible parties and stakeholder communication. I would assume that all of these sound familiar to Kentucky readers.

In Oregon, I found a copy of a memo from several years ago informing school districts of the need to update their technology plans to meet criteria for E-Rate and Title II D funding.

Florida has a document detailing the essential components of a district technology plan. The titles of the sections are:

1. Mission and Vision
2. General Introduction/Background
3. Needs Assessment/Goals
4. Funding Plan
5. Technology Acquisition Plan
6. Access
7. User Support Plan
8. Staff Training Plan
9. Program Evaluation

Honestly, these are more than similar to the template supplied to Kentucky school districts. They are virtually identical.

I suppose that this was the point of this post - simply to underscore that these technology planning efforts are required and are not specific to our state. School districts across the country are dealing with similar planning efforts.