Barbara Means, senior researcher with the Center for Technology in Learning, Menlo Park, Calif., acknowledges that a centralized school system offers advantages, including economies of scale. Giving schools the opportunity to develop their own technology programs, consistent with their achievement goals, is important, she says. Louis Gomez, co-director of the Center for Learning Technologies in Urban Schools at Northwestern University, also sees value in local control. To be successful, schools have to think seriously about what technology means to them and how they'll use it effectively, he says. The answers will be different for every school, regardless of the district, he adds.
Schools face common challenges, though.
The Illinois State Board of Education requires all school districts to submit technology plans to receive grants and supplemental state and federal funding for technology. Given the number and diversity of schools in Chicago, the state also requires each Chicago school to submit its own technology plan. Although some schools with similar interests or common external partners have been allowed to submit group plans, most have submitted, or are working to submit, individual plans. Few doubt the benefit of a technology plan that's clearly aligned with a school's curriculum and goals. However, most schools lack the expertise to develop them, many educators report.