EdTech Plan for K-12 Public Schools in Washington State
National EdTech Plan
US Dept. of Education’s Educational Technology Plan
Contact Information
Find the 2016 update to the state educational technology plan and an index to the original plan published here in 2009. We outline the current state of technology integration across Washington’s K-12 public schools and describe the challenges, opportunities, and emerging issues that face educators as the pressure to deliver a 21st-century education meets the tough realities of funding, shifting demographics, and a regulatory environment responding to a new wave of education reform.
2016 Update – Washington State Educational Technology Plan
The Educational Technology Department at OSPI (EdTech) is involved with a wide variety of programs and projects that support technology integration across Washington state.
E-rate | State Initiatives | EdTech Assessments | Digital Citizenship | Open Education Resources
The rise of data-driven instruction and monitoring, and the call for critical thinking skills, collaborative scholarship and creative, project-based learning intensifies the need for technology-enriched instruction across districts large and small.
- Transition to a Technology-enriched Teaching & Learning Environment
- Three Strategies for 21st Century Teaching & Learning
- Expertise to Support Technology-enriched Teaching & Learning
2009 Education Technology Plan for K-12 Public Schools in Washington State
Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF). As of March 2022, the federal government has funded 95% ($101,496,855) of Washington State school districts requested ECF applications. OSPI's EdTech team has worked hard to support districts with navigating the application process.
E-rate.
State Initiatives. EdTech is integral to the state’s online testing initiative, which includes the Smarter Balanced Assessments (SBA) as well as the English Language Proficiency Assessment (ELPA21). Ongoing technical, communication and logistics support, as well as data review and analysis by EdTech staff, are critical to its successful implementation.
Educational Technology Assessments. OSPI must report the number of school districts that use the OSPI-developed assessments for educational technology (RCW 28A.655.075). This assessment is currently underway and will be updated upon completion.
Digital Citizenship. Substitute Senate Bill 6273, passed by the 2016 Washington legislature, directs OSPI to develop best practices and recommendations for instruction in digital citizenship, internet safety, and media literacy, and report to the appropriate committees of the legislature, in accordance with RCW 43.01.036, on strategies to implement the best practices and recommendations statewide by December 1, 2016. The best practices and recommendations must be developed in consultation with an advisory committee as specified in (b) of this subsection. Best practices and recommendations must include instruction that provides guidance about thoughtful, safe, and strategic uses of online and other media resources, and education on how to apply critical thinking skills when consuming and producing information. Recommendations produced by the committee may include, but are not limited to:
- Revisions to the state learning standards for educational technology;
- Revisions to the WSSDA model policy and procedures on electronic resources and internet safety;
- School district processes necessary to develop customized district policies and procedures on electronic resources and internet safety;
- Best practices, resources, and models for instruction in digital citizenship, internet safety, and media literacy; and
- Strategies that will support school districts in the implementation of best practices and recommendations.
Resources from the work will be posted on the Washington state OER Commons Hub.
Washington State’s Transition to Technology-enriched Teaching & Learning Environment
The rise of data-driven instruction and monitoring, and the call for critical thinking skills, collaborative scholarship and creative, project-based learning intensifies the need for technology integration across districts large and small.
The K–12 system will find it increasingly difficult to graduate college- and career-ready students without significant attention paid to technology literacy. As with any subject, the need to build knowledge and skills begins in the elementary grades and continues into a student’s senior year.
As well, the pressure is on to build and sustain an effective teaching force skilled enough to work with online instructional and assessment products, and able to differentiate content within learning environments of growing size and diversity.
Three Strategies for 21st Century Teaching & Learning
In the Educational Technology Plan for K–12 Public Schools in Washington State, we presented timely strategies based on clear goals and the direction of state lawmakers.
- Establish a sustainable funding system for technology integration across Washington State public schools.
- Develop instructional resources and assessments that help teachers to integrate the standards for educational technology into K–12 core subject areas.
- Expand support for technology integration: policy development, direct technical assistance for technology initiatives, and the necessary professional development that trains teachers to enrich standards-based curricula with instructional technologies.
As a whole, these strategies were designed to drive the state of teaching and learning in Washington toward its greater goal: the realization of a 21st-century learning environment for every student who enrolls in a Washington State K–12 public school. Although much has been accomplished, funding reductions over the past biennium have diminished the state’s ability to support the development of learning environments equal to these tasks:
- Widespread, classroom-ready learning technologies that enable fast access to differentiated content.
- Teaching capacity to integrate technology, and create rich visualizations of formative data for instruction and assessment.
Expertise to Support Technology-enriched Teaching & Learning
The strong foundation of expertise and ready, high-quality program content remains at the state level. Many of the goals of the 2009 Educational Technology Plan for K–12 Public Schools in Washington State have been realized:
- Washington has a sustainable funding mechanism in place today for technology integration across all Washington State public schools if the Legislature fully funds RCW 28A.150.210, Section 2, as amended by SSB 5392. This legislation adopted a prototype school funding model that makes it possible to equip every classroom with industry-standard technology and, ultimately, every student with a computing device. Without full funding, though, the adequacy of classroom technology remains in jeopardy for all but the most affluent districts.
- EdTech at OSPI has developed a comprehensive suite of assessments for K–12, which are well guided, easy to use, and come equipped with a comprehensive inventory of free and low-cost digital resources. These assessments integrate the Common Core State Standards and model elements of the performance task component present in the Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA) system.
However, the ability to expand professional development programs that promote technology integration as support for learner-centered instruction has stalled with reductions in funding. The need remains to create sustainable sources of funding that make it possible to continue the regional delivery of these models.