"Fifty years ago, high school students graduated knowing perhaps 75 percent of what they would need to know to be successful in the workplace, family, and community. Today, the estimate is that graduates of our schools leave knowing perhaps 2 percent of what they will need to know in the years ahead 98 percent is yet to come."1

Society has undergone a fundamental shift from an industrial economy to a knowledge economy. Schools based on the industrial model expect students to be compliant and dependent learners. In today's knowledge economy students must be empowered to become self-directed, interdependent and self-assessing learners. This shift requires a significant change in teaching and learning and technology is a vital tool for accomplishing this shift in teaching and learning.

In order to help students be successful in a knowledge economy:

1. Educational leaders must establish a vision for this transformed view of teaching and learning, and they must model this transformation in their own learning and work experiences.

2. Learners and their families must have equal access to tools that support their learning.

3. The locus of control for learning must shift from teacher directed to student directed learning.

4. Learners must master the information literacy skills to access, investigate, and apply information.

5. Every classroom in Connecticut must be connected to the statewide network with access to a digital resources and curriculum.

6. Learners must demonstrate their understandings and skills relative to measurable performance standards.

7. Technology must be a vital link among the staff, students, parents, and expanded community.

1 Barth, Learning By Heart, 2001

LEADERSHIP

Educational leaders must establish a vision for this transformed view of teaching and learning, and they must model this transformation in their own learning and work experiences.

Strong statewide leadership is critical to transforming teaching and learning. Leaders must articulate and co-ordinate a statewide vision for technology that is supported by sufficient resources.

Multiple state organizations and agencies must speak with a common voice and move with coordinated action.

What we need:

1. Dissemination, understanding, and acceptance of statewide vision

2. Predictable, sustainable, ongoing sources of funding

3. Statewide economies of scale

4. Rapid completion of Connecticut Education Network (CEN)

5. Action based research to identify and expand successful classroom practice

6. State Department of Education leadership in the transformation of teaching and learning that will:

7. Transform learning between and within disciplines

8. Co-ordinate work of divisions and bureaus

9. Establish technology as a priority for staff and resources

10. Remove boundaries in law, regulation, and practice

11. Model management practices and interactions with districts

Learners and their families must have equal access to tools that support their learning.

Access to and interaction with available technology resources for learning is fundamental to PreK 12 public education. All students and their families are entitled to this access regardless of school district and family economic status.

What we need:

1. Equal access to technology resources for learning

2. Implementation of a state plan for funding equitable access to schools and families and community partners

3. Equal opportunity for all students to develop and apply the identified information literacy skills

 TEACHER GROWTH and DEVELOPMENT

The locus of control for learning must shift from teacher directed to student directed learning.

Teachers must acquire and apply instructional competencies that utilize current and emerging technologies to enhance student-directed learning through the use of both current and emerging technologies. Educators must apply these skills to their own learning and that of their students.

What we need:

1. Dissemination of best practices that use technology to encourage self-directed learning

2. Dialogue and agreement among stakeholders regarding teacher preparation, certification, and induction processes

3. Identified demonstration sites of excellence

Learners must master the information literacy skills to access, investigate, and apply information.

Information literacy is a basic skill. Information is the new currency of our society. Everyone engaged in the education process must be able to find, filter, evaluate, retrieve, and utilize information as needed.

As technology evolves, content standards for teaching and learning must be continuously monitored, adjusted, and enhanced. All other aspects of the system (e.g., teacher certification, infrastructure) must be aligned.

What we need:

1. A comprehensive set of statewide information literacy standards

2. On-line opportunities for all learners to develop and master these standards

3. Alignment of standards with all aspects of the educational and economic development processes

4. Continuous review of instructional strategies, assessments, and on-going research and evaluation to reflect the best use of emerging technologies

 INFRASTRUCTURE and DIGITAL CONTENT

Every classroom in Connecticut must be connected to the statewide network with access to a digital resources and curriculum.

This statewide infrastructure must provide every school, district, and student with efficient and effective access to curriculum and methods of sharing information, data, and opportunities.

What we need:

1. A comprehensive statewide digital infrastructure and content that supports this vision of teaching and learning

2. Clearly defined roles and responsibilities among Technology Commission, DOIT, State Department of Education and Legislature

3. State funding to complete the infrastructure and digital content

EXPANDING LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

Learners must demonstrate their understandings and skills relative to measurable performance standards.

Technology resources expand the opportunities for learning that transcend the need for boundaries such as course, grade, and school levels.

All students must have the opportunity to enroll in on-line activities that match their learning needs and to participate in on-line assessment of their learning.

What we need:

1. District policy for granting credit for on-line learning

2. Infrastructure capacity in every school

3. Common standards and frameworks for assessing on-line learning

4. Content specific course equivalents for on-line learning linked to Connecticut standards and local exit criteria

5. Professional development for teachers to coach students participating in on-line learning

6. A statewide consortium to develop Connecticut based on-line courses for all learners

 COMMUNITY

Technology must be a vital link among the staff, students, parents, and expanded community.

Technology enables the sharing of information for the purposes of communication, understanding, accountability, and it reduces the boundaries that inhibit achievement. The broader community must have access to an interactive communication system with the schools.

Technology must be available to provide authentic learning opportunities by linking to other workforce professionals. The professional teaching community will benefit from the ability to share and develop together best practices, unit and lesson plans, and student work.

What we need:

1. Professional learning communities among teachers that allow them to share best practices, unit and lesson plans, and student work

2. Opportunities for students to engage in authentic learning opportunities that link them with other workforce professionals

3. A shared structure critical to information and services among constituents

4. Opportunities for parents to be connected to the school in support of student learning