My youngest daughter works in a large advertising firm in New York City and focuses on 'pitching' interactive digital media campaigns to her clients. As a 36-year veteran of public education, I have never considered how our positions as educational leaders coincide with her marketing world. In reflecting on leadership for a 1:1 environment, there is no question of that correlation!

It is critical to begin with a vision of what we need for the future, and then to involve others in discussion on why this is important, what we aim to accomplish, and how we plan to get there so that the vision becomes truly shared. We need to engage our community including educators, parents, business leaders, and students in the conversation so we are all moving together in the same direction, even when we hit some snags along the way. What difference do we believe 1:1 learning environments will make in the lives of our students? What are our needs? Who is our audience? Why are we making this investment and how do we sustain it? How do we measure and communicate our successes?

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In 2011, the state of Huntsville City Schools was in stark contrast to its high-tech surroundings.  Curriculum and assessment were paper-based, and 80% of the 10,000 computers in place to serve 23,000 students were more than five years old, making them obsolete.  Th computers, mainly used for drill and skill exercises in the back of the classroom were a patchwork mix of donations and purchases that were expensive and difficult to maintain with some operating systems that were no longer supported.

 None of the schools had institutional-grade wireless; instead, access was provided by a mix of systems installed by PTAs or bought at retail stores, which meant security was wide open.  The schools could not handle heavy bandwidth loads, had no file sharing for collaboration, and a 20-year-old email system that did not allow for checking messages from home.  Huntsville developed a plan to tab E-Rate funding, to reallocate print textbook spending and to generate cost savings by ending support of out-of-date technology. 

With an annual budget of $230 million, Huntsville was able to identify $4 million per year to lease computers and $3 million per year for the new curriculum.  Huntsville City Schools' move to an all-digital learning environment reflects 18 months of research, implementation and measurement.  The resulting paradigm shift has created an educational ripple effect, impacting everyone - from parents of preschoolers to post-graduate teacher certification administrators.

To learn more about Huntsville's experience, click HERE!

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The Project RED research study on the effectiveness of large scale technology initiatives provides some very important data. 

• What drives learning improvements and cost savings with technology?
• The financial impact of technology on budgets
• The impact of continuous access to a computing device by every student

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