National Educational Technology Plan

According to the U.S. Department of Education’s draft of the National Educational Technology Plan, Transforming American Education: Leaning Powered by Technology, Retrieved March 6, 2011, from Government of the United States, Education Web site: http://www.ed.gov/sites/default/files/NETP-2010-final-report.pdf, the United States eduation is the key to America’s enonomic growth and prospertity and to our ability to compete in the global economy. To that end the report clearly defines two goals to be reached by 2020:
§ To raise the proportion of college graduates from where it now stands (39%) so that 60% of our population holds a 2-year or 4-year degree.
§ To close the achievement gap so that all students – regardless of race, income, or neighborhood – graduate from high scool ready to succeed in college and careers.
These goals are made attainable through five key components of the plan: Learning, Assessment, Teaching, Infrastructure, and Productivity. Each key component supports the achievement of the goals of the program as well as the recommendations within each component. Learning is described as “engaging and empowering” for all 21st century learners where state of the art technology is an integral part of the process. The national plan also addresses the vital role that assessment plays in the achievement of our national education goals. It calls for the use of improved technology to assess strengths and weaknesses and arm ourselves with the data that matters in order to make the wisest decision regarding the improvement instruction and pedagogy in order to improve student achievement. Connected teaching is the primary issue addressed in the teaching component. The plan envisions a community of connected educators who rely on each other for data and analytic tools and the appropriate resources that will allow them to address the needs gleaned from those data. Infrastrure and productivity both attend to the need to leverage technology in the most effective and efficient ways possible so that all resources – economic, human, material – are used to ensure that students receive the greatest benefit possible.