Join the Campaign! Tweet and Blog for Ed Tech May 12

Funding for Classroom Technology is in jeopardy!  Join ISTE members and education technology advocates from across the country for a day of blogging and tweeting in support of 21^st century learning.

President Obama’s budget provides no funding for education technology.  The Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) program, which was funded at $100 million in 2010, is rolled into a the new program “Effective Teaching and Learning for a Complete Education.”
Without funds specifically set aside to pay for education technology the administration’s messaging about the importance of technology for classroom teaching and learning rings hollow. If education technology is so important, why has the proposed 2011 budget eliminated funding for the only dedicated ed tech funding program?

Although the President has recommended to eliminate funding for EETT, Congress does not have to agree with this recommendation.  ISTE is urging congress to fund education technology at at $500 million for next year. To get this issue on congress’ agenda we need to tell  policymakers that we are not going to take the loss of EETT quietly.

On Wednesday, May 12 we are going to flood the Web with messages in support of funding for education technology. We’ll provide some Twitter messages to get you started, but we’re asking for a major effort from all the ed tech bloggers, tweeters, Facebookers and Ning-regulars out there to write in support of dedicated federal funding for education technology.

Keep watching ISTE Connects for information on how you can help secure $500 million for ed tech in 2011. Together we can make our voices heard!

http://www.isteconnects.org/2010/05/06/join-the-campaign-tweet-and-blog-for-ed-tech-may-12/

Get the Grant!

One of my largest tasks as a researcher at Atomic Learning is keeping up to date on education funding. Regardless of the state or type of school, the problem is always the same: lack of funding! This carries through from elementary schools to universities. One solution to the woes of funding cuts is competitive grant writing. There seem to be an endless supply of grants for educators, but completing a proposal is a scary process. Grant writing is a lot of work and a bit of an intimidating process.

Last week, Inside Higher Ed posted the blog “You Can Get the Grant” by Mary W. Walters.

Motivational gurus encouraging us in the use of positive self-talk have
become so commonplace that their entreaties can begin to sound ridiculous: from
curing our own diseases to making ourselves millionaires before we’re 40 to
climbing Mount Everest, they insist that if we only set our minds to it, we can
make our every dream come true.

While the attainment of grandiose objectives may appear to many of us
to be beyond the power of self-inflicted brain-washing, there is a nugget of
truth in all the hype. A positive attitude can most certainly contribute to the
achievement of smaller goals — such as writing a funding application.

If you are considering pulling together a grant proposal, I highly recommend the article by Ms. Walters. Another resource is the Atomic Learning eBook Grant Writing Tips and Tricks. If you are writing a grant for Atomic Learning products, please know we are always here to help you. Our sales team understands the funding struggles facing each organization and will be more than happy to help guide you in the process.

Some good news in a bad economy: Stimulus aided teachers, laborers

MSNBC.com:

But based on preliminary information obtained by The Associated Press from a handful of states, teachers appear to have benefited most from early spending. That’s because the stimulus sent billions of dollars to help stabilize state budgets, sparing what officials said would have teacher layoffs.

In California, the stimulus was credited with saving or creating 62,000 jobs in public schools and state universities. Utah reported saving about 2,600 teaching jobs. In both states, education jobs represented about two-thirds of the total stimulus job number. Missouri reported more than 8,500 school jobs, Minnesota more than 5,900. In Michigan, where officials said 19,500 jobs have been saved or created, three out of four were in education.

Read more

Turning Around the Nation's Lowest-Achieving Public Schools

This morning the U.S. Department announced draft requirements for Title I School Improvement grants. The $3.5 billion in funding are targeted at low performing Title I schools. Today starts a thirty-day comment period prior to the grants being issued to the states. When the states receive the funding, they will be issuing grants to local education agencies to foster change in schools which need the most help.

To learn more about the requirements, check out the Department of Education website. When the formal requirements are announced, be sure to check your state’s education website for more information on how you can use those funds to transform your school.

Directed funding may change the way technology is used in the classroom

The Wall Street Journal reports that President Obama has restored $650 Million in funding to the NCLB program over two years, bringing totals nearly to 2002 levels. This money must be applied to technology in the classroom, and provides a bright spot in otherwise tough economic climates.

Many districts receiving these funds are looking beyond simply equipping classrooms with the latest gadgetry, such as Smart Boards and video equipment, in favor of rethinking the way education is delivered. In some tech-equipped schools, teachers are playing a less-dominant role in the classroom, group work and problem-solving are emphasized, and technology is infused into every lesson, whether that means dissecting a frog with a software program or predicting the weather using real-time information.

Read more.