 Minnesota
Committed to Providing Technology to All Students
By Bruce H. Johnson, Commissioner, Minnesota Department of
Children, Families, and Learning
Information runs the world. Information drives the global economy.
Data, voices and images flow under the ground and through the air.
Information on world events, business developments and scientific
advances is available almost on demand. Clearly, those who are able to
obtain high quality information first will have the edge. Minnesota's
students will need this edge to compete and succeed in an
information-driven marketplace and society. The Governor and Legislature
teamed up in the 1996 legislative session to allocate more than $12
million to help provide Minnesota students with the information
technologies they need today.
Information technologies bring the world into the classroom by
allowing students to interact with other students in their community,
state, nation and world. Information technologies have the potential for
being a constant and convenient electronic connector that can join the
lives and minds of students, teachers, employers and parents. Our goal
is to make learning a shared, community-based activity.
There are few places as information-intensive as a school. Learning
requires managing information and giving it meaning. But today, few
schools have outside telephone lines in the classroom let alone high
powered computers connected to international networks like the Internet.
As one student said, "It's the 1950's in the classroom and the 1990's in
the hallway." Schools simply must invest in the technology
infrastructure, hardware, and software that will increase learning
productivity and provide a rich stream of information into the
classroom. Currently, the very places where students should be learning
how to use and manage information provide little access to the high
powered tools of the information age.
 Some
schools have invested heavily in information technologies and provide a
high degree of access for students and teachers. These schools can
access information from a variety of local, state and global networks;
they have the tools to provide learning tailored to individual learning
styles. They can provide teachers with efficient and effective means to
manage student information and develop curriculum based on the latest
research. These schools are ready to operate within and prepare students
for the information-intensive society, workplace and world.
There is a clear need to provide a full range of information
technologies to all of Minnesota's elementary, middle, and secondary
schools. Today's students are tomorrow's workers and community members.
They need to understand the possibilities for managing and using
information technologies to meet their work, community, and personal
needs. Employers want technology-literate workers and parents want their
children to be prepared for postsecondary education and highly skilled
work. The longer schools wait to provide their students with access, the
more isolated they will become from the information revolution that is
transforming American business, industry, and society.
The good news is that most of Minnesota's schools are ready to
provide information technologies. The Governor and Legislature teamed up
during the 1996 legislative session to help schools and students take
advantage of the information revolution by providing more than $12
million in funding for information technologies. These funds will help
the Minnesota Department of Children, Families, and Learning to develop
the state's technology infrastructure and to provide hardware, software
and information planning around the state so that technology can be
applied in all classrooms. Our eventual goal is to connect students,
parents, teachers, community members and others around the state,
nation, and world in a larger learning community that provides
information tailored to students' learning needs.
 Projects
funded to help complete Minnesota's technology infrastructure for
schools:
Education Technology Improvement Clearinghouse
The Legislature allocated $250,000 to establish a grant program to
create regional technology clearinghouses to refurbish, upgrade and
distribute donated computers to schools. These clearinghouses will be
accepting donated computers before the 1996-97 school year begins and
will provide schools with the first refurbished computers before the
school year ends. This initiative will not only put refurbished
computers in the hands of students and teachers, it will also provide
students the opportunity to learn technical skills by involving them in
the actual refurbishing and program management processes.
School District Telecommunication Grant
This initiative will open the Learning Network of Minnesota, a
statewide telecommunications highway linking K-12 schools, public
libraries, and postsecondary education, to non-public schools. The
network provides access to distance-learning opportunities and
information resources such as the Internet for all of Minnesota's
students. Non-public schools will, however, have to pay for the cost of
connecting to this highway.
Telecommunications Access Grants
An additional $5 million was added to the Fiscal Year 1997
appropriation for a total of $15.5 million over the biennium to connect
school districts and regional public library systems to the Learning
Network of Minnesota. This will connect most school districts and
libraries to Internet, interactive television and data movement
services. School districts have voluntarily entered into nine regional
clusters to facilitate building this telecommunications highway.
Rates for Special Service to Schools
This allows telephone and telecommunications companies to provide
free or reduced services to schools or libraries in their area. The
special service rates improve schools' ability to competitively bid for
telephone and telecommunications services. It also makes it easier for
schools to collaborate with local telephone and telecommunications
services providers.
Cooperative Purchasing
The Department of Children, Families, and Learning will work with the
Department of Administration to establish direct statewide contracts
with hardware and software manufacturers. These contracts will combine
the purchasing power of schools, libraries and other state agencies to
reduce the of cost of video, and computer hardware and software. The
goal of this initiative is to purchase newer technology more quickly and
at a lower cost.
Programs funded to increase the application of information
technologies in Minnesota's schools:
Technical Assistance
This requires the Minnesota Department of Children, Families, and
Learning to work with school districts, service cooperatives, TIES,
education districts, higher education, public libraries, and other
governmental agencies to develop a technology planning process that
helps local school districts to develop and implement a technology plan.
The Department will meet with representatives from each of the nine
Telecommunications Access Grant Clusters, geographic regions
collaborating to implement information technologies, to develop
guidelines and standards for technology planning. These standards will
then be shared with schools to help develop their own technology plans.
After-School Programs
One million dollars has been allocated to provide grants to school
districts, private schools, nonprofit community organizations, public
housing agencies, and successful youth programs to use technology in
after-school programs. The aim is to encourage students to use their
free time after school to learn.
Advancement of Technology in Education
The Center for Applied Research and Education Improvement (CAREI) at
the University of Minnesota received $20,000 to publicize ways
telecommunications and computers can be used to enhance and support
learning. This information will be made available on the Internet and
updated regularly.
Technology Incentives Pilot Program
One school will be given a four-year levy authority to purchase each
ninth grader a lap-top computer and to build and maintain a network for
these computers. This program identifies model ways for students to use
information technologies to increase learning productivity.
Technology Integration Matching Grants
An additional $3.5 million was allocated for grants to school
districts that will provide training to help staff and students learn
how to use technology in the classroom and to purchase computer hardware
and software. These districts must match each $1 of state funds with $2
of local funds and must have a designated technology coordinator.
Technology Related Fund Balance Adjustment
School districts with positive fund balances will not receive aid or
levy reductions for general education revenues for fiscal year 1996.
These funds can be used to purchase information technologies for
schools. This initiative will supply about $1.3 million from general
education funds and a levy of $800,000.
Electronic Curriculum
A $750,000 allocation will create a pilot project for a group of
school districts to develop, implement and demonstrate how to use an
electronic curriculum library. This library must provide teachers with
curriculum aligned with the content standards of the graduation rule and
must include benchmarks to track student progress. The Environmental
Conservation Section of the Minneapolis Library will receive $50,000 for
technology investments and to expand environmentally related curriculum
on the Internet. An organization with a demonstrated ability to apply
computer hardware and software to reading improvement for at-risk
students will receive a $40,00 grant.
The new information technologies have enormous potential for
learning. If properly used, they can help teachers engage their students
in learning and enable students to experience the larger world without
leaving the classroom. Information technologies have the potential to
help teachers deal better with individual learning styles.
Technology can also help to meet the needs of special education
students. Assistive technology for students with special needs is
becoming increasingly affordable. Voice recognition systems, for
example, are decreasing in price as the technology improves and the user
base expands. This technology is easier to use, more accurate and costs
one-seventh of what it did four years ago. Voice recognition systems
replace labor-intensive keyboarding. Thus, the funds being spent for an
assistant to take dictation from a physically impaired student can now
be invested in other services. This can reduce costs for schools while
improving independence for students who can do their own work.
In order to weave information technologies into the curricular and
administrative fabric of schools, teachers and administrators need to
make a cultural shift. This requires patience and commitment. Teachers
need time and long term support to learn how to use and apply technology
to engage students in high level learning skills. This will require
intensive staff development up front as well as ongoing training. Most
network managers have come to learn that funds should be allocated
equally to staff development, hardware and software purchase, and
ongoing maintenance and support. The equipment must be put it place,
teachers need training to use it, and the equipment must be maintained
so it is reliable. New technology without focused ongoing professional
development is like no new technology at all.
It is easy to get excited about how technology will transform our
schools. However, technology alone is but a tool and can only help
people more effectively transform schools into organizations that
prepare students for the 21st century and beyond. Technology will not
and cannot take the place of sound decision making by parents, teachers,
administrators and school boards on curriculum, facilities, and other
school services. In fact, technology managed poorly could actually do
more harm than good. Used effectively, information technologies are
useful tools to help organize information and support sound planning
practices driven by high quality and current information.
The rate of technological advancement in industry and society will
continue to increase. Learning how to use and manage information
technologies has already become a basic skill in modern society.
Teachers and students need the tools and hands-on experience to learn
how to use information technologies to support learning goals. The
future success of students depends on their ability to manage the
information technologies of today to prepare them for success in society
and the workplace.
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