Empowering the 21st Century Superintendent
"We have lots of good school
districts in our country. We have just a few great school districts.
Getting from good to great is a quantum leap. Technology plays such a
significant role in that." — Dr. John Morton, Superintendent, Newton (KS) Public Schools
Of all the challenges you face as a superintendent, technology
leadership may be the one that leaves you feeling the most unprepared,
uncertain and vulnerable.
You're not alone. Superintendents in districts of every size and
geographic region expressed similar sentiments about technology in
focus groups and one-on-one interviews with the Consortium for School
Networking (CoSN), the nation's premier voice for technology leadership
in K-12 education:
- Superintendents recognize
that technology is critically and increasingly important in education.
They embrace their leadership role as technology advocates who create
the vision and set the tone for technology use in their districts. At
the same time, many acknowledge that their own technology knowledge and
competencies aren't where they need to be.
- Superintendents
take pride in the promising technology practices in their districts –
but they also admit that effective, system-wide use of technology to
support student achievement remains an elusive goal for a variety of
reasons, ranging from inadequate infrastructure and funding to uneven
community support and educator capacity.
- Superintendents
are keenly aware that disparate deployments of new technologies could
divide schools between the haves and have-nots – and they worry that
their own districts and students could fall behind on their watch.
Hear
Dr. Chip Kimball, Superintendent of Lake Washington SD, WA, describe
the Empowering the 21st Century Superintendent initiative.