CoSN CTO Academy Project Director: Donna Williamson, donna.davis.williamson@gmail.com
CoSN staff contact: Jill Brown, MA, Ph.d., Director of Professional Learning, jbrown@cosn.org
The CTO Academy For K-12 Early Career and Aspiring CTOs is a program to address the needs of education technology leaders who are new (less than four full years) to their CTO or Technology Leadership position or aspiring CTOs and EdTech leaders currently working in a technology department. Participants will have the opportunity to develop edtech leadership skills including; managing diverse teams, leading a variety of projects simultaneously, and collaborating with a variety of stakeholders. Academy participants make a positive impact on student-centered and digital learning in their school district and enhance their career trajectory.
Scholarships may be available for EdTech Leaders from underrepresented populations in the education technology community. Please indicate in the application if you are interested.
This program was developed through public and private sector leaders, district CTOs and edtech leaders to address current professional development needs and thought partner support for aspiring and early-career CTO and EdTech leaders.
CoSN’s Early Career K-12 CTO Academy for Today's EdTech Leaders
Do you have - or know of - an early career CTO with less than 4 full years of experience? CoSN has a unique professional development opportunity for new technology directors - the Early Career K-12 CTO Academy. The year-long program builds a support system where new CTOs have access to resources and support that meet their unique needs. We also accept aspiring EdTech CTOs. Email Donna Williamson or Jill Brown for more information.
This blended learning model consists of:
- Mentorship – a thought partner/mentor to match your specific needs
- Two virtual events per month beginning in October that include deep dive discussions and practical activities
- Capstone project (select projects may be featured at the CoSN Conference)
- Private online community consisting of past and current cohort members and mentors
- Event at the CoSN Conference that will acknowledge participants' completion of the program
The content is aligned with CoSN's Framework of Essential Skills and to the immediate needs of an early career K-12 CTO. Topics includes but is not limited to the following:
- Leadership and Vision
- Finance and Budgeting
- Communications with an emphasis on soft skills
- Partnering with Curriculum and Learning
- Infrastructure
- Data Privacy and Security
The Deep Dive Discussions include but are not limited to the topics below:
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in EdTech
- Data Privacy Follow-up and AUP Policies and Enforcement
- Managing People: IT and HR (Motivation, Vision & Buy-in)
- Finance and ERATE
- Project Management
- Emerging Technologies
- Long Range Planning
- Technology Plans
- Cyber Security
CoSN’s Early Career K-12 CTO Academy prepares new technology directors with fewer than four full years of experience to:
- Lead the creation of a culture of innovation in their school district
- Build a Professional Learning Network (PLN) of edtech experts and other new CTOs through face-to-face and virtual meetings
- Understand best practices to build diverse teams that include under-represented populations in the edtech industry including African Americans, Latin, and Native Americans, Pacific-Islanders, and females
- Benefit from the experience of veteran tech and curriculum leaders in the areas of supporting student-centered learning, technology budgeting, technical support strategies, infrastructure, effective strategies for communications, and more
- Be part of discussions centered around new strategies for meeting the needs of diverse learners
- Improve the soft skills necessary to work effectively with others in the culture-specific to their school district
CoSN would like to welcome the 2023-2024 Cohort:
National Cohort | |||
Damien | Akelman | Rowan-Salisbury Schools | NC |
Ben | Allred | Cabarrus County Schools | NC |
Eric | Benedict | Madison Metropolitan School District | WI |
Rich | Chiuppi | East Prairie School District 73 | IL |
Leevell | Dansby III | Vestavia Hills City Schools | AL |
Maria | Dickerson | El Paso Independent School District | TX |
Emily | Dillard | Alexandria City Public Schools | VA |
Malik | Dulaney | Uplift Education | TX |
Carl | Eller | Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools | GA |
Ana | Estrada | Township High School District 214 | IL |
Charles | Franklin | I work in a K-12 school system | TX |
Shon | Goode | Chesterfield County Public Schools | VA |
Megan | Gretzinger | Clinton School District | MO |
Kelly | Grigg | Deer Park ISD | TX |
Shane | Grim | Spring Grove Area School District | PA |
Taneeka | Henderson | Harris County Department of Education | TX |
Josh | Hough | Broome-Tioga BOCES (South Central Regional Information Center) | NY |
Amy | Jackson | Arlington Public Schools | VA |
Bonnie | Johnson | K-12 | AZ |
Matthew | Kopishke | Maine Regional School Unit 40 | ME |
Brooke | Kopitzke | Madison Consolidated School Coorperation | IN |
Joslyn | Lear | Baltimore County Public Schools | MD |
Kiesha | LeRoux | Mountain Brook City Schools | AL |
Emily | Marshall | Vail School District | AZ |
Ashley | May | Spring Branch Independent School District | TX |
David | Ornelas | Northside ISD | TX |
Lauren | Owens | Agua Fria High School District (K-12 HS District in AZ) | AZ |
Taishan | Paschall | Bloom Education | Abu Dhabi |
Brian | Paulhamus | Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit (CSIU #16) | PA |
Kimberly | Rhodes | Savannah-Chatham Public Schools | GA |
Kimberly | Roberson | Prince George's County Public Schools | MD |
Julian | Robinson | Hickman Mills C-1 School District | MO |
Jahan | Rodriguez | Community Unit School District 300 | IL |
Kelly | Sain | Thompson School District | CO |
Trent | Schalk | Lisle CUSD 202 | IL |
Monica | Shrew | Public K-12 | TX |
Robin | Stout | Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD | TX |
Librado | Tena | K12 | TX |
Amy | Troutt | Washington Elementary School District | AZ |
Angel | Vales | Austin ISD | TX |
Sean | Walsh | Bremen SD228 | IL |
Seth | Wilkerson | Consolidated High School District 230 | IL |
Georgia Cohort | |||
Kevin | Adams | Bibb | GA |
Richard | Arenal-Mullen | Taliaferro | GA |
Starla | Barker | Tattnall | GA |
Tonya | Barrett | RESA Chattahoochee-Flint | GA |
Drake | Benton | Georgia Connections Academy | GA |
Jarrod | Brogdon | Colquitt | GA |
Tonja | Brunn | Savannah-Chatham | GA |
Lashawna | Colbert | Valdosta | GA |
Ana | Daughtry | Treutlen | GA |
Craig | Dinn | Newton | GA |
Lena | Dowdy | Mountain High School | GA |
Dustan | Fennell | Dublin | GA |
Terrence | Fields | Dougherty | GA |
Billy | Goodwin | Montgomery County | GA |
Dennis | Howell | Laurens | GA |
Andrea | Ingram | Sumter | GA |
Kristy | Johnson | Seminole | GA |
Jason | Malick | Effingham | GA |
Lindsey | Martin | Lowndes | GA |
Josh | Mattos | Bulloch | GA |
Carolyn | McCord | Richmond | GA |
Nathan | Medley | Polk | GA |
Jessica | Miller | Marion | GA |
Bruce | Montgomery | Gainesville | GA |
Jason | Morris | Berrien | GA |
Will | Nagaj | Butts | GA |
Donovan | Pagel | Northwest | GA |
Becky | Purcell | Catoosa | GA |
Leo | Satara | Foothills Schools Central Office Athens | GA |
Thomas | Schie | Rockdale | GA |
Connor | Stanley | Toombs | GA |
Leeza | Streetman | Dooly | GA |
Lorenzo | Watts | Washington | GA |
Carmen | Wilson | Crawford | GA |
Clint | Winter | Elbert | GA |
Amy | Zock | Decatur County Schools | GA |
New York Cohort | |||
Kari | Auer | NYC Department of Education | NY |
Mike | Barbieri | GST BOCES | NY |
Melissa | Boucher | MADISON-ONEIDA BOCES | NY |
Heather | Buff | SKANEATELES CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT | NY |
Diane | Bush | Altmar-Parish-Williamstown CSD | NY |
Catherine | Cahill | LYNCOURT UNION FREE SCHOOL DISTRICT | NY |
Tara | Carrozza | NYC Public Schools, Digital Learning and Innovation (DLI), Division of Teaching and Learning | NY |
Reasat | Chowdhury | New York City Public Schools - Central Division | NY |
Jason | Clark | NORTH SYRACUSE CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT | NY |
Candace | Fitzgerald | Mexico Academy & CSD | NY |
Avery | Forcier-Rodabaugh | GST BOCES RIC | NY |
Eric | Hubbard | Marcellus Central School District | NY |
Dani | Kennis | Clarkstown Central School District | NY |
Dr. Lisa | Mars | NEW YORK CITY GEOGRAPHIC DISTRICT # 1 | NY |
Jazlyn | Mena | New York City Public Schools - Central Division | NY |
Mike | Olson | Chatham CSD | NY |
Jacob | Resnick | BT BOCES | NY |
Adam | Schoenbart | CHAPPAQUA CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT | NY |
Andrea | Tamarazio | LACKAWANNA CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT | NY |
Heidi | Van Woert | GST BOCES RIC | NY |
Alana | Winnick | POCANTICO HILLS CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT | NY |
Congratulations to CoSN's 2022-2023 Past Cohort!
Kevin | Adams | Chief Information Officer | Bibb County School District | Macon | GA |
Pedro | Agosto | CIO | Baltimore County Public Schools | Towson | MD |
Emmanuel | Ajanma | Director of Technology | Barre Unified Union School District | Barre | Vermont |
Alex | Anstine | Assistant Director of Technology | Raytown Quality Schools | Raytown | Missouri |
Chuck | Broyles | I.T. Operations Administrator | Greeneville City Schools | Greeneville | TN |
Andrew | Click | Technology Director | Lee County Schools, AL | Opelika | AL |
Austin | Contreras | Director of Technology Infrastructure | Corsicana ISD | Corsicana | Texas |
Colleen | Davoren | Network Infrastructure Manager | Community High School District 99 | Downers Grove | IL |
Anthony | Dotts | Network Systems Administrator | Community High School District 99 | Downers Grove | IL |
Giumarra | Duhart | Coordinator of Instructional Technology | Metro. Nashville Public Schools | Nashville | TN |
Andrew | Fekete | Instructional Technology Specialist | Indian Prairie School District #204 | Aurora | Illinois |
Gregory | Gillette | Director of Technology | Rockingham County Public Schools | Rockingham | VA |
Hope | Gould | Technology Director | MSAD 58 | PHILLIPS | Maine |
Jarod | Lambert | Director, Technology - Information Systems | Conroe Independent School District | Conroe | Texas |
Martin | Medrano | System and Device Engineer | Indian Prairie School District 204 | Aurora | IL |
Matthew | Melton | Director of Technology | Portage Township Schools | Portage | Indiana |
Evangelina | Mendoza | Interim Chief Information Technology Officer | San Antonio Independent School District | San Antonio | Texas |
Brian | Miles | Instructional Technology Coordinator | Middleton Cross Plains Area School District | Middleton | WI |
Jaclyn | Patanio | Director of Citywide Ed Tech | New York City Dept. of Education | New York City | New York |
Lars | Porter | Technology Coordinator | Mountain Brook Schools | Mountain Brook | AL |
Philip | Price | Chief Technology Officer | School District of Oconee County (SC) | Walhalla | South Carolina |
Allison | Reid | Senior Director, Digital Learning & Libraries | Wake County Public School System | Cary | North Carolina |
Erin | Rennick White | Instructional Technology Facilitator | Mid-Del Public Schools | Midwest City | OK |
Oscar | Rodriguez | Chief Technology Officer | Austin ISD | Austin | TX |
Kathy | Ross | Network Specialist | Hardeman County Schools | Bolivar | TN |
Chris | Rowbotham | Director of Technology | Siuslaw School District 97 | Florence | Oregon |
Shanna | Schlitz | Director of Technology | Riverdale School District | Portland | Oregon |
David | Stovenour | Director | Baltimore County Public Schools | Baltimore | Maryland |
Jim | Struck | Information Systems Manager | Community High School District 99 | Downers Grove | IL |
Alicia | Taylor | Director of Data and Technology | LEAD Public Schools | Nashville | Tennessee |
Matt | Tombs | Director of Innovation and Technology | River Trails School District 26 | Mount Prospect | Illinois |
DEI Scholarship Opportunity
The CTO Academy tries to secure five Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Academy Scholarships every year for CTOs from underrepresented populations in the education technology community. As part of the application process, you may request to be considered for one of these scholarships, if they are available.
"The work of a District Technology Leader can be lonely at times. The Early Career K-12 CTO Academy brings value and partnership to the daily work of a CTO. With a focus on leadership and vision, finance and budgeting, communications, infrastructure, and data privacy and security, this unique learning opportunity provides timely support both in resources and thought partners to those new to technology leadership."
Sturgeon Bay School District
"The CTO Academy is absolutely the most valuable resource I have available to me! The modules are relevant and the learning coincides with what is current in my work life. Despite the variety of skill sets, the academy design supports all new CTO’s, and the course facilitator was very conscious of meeting me at my level, which ensured a quality experience."
Governor Mifflin School District
Eligibility and Timeline
New career K-12 chief technology officers (CTOs) with fewer than 4 full years of experience or aspiring EdTech leaders currently working in a technology department are invited to apply. Applications for the 2023-2024 cohort are open. The program will run from October 2023- June 2024.