Background

Since 2001, when Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act, which included the Enhancing Education Through Technology Program, states and public schools have a renewed motivation to use technology to improve student achievement and ensure that all students, especially those in high-need schools, have an equal opportunity to become technology literate. The Commonwealth has seen a tremendous increase in technological support for education since the launch of the Educational Technology Plan for Virginia: 2003-09 (Virginia Department of Education, 2003). The backing of the Virginia General Assembly and a commitment of more than $350 million has produced enormous advances in infrastructure, hardware, software, teaching and learning resources, professional development, and administrative applications. The Commonwealth consistently has been viewed as a national leader in employing powerful technologies to improve teaching, learning, and school management.

Educational technology plans aim to capitalize on these gains by ensuring that all students develop the skills and knowledge needed to realize their potential as leaders in a technology-supported information economy. The Web-Based Standards of Learning (SOL) Technology Initiative began the work of providing school access to Web-based instructional, remedial, and assessment programs, which include delivering Virginia’s SOL assessments online. Several other developments have boosted support for educational technology in Virginia. For example, the SOL Technology Initiative Architectural Guidelines for High School Readiness (2001) provided guidelines for school divisions and high schools to participate in the initiative. In 2002, using funding from the Enhancing Education Through Technology Program, the Office of Educational Technology (OET) of the Virginia Department of Education established eight regional technology consortia to implement professional development strategies for training teachers and administrators in technology-integration skills. The 2005 Virginia General Assembly amended the Standards of Quality to require school boards to employ one instructional technology resource teacher per 1,000 students to help teachers integrate technology into the classroom. In 2006, the Virginia General Assembly added a requirement that acceptable Internet use policies, developed by division superintendents, include components on Internet safety for students.