What Are the Challenges?

School administration, teaching staff, parents, and other community members must agree to the following:

• that technology is an integral part of every academic subject, not an incidental frill.

• that student achievement is to be measured by more than standardized tests. Enlightened educators, school boards, and the public have expanded their notions of the skills that constitute academic accomplishment to include the thinking and problem-solving skills that technology supports.

• that these higher–order thinking skills, such as problem–solving, efficient learning strategies, and decision making, are crucial both to an educated person and to a modern–day worker, and the curriculum must be restructured to foster the development of these skills.

• that teachers will receive the training necessary to let their teaching take advantage of technology to develop higher–order thinking skills in students. Teachers must be given release time for in–service workshops — not just in computer use but in educational reform — and be encouraged to collaborate with other teachers.

• that districts will hire new teachers and administrators who are computer literate and can model the kinds of technology use that we want from our students. They would need these skills if they weren’t teaching, so why not insist on them for our schools?

• that districts will seek out the best software, for example, for instruction and tutorials.

• that districts will seek out funding sources with the goal of creating up–to–date, technology–rich learning environments.