National Education Technology Plan Finalized

Education Secretary Arne Duncan today released the Department of Education's plan for transforming American education through technology, a process that would create an engaging state-of-the-art, cradle-to-college school system nationwide.

The National Education Technology Plan (NETP) was written and refined over 18 months by leading education researchers, with input from the public, industry officials, and thousands of educators and students from across the country. Development of the NETP was led by the department's Office of Educational Technology and involved the most rigorous and inclusive process ever undertaken for a national education technology plan. It is a crucial component of the administration's effort to have America lead the world in college completion by 2020 and help close the achievement gap so that all students graduate from high school ready to succeed in college and careers. The plan presents a model with key goals in five areas: learning, assessment, teaching, infrastructure and productivity. Each core section outlines concepts for using technology to holistically transform education, with the aim to achieve each goal by 2015.

• Learning: Change the learning process so it's more engaging and tailored to students' needs and interests.
• Assessment: Measure student progress on the full range of college and career ready standards and use real time data for continuous improvement.
• Teaching: Connect teachers to the tools, resources, experts and peers they need to be highly effective and supported.
• Infrastructure: Provide broadband connectivity for all students, everywhere—in schools, throughout communities and in students' homes.
• Productivity: Use technology to help schools become more productive and accelerate student achievement while managing costs.