Management

Don’t Leave Tech Leadership Out of Integrated Planning

IT leaders are responsible for various aspects related to schoolwide decision-making, according to CoSN’s Framework of Essential Skills. Make sure they have a seat at the table.

Janice D. Mertes

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Janice Mertes is the CDW state-level ambassador serving state departments and K–12 education. She has more than 30 years of experience in public education, including 20 years in a large suburban Wisconsin school district as a social studies teacher and technology leader. Janice serves as the CDW liaison for national educational technology organizations, including SETDA, the Consortium for School Networking, the Council of Chief State School Officers’ Education Information Management Advisory Collaborative CIO Network and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology.

Technology is everywhere in a district, from operational buildings and grounds down to the classroom. Just as tech is so well integrated in the many functions of a school, IT leaders need to be integrated in strategic planning to keep these systems running.

The Consortium for School Networking’s Framework of Essential Skills looks at where technology leaders are involved and whether they have a voice and understanding of district strategic planning and how technology is a part of that planning. This framework is the basis for the Certified Educational Technology Leadership certification.

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School technology leaders should have a seat at the cabinet level. This allows them to stay involved in strategic planning, but it also gives them a communication channel with K–12 administrators. In this position, IT leaders can offer guidance on budgeting and decision-making, both key components of integrated planning. Implementation isn’t possible without the support of cabinet members and other administrators.

In addition to technology’s prevalence in a school’s systems and operations, there are other factors that justify IT leaders’ involvement in integrated planning and decision-making.

IT Leaders Steward Digital Ecosystems and Data Privacy Obligations

According to the CoSN framework, K–12 technology leaders are responsible for understanding procurement rules, gifting rules and other nontraditional sources of funding in school districts. They should be aware of all the technologies coming into their ecosystem and how they work together.

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And while stakeholders in a school ideally are working within a larger strategic plan — one that was co-created and is understood from an implementation perspective — the tech leader operates as someone who can gather research, input and user data to make informed decisions.

It’s also important to consider whether the technology resources procured align with the district’s data privacy standards.

It’s an IT administrator’s responsibility to ensure that all of the technologies a school is using — including all the applications necessary for teaching and learning — are vetted and adhere to data privacy best practices. This isn’t just an ethical obligation for a tech director, it’s a legal obligation as well. IT leaders must evaluate technologies to keep schools in compliance with federal laws specific to K–12 schools.

This article is part of the ConnectIT: Bridging the Gap Between Education and Technology series. Please join the discussion on Twitter by using the #ConnectIT hashtag.