As one of the largest employers in most municipalities, the enterprise nature of public school districts cannot be denied. And like most business enterprises, school leaders must recognize that to gain efficiency, flexibility and sustainability, they’ll need to keep pace with technological advances. For nearly two decades, businesses have been undergoing a digital transformation. While schools may seem to be a step behind, early and late adopters both have enthusiastically embraced instructional technology on a large scale.
This should come as no surprise. In a 2023 HolonIQ survey of K–12 education leaders, two-thirds saw “the integration of digital as critical to the future of K–12 education.”
However, to get the most from the tools that teachers and students use daily, districts need to upgrade the underlying technology infrastructure that fuels the operations of local schools. Many leaders have seen that cloud computing gives them an advantage.
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This is why we produced a series of articles under the theme, “A Smarter Cloud.” We wanted to highlight stories and smart practices from K–12 tech leaders who have made the leap to the cloud. Accordingly, we’ll indicate those cloud-focused stories with a special graphic.
Cloud Computing Allows School IT to Offer More Value
When we interviewed school technology leaders, they said in no uncertain terms that to move the business of learning forward, it would be smart to place cloud computing at the heart of their 21st century learning environments.
“The cloud allows my IT department to spend more time on business value. We’re in a better position to be collaborative,” says Matt Penner, director of information and instructional technology at Val Verde Unified School District in California (see “School Technology Leaders Reveal What Life Is Like in the Cloud”).
At Indianapolis Public Schools, the cloud helps to “support students with the best technology available,” says Chenzira Allen, IPS’s director of digital strategy and transformation, whose team recently oversaw the district’s shift to Microsoft Azure (see “Indianapolis Public Schools Makes the Big Leap to the Cloud”).
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Kris Hagel, CIO at Peninsula School District near Seattle, says the cloud is integral to its future-proofing efforts. He’s developing a generative artificial intelligence tool to promote efficiency and support both students and staff. “None of that would be possible without the cloud,” he says (see “K–12 Cloud Innovators Look Back While Moving Forward”).
At its core, the business of learning is about teaching students how to think, question paradigms and discover new frontiers. With the cloud, school technology leaders are building the infrastructure that drives this learning. As IPS’s Allen says, “The cloud allows us to meet our district’s ever-evolving needs.”
