Why Teacher Professional Development Belongs in the Technology Purchasing Process
Typically, when districts want to purchase a product or service, they start by identifying a need, then go through the procurement process of evaluating vendors and their products before making a purchase. It’s only then that professional development is considered, if at all.
Getting that sequence wrong can be costly. According to Digital Promise, fragmented procurement processes have resulted in 65% of ed tech licenses going unused and more than $5 billion wasted across U.S. K–12 districts. With limited funding and budget cuts across the board, that’s money that districts can’t afford to waste.
READ MORE: Six education organizations partnered to create an ed tech procurement guide.
But for K–12 districts, every purchasing decision must start with instructional vision — and professional development should be part of that. Districts should ask vendors what training and coaching is included before signing, and they should measure outcomes to ensure success. By building a training strategy into the plan for a technology upgrade or software rollout, districts can ensure that the people that will actually be using the technology will understand it and feel empowered to use it to its full potential.
Training Must Go Deeper and Fit Teachers’ Schedules
When rolling out new technology, schools should be careful to go beyond operational training. Yes, understanding how to turn on your new Chromebook or flat panel is important, but training needs to focus on how it will be used on an instructional level. What are students going to do with the device? What will the interaction between the educator and student look like? Is it providing equitable access for all of the students in the classroom? The outcome of professional development should be to create a digital ecosystem that prepares teachers to teach and students to learn.
For teachers, time is tight, and professional development time is particularly contested. It’s hard to take over half of their designated training time with technology training when math and literacy must have first claim. Instead, districts must find job-embedded, on-demand, purposeful opportunities to train educators without taking too much of their time. Don’t pack it all into back-to-school training, when it can get lost among all the other information coming at them. Technology training should be an ongoing process throughout the year.
Plus, the training needs to really add value. Show teachers how the tool can be applied to their day-to-day work and how it will make their jobs more manageable, not less. Then, show them how they can share the tools with their students and encourage classroom use. The teacher training support has to be step one, because otherwise teachers will become the barrier to student use.
How States Are Supporting Professional Development
Most states should know the importance of supporting teacher professional development, but there’s still a need for thoughtful investment in technology-related training. This is especially important as artificial intelligence works its way into K–12 classrooms and schools. Encouraging ethical use is critical — especially given a recent Gallup poll of teachers that found that 82% have not received formal guidance on how to use AI for work.
Right now, I see two states doing it well:
North Carolina is currently working through a bill that would build training infrastructure for K–12 districts. It directs the Department of Public Instruction to partner with North Carolina State’s Friday Institute for Educational Innovation to produce tool-agnostic training modules covering AI fundamentals and responsible use in the classroom. The bill also directs DPI to build a framework for evaluating AI tools and to publish qualified vendor lists, giving districts a starting point for purchasing. The state is ensuring that all districts move forward as a collective with AI purchasing and training so they’re on the same level across the board.
Utah was the first state to create a full-time position overseeing AI in its K–12 districts, appointing Matt Winters to the Utah State Board of Education as an artificial intelligence education specialist. The board then created a clear AI framework that includes practical resources for classroom use and is updated regularly. The state also offered a $200 grant for teachers who completed AI training and submitted a lesson plan. Those plans are available as part of an open-source library so that the training builds into shared, grade- and subject-specific classroom examples that other educators can access and learn from.
These states aren’t telling districts that they must adopt this technology without offering the funding. They are investing heavily in the resources and training to empower their educators to use it with confidence. They’re saying, ‘We’re with you, and we’re going to see what we can do together.’
UP NEXT: Matt Winters champions AI literacy in Utah.
Purposeful Purchasing Starts With a Plan
When a K–12 district purchases technology tools, it can’t skip the most useful question: What does successful implementation look like, and how does this vendor support it? Some partners offer dedicated training teams, on-demand modules, differentiated sessions based on role and use, and check-in points after the rollout. Some vendors don’t offer these things. That distinction should carry weight in an evaluation.
CDW education teams help districts answer that question before a contract is signed, pushing our partners to build training into the package rather than after the fact. But the framing matters more than the partner you choose. If a technology investment isn’t producing a return on learning, the problem usually isn’t the technology. Purposeful purchasing must start with purposeful planning.
![[title]Connect IT: Bridging the Gap Between Education and Technology](http://www.edtechmagazine.com/k12/sites/default/files/articles/2014/05/connectit.jpg)
