NO PROVISION LEFT BEHIND: Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Al Franken (D-Minn), Shelley Capito (R-WV), Angus King (I-ME), Mark Kirk (R-Ill) and 12 members of Congress have signed an open letter to Elementary and Secondary Education Act negotiators asking them to establish a standalone program for education technology and technology-specific professional development for educators. The House and Senate have passed bills that provide funding for these causes, so the senators and congressmen aim to convince their colleagues to strengthen those provisions as No Child Left Behind's reauthorization heads to conference.
In particular, the letter promoted the I-TECH program of the Every Child Achieves Act, the Schools of the Future Provision of the Student Success Act and the Scott Substitute Amendment as crucial to the success of education technology in a reauthorized ESEA. The senators asked the ranking committee members to remember students with little access to education technology, specifically citing students in rural and low-income areas. They also highlighted educators without training in its use, saying that these teachers have little chance to improve student outcomes with technology.
