A r c h i v e d    I n f o r m a t i o n

Preface

Just as State and local education agencies collaborate with businesses, community organizations, and committed individuals to strengthen the potential of the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund, different offices within the U.S. Department of Education collaborate to provide a variety of technology programs and services. The Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) administers the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund program and the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) administers the Technology Innovation Challenge Grant and Star Schools programs. The Office of Educational Technology (OET) provides leadership not only within the U.S. Department of Education but outside as well, bringing together Federal, State, local, and private resources to promote the most effective uses of technology to improve teaching and learning.

This report focuses on only one technology initiative, the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund, and it focuses on only five States as they attempted to implement the program in the first year of funding, 1997-98. The experiences of these States cannot necessarily be generalized to other States but are presented as illustrations of the range of issues that can arise.

The U.S. Department of Education and the American Institutes for Research, the independent contractor for this evaluation, want to thank all of the many individuals in Illinois, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Texas, and Washington who shared their early experiences in implementing the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund during the site visits.

[ Executive Summary ]

[ Introduction ]