Former Apple Executive to Lead U.S. Ed-Tech Office

After months of anticipation about who would head educational technology initiatives at the U.S. Department of Education , ed-tech advocates praised the appointment of Karen Cator last week, saying the former educator and Apple executive brings to the job a passion for the potential of technology to improve teaching and learning.

The long-awaited appointment comes at a time when interest in how technology can be used to improve education is growing as more K-12 schools offer online courses, use mobile technologies such as cellphones and laptops, and put in place high-tech data-analysis tools.

“We have a lot of work to do because now there is a huge opportunity” to capitalize on federal funding for educational technology and put new technology tools to use to improve teaching and learning, Ms. Cator said Nov. 3 at a meeting of the State Educational Technology Directors Association in Arlington, Va., where her appointment was officially announced by Education Department officials. “We need to craft an entirely new research agenda around this issue so people can’t write that technology doesn’t work. We know it works...but we need to get good at saying and articulating what...