School Districts Under Pressure to Modernize

Schools face pressure to transform themselves into high-tech learning centers

The chief executive officer of EducationSuperHighway, a nonprofit group that advocates upgraded Internet access for schools, articulates what many educational technology leaders like to remind educators, policymakers, parents, and students: "Schools don't have the expertise they need to effectively design and implement a network," says Evan C. Marwell. "Creating a network and buying broadband is a lot more complicated than buying pencils."

Superintendents, chief technology officers, and other district leaders are working through those complexities as they put measures in place to transform their school districts into learning environments featuring more powerful digital tools.

Making that happen is challenging and requires investments in broadband capacity, smarter and more flexible use of federal E-rate dollars, cost-effective approaches to building 1-to-1 computing, stronger home-school online connections, and a greater emphasis on professional development focused on the needs of students, not just how to use certain...