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U.S. Ed Tech Director Well Equipped for Job
The time has come for U.S. schools to view technology as a tool for learning, and not a separate subject, according to John P. Bailey, the new director of the U.S. Department of Education Office of Technology. Among the goals of the education bill, No Child Left Behind, and the department's technology plans are to integrate technology into school curricula in a way that helps improves student achievement. Included: Descriptions of goals for using technology in schools.
John P. Bailey
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John P. Bailey recently was named director of the U.S. Department of Education's office of technology. His job is to advise senior education department officials on educational technology policy and help implement that policy. Bailey came from the Pennsylvania Department of Education, where he spent six years as the director of education technology. He has been working with the U.S. Department of Education since May 2001; prior to his appointment, he worked with Under Secretary of Education Eugene Hickok.
Education World: How did you get interested in the education aspect of technology? Were you an education major?
Bailey: I was a public policy major with a focus on international policy, with a sub-focus on terrorism, believe it or not. It [technology] was more of a side issue; I was just very passionate about technology, and the way it helps to transform an organization. I initially joined [Pennsylvania] Governor [Tom] Ridge's administration to look at how we could use technology to transform the department of education. Then [we] quickly began working with the governor and some of his staff and [Pennsylvania] secretary of education [Eugene] Hickok on developing ways that schools could use technology to transform the way education is provided to them. It just has been something I've enjoyed, so that's what kept me in it for so long.
EW: Why do you think Secretary Paige approached you to fill this key position?
Bailey: I think it was recognizing a lot of the success we had in Pennsylvania with education technology, and also just the realignment in the approaches we take to technology, in the sense of pursuing it not just for technology's sake, but for what technology allows us to do. He is an incredibly passionate person about technology and what it can do for kids, what it can do for teachers, and what it can do for decision-makers. I was helping with various pieces of the technology program here, and I think over time, I developed that level of trust with him. Why he selected me, that's probably a question best for him, but I think those are some of the reasons.
EW: Do you know why it took a year to fill the post?
Bailey: I don't entirely. I know that I was here six months into the administration, sort of taking on technology policy as one of the topics. I think part of the time lag is in relation to the whole debate with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA); that was taking up everyone's time to such a large extent. It was one of those positions for which they were taking their time to make sure they found the right person. At the same time, the department had an incredibly fast-paced education agenda that was being debated by Congress, almost instantly from the time the president was sworn into office.
EW: What are your priorities?
Bailey: First is just implementing the No Child Left Behind Act, in which there are so many rich opportunities for technology. It's really trying to go through that 1,250-page document, find those opportunities, and make sure that schools and states are aware of them. There are a number of programs that we as a department are required to implement, and get the funds out to states and out to schools. So that obviously is going to be a first priority. A second priority is that we are required by Congress to update the national education technology plan, so over the next year, we will be engaging in a variety of conversations, really listening to state technology directors, to schools, to businesses…throughout the country, letting them advise us on what the national education technology agenda should be. A third priority is engaging in a multi-year study that looks at the impact technology is having on education; a kind of research initiative designed to provide some evidence of how technology is improving, or at least impacting, education and instruction. I think that's a huge opportunity for us, and it's going to be one of the top priorities, trying to provide some of this evidence.
Another priority is going to be e-learning. With the number of virtual schools and cyber schools emerging, they offer incredible opportunities for students, but they also are raising a lot of interesting policy questions and challenges, regarding financing and accreditation. Secretary Paige has asked if we would work with states on sifting through some of those issues, and seeing if there are ways the federal government as well as the state governments can help accommodate some of those new alternatives for education. The last priority is on on-line assessment, which is looking at what a great opportunity we have here in how technology can help us deliver assessments and deliver results in real time, versus having to wait weeks or months for tests to be scored and returned back to teachers and students.
EW: You've got a full plate.
Bailey: It is a full plate. It's very busy, but then the secretary wants to have a very aggressive agenda, and he wants to get out in front on a number of these issues, so those are the priorities that we have.
EW: How will the No Child Left Behind Act affect technology funding?
Bailey: I think it's really going to improve it. Your publication has been saying, we've all been saying at the state, local, and federal level, that the whole goal is to integrate technology effectively with the curriculum. What you have here for the first time in No Child Left Behind is a real public policy demonstration of that. Technology is integrated into all the different content areas of this education bill. And so what you see is technology being described as an acceptable use of funds in a whole variety of areas, ranging from Reading First to teacher professional development, to teacher preparation. You see technology mentioned as an allowable use of funds throughout the entire bill. There are lots of opportunities there. The key thing to remember is that almost every single education program is an opportunity for technology. I think it sends a very, very positive message that there is tremendous support for providing a large amount of funds to states that can go directly to schools to help them with their particular technology programs and efforts. There's a very strong commitment and lots of opportunities; it's just educating people about what those opportunities are.
EW: Where do today's teachers stand on the technology competency learning curve?
Bailey: I think it's all across the board. I think some [teachers] struggle with it; I think some have taken to it quite easily and readily. I think the better question for us to ask is where are classroom teachers struggling the most. Then how can technology help them with that struggle. Then I think that is how you get at some of the technology literacy. Because then you are training teachers to use a particular piece of technology to meet a need or a challenge or a problem that they are encountering or facing. That just helps with learning how to use technology so much better and more easily.
EW: How can we get them to the next level?
Bailey: By really identifying the applications that are going to help them the most. In the business world, or yours and my world, we have a suite of tools that often sit on our desktops that we call productivity tools. Usually this includes a word processor, then some of us we might use a spreadsheet or we might use a slide presentation system or database. But essentially those are a suite of tools that can help make us more productive. What we need to begin asking is what is that suite of tools that is going to make a teacher more productive. And what are those suites of tools that are going to help students become more productive with their education. Then structure the infrastructure and training around those particular applications.
EW: Will your office be providing technology integration resources for teachers?
Bailey: Integration will be a constant theme of our office. So I think you will see that come out in the national technology plan, as well as the long-term study, as well as with the work we do with the different states. Our whole purpose is to really help with that integration, and make sure that student achievement is increasing as a result of that integration.
EW: How do you think the majority of teachers are using technology right now?
Bailey: I think that varies across the board. It varies depending upon the technology. Do I think you have a lot of teachers using video conferencing so that they connect with students and teach students all around geographic areas? I think you have a lot of teachers who all of a sudden have been given a computer and an Internet connection and now are wondering what to do with it. My biggest fear is that what we do within education technology is that we just automate with technology the old way of doing things. So that instead of using a blackboard, we use an electronic slide show. That fundamentally isn't going to do anything to improve education.
What we really need to do is rethink, restructure, and reengineer education to accommodate some of these new opportunities technology provides us. We saw that a lot within business back in the early '80's. We saw a lot of people saying technology is going to change the way business is done; it's going to change the way all of us work. What they found was that it really was not increasing corporate productivity that much. There was a great term for it that they coined called the productivity paradox. The Nobel Prize winner who coined the term said you could see computers everywhere except for in the productivity indicators.
In many ways, I think you can almost say the same thing for education today. You can see computers everywhere in the classroom, except in the student achievement indicators. What businesses realized is that they were using technology to automate the old way of doing business, so it only gave them traditional results, and they had to reinvent themselves. I think that is what fundamentally schools have to do as well.
EW: How would you like to see teachers use technology?
Bailey: I think about some of the personalized learning systems that are out there, that help personalize instruction for every student. That changes the role of a teacher. Now all of a sudden a teacher is looking at where they can spend the time more effectively one-on-one with students, and where can they spend their time more effectively with the entire class. I think you see principals and superintendents using accountability systems with technology that give them a set of data and information that they never had before. That they can make adjustments to their curriculum, they can make adjustments to their resources, they can make adjustments to their strategies in real time, versus waiting for the proverbial quarterly report card. So I think all of this is leading to much more informed decision-making by teachers, by parents, and administrators. I would really like to see how teachers really use these tools as tools, to support what they do best every day in terms of reaching out to students.
EW: What do you see as the greatest technology need in schools today? How do you plan to meet that need?
Bailey: It's a good question, and my response is going to sound like I'm dodging it, but I'm not. I think it all depends. I'm not sure if there's one technology solution that meets all of the unique needs of the 52 million children in the United States. I think certain schools have a really unique need for video conferencing, to engage in distance learning, to bring teachers to their students, to offer courses that otherwise would not be able to be offered. I think other schools are going to need curriculum management systems, to help them manage the academic standards in their local curriculum. I think other teachers in other schools and other students are going to need tutoring systems; cognitive learning systems to help struggling students with math and with reading. It's not one technology fits all; it's really how do we target technology to meet very specific problems in our local communities. That is always going to be different, depending on that community, that school, and those students. I think that's the wonderful thing about technology; it doesn't have to be a one-size-fits-all. It can be customized to meet the needs of particular students, parents, and teachers.
EW: Have we closed or narrowed the Digital Divide in this country?
Bailey: I think the Digital Divide is elusive. What I mean by that is there always is a Digital Divide with every new piece of technology. When cell phones first came out, very few people had them, they cost $3,000, and it was very difficult for anyone to afford them or use them. Now they are so ubiquitous they even make disposable cell phones. I think you are seeing the same thing every time a new technology is introduced to consumers and educators; there is a divide that takes place there. And so how do we, as government, work in conjunction with the private sector and in conjunction with schools, in terms of always trying to close those different divides? I think it does a disservice simply to define the Digital Divide by a lack of access to computers or to Internet connections. The Digital Divide is really a technology-adoption issue. [The questions should be] how fast do people adopt technology and how do we accelerate that adoption?
EW: A lot of abandoned school and education web sites, as well as some others, have been pirated by cyber porn sites. Do you have any thoughts as to how that problem could be addressed?
Bailey: I think it's a problem and it's a challenge. It's something that all of us within public policy need to think about, and try to address, both at the official level and the state level. I think this is where some of the filtering solutions come into play. It also is illustrative of how important it is for teachers and for parents to surf the Internet side by side with their kids, so they can be sure they are going to safe places on the Internet. .
This e-interview with John P. Bailey is part of the Education World weekly Wire Side Chat series. Click here to see other articles in the series.
Article by Ellen R. Delisio
Education World®
Copyright © 2002 Education World
2/11/2002
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