Recent findings from two large-scale surveys reveal that schools are prioritizing education technology in their classrooms. 

According to the surveys, education decision-makers say that "school technology budgets are growing stronger, school leaders are seeking Common Core-aligned instructional materials, and there is a growing demand for tools that improve teaching and personalized learning," according to an article on eschoolnews.com.

The results, according to the article, "come from MDR’s State of the K-12 Market 2014 report, conducted by the EdNET Research team. The report seeks to define important trends that will impact U.S. schools in the coming year."

“Schools are more optimistic about their ed-tech budgets than they have been for the past few years,” said Kathleen Brantley, Director of EdNET Insight in the article.

The article said that "nearly 90 percent of districts anticipate their 2014-2015 technology budgets in hardware, software, teacher training, and technical support to stay the same or increase. Topping the list of their concerns are hardware/device purchases and infrastructure capacity, meaning bandwidth and wireless networks will influence purchasing decisions going forward."

"A growing interest in one-to-one and BYOD programs is fueled in part by the rapid growth of mobile computing devices and the increased focus on personalized learning," the article said. "Nearly half [44 percent] of all U.S. districts report that one-to-one computing is substantially implemented in high schools, 36 percent in middle schools, and 20 percent in elementary schools. Chromebooks have come on strong, with half of all surveyed districts citing implementation of these newer devices."

According to Brantley in the article, "fully a third of districts already administer the majority of student assessments in core content areas online, with an additional 25 percent expecting to reach that measure this year."

"Districts’ current experience with online assessments underpins their overall readiness to administer the new CCSS assessments online," she said. "The majority [56 percent] of districts report that they are substantially ready to implement the new assessments, up from 43 percent in 2013.”

According to the article, "despite the swirling controversy surrounding CCSS, 43 states remain committed to implementation, and states that have not adopted or that have recently rejected the CCSS are still creating and implementing locally developed college- and career-ready standards."

“It should come as no surprise that educators seek instructional resources aligned to standards,” Brantley said. The article said that "more than 70 percent of districts, up slightly from 68 percent last year, plan to obtain instructional materials for CCSS implementation by purchasing new materials."

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Article by Kassondra Granata, Education World