Key points:

• More students and educators are connecting personal devices to school networks
• This makes network security–an already underfunded area–even more critical

The pandemic was a massive shift for school districts across the country, and even as we move out of it, we’re still feeling the impact. On the technical side, it prompted quick transformation to enable virtual schooling–and these changes were made as districts were already challenged by legacy technology, reduced budgets and understaffing. Existing problems were exacerbated.

In parallel, we’ve seen a rise in ransomware and other cyberattacks in the education sector. What’s needed is a digital transformation strategy that also prioritizes security.

A challenging landscape

There’s nothing mysterious or shocking about the rise in cyberattacks against the education sector. Today’s 21-century education requires up-to-date technology, but that’s a bigger risk for school IT teams. For instance, educational institutions are witnessing growth in the number of students, professors, and administrators who link personal devices to the network. A school district’s attack surface is expanded by this increased connection, making it more vulnerable to new threats.

And most schools are not equipped to deal with these threats; the Nationwide Cybersecurity Review (NCSR) risk-based assessment rates the cyber maturity score of K-12 schools at 3.55 out of 7. In fact, according to 29 percent of those responding to the K-12 Report, a cyber incident occurred in their district last year. Malware and ransomware were two of the most prevalent occurrences. According to the report, ransomware attacks pose the greatest cybersecurity risk to K-12 schools and districts in terms of overall cost and downtime.

As school districts emerge from the worst of COVID-19, they’re bringing with them new priorities. Many of the changes that districts have made during the pandemic, such as giving employees the flexibility to work remotely, will be carried forward. Other processes are being reevaluated to serve the needs of students and other stakeholders more effectively.

In looking to update everything from teaching and learning processes to school district operations, one of the most basic steps that K-12 leaders can take to position their schools for success is updating their education resource planning (ERP) solution by moving to a cloud-based system.

We can’t really talk about modernizing and streamlining district operations without discussing ERPs. An ERP is the backbone of a district’s operations, helping administrators manage essential financial functions related to payroll, HR, accounting, and more.

Scalability, affordability, and reliability—hallmarks of cloud-based software—make it an ideal solution for any district that is ready to modernize its ERP solution. Migration can come with some up-front costs, but districts will save in the long run thanks to the lower total cost of ownership of cloud solutions.

IT leadership is an essential component of school and district operations, and in today’s post-pandemic landscape, K-12 IT security is critical in combatting increasing cybersecurity attacks that can cripple even the largest districts in a matter of moments.

It’s important to establish the right K-12 IT practices and policies that support teaching and learning–and it’s even better to share those best practices in the event that other K-12 IT leaders are seeking to establish the same kind of policies.

Here is K-12 IT advice from a handful of IT leaders:

1. The alarming disparity between prioritization and preparedness is indicative of the cybersecurity challenges school districts are facing. As the Director of Technology at Maconaquah School Corporation located in north-central Indiana, I know firsthand that implementing a proactive cybersecurity posture is a difficult and time-consuming–yet necessary–process. School districts are prime targets for hackers; therefore, we must be prepared.

In our own school corporation, we have adopted four key practices that enable us to continuously strengthen and advance our cybersecurity mitigation and prevention strategies. One of those strategies includes continuously identifying and addressing vulnerabilities. As with training, school districts should never remain idle when it comes to evaluating and addressing their vulnerabilities. We have spent the last few years identifying and fixing gaps in our cybersecurity posture and defenses. Conducting regular audits and evaluations has put our district in a stronger position, but the work is never complete. To be diligent, we must proactively assess our cybersecurity weaknesses and defenses regularly. [Read more]
–Chris Percival, Director of Technology, Maconaquah School Corporation

2. There is no doubt that cybersecurity is essential for all organizations in our modern world. However, security cannot be valued more than usability. The sad fact is that the only entirely secure computer system is one that have been unplugged and shut off. Cyberattacks will continue, and it will be important to ensure that every organization has strong backup and recovery plans in place. However, end user usability is just as important as security.

IT leaders need to ensure that usability is still the primary consideration in building IT systems. IT systems are of little value if they are not able to be used effectively by end users. Considerations of what level of additional steps end users are willing to take is essential. This is particularly important as many organizations still have a high number of remote workers. Make sure the warnings provided to end users are significant as well. Too many warnings can numb end users into assuming the IT department is crying wolf and they may stop paying attention to warnings. [Read more]
–Steven M. Baule, Ed.D., Ph.D., Faculty Member, Winona State University

Student data privacy has been at the forefront of district leaders’ minds well before the pandemic. However, since COVID-19 shifted schools and classrooms online, it’s not surprising that tech usage has reached an all-time high. Districts are accessing 1,400 edtech tools per month on average, and cybersecurity attacks in our nation’s schools are also increasing.

As an Education Technology Specialist at one of Colorado’s fastest-growing districts, District 49, I was tasked 5 years ago with the responsibility to ensure our district complied with federal and student data privacy laws. Both state and federal laws require vendors and school districts to facilitate safe online learning experiences. However, when the pandemic hit, our district was forced to rethink our approach beyond compliance to further vet our edtech tools and make protecting student data privacy a regular practice of our edtech ecosystem.

For the process to work, I knew we would have to work collaboratively, across departments and buildings, to confirm that our teachers and students were using digital tools that delivered value without exposing student data to risk.

Our district serves 13,000 students across four distinct zones, spanning 133 square miles of suburban and rural areas. Our school leadership has the autonomy and authority to choose whether or not one-to-one learning makes sense for their students and teachers based on their specific student population. Once the pandemic hit, this autonomy became one of our biggest hurdles. Some schools could seamlessly pivot to online learning, while others scrambled to put together folders of materials every week. We quickly found ourselves overwhelmed by the variation in tools used across our district and inundated by options. 

We knew we needed help to encourage consistent practices across school buildings, ensure compliance with Colorado’s student data privacy requirements, reduce frustration and confusion among stakeholders (including parents students, and staff), and begin to evaluate the impact of edtech on student outcomes. At the same time, we wanted to maintain local decision-making. For us, it was all about balance.

Districts like D49 can, and already are, doing this work. And like most things, while it may not be perfect, it’s getting better–that’s what the focus should be for all K-12 stakeholders.

Here are five best practices for other administrators and education leaders  to consider when reigning in their districts’ edtech ecosystem:

1. Audit what is currently in use, not just what’s being purchased. To better understand our district’s edtech usage, our tech team set up a free Inventory Dashboard. Within days, we realized that students and teachers were using a lot more technology tools than we expected–2,000 edtech tools systemwide! Taking stock of the education technology tools being accessed in a district is an essential first step for identifying immediate opportunities for improvement, spotting and eliminating any redundancies, uncovering potential savings, and creating and prioritizing improvement plans aligned to systemwide goals.

2. Understand K-12 laws both at the federal and state levels. Selecting technology platforms and apps needs to address a district’s unique challenges and also comply with state and federal law. For example, in Colorado, the state law requires the ability to “request and evaluate remote learning technology,” while the U.S. Department of Education says “when possible.” District leaders should understand the laws and ensure vendors comply as mandated by their state when applicable, as it may differ from federal guidelines.

3. Work with partners to streamline edtech processes. Being able to sit down with principals and point to the effectiveness of technology choices they made last year, last month, or at the beginning of the school year is an essential part of streamlining the selection and procurement process. We partner with LearnPlatform to gather, comply, share, and communicate our district’s edtech evidence-building protocol to continuously improve teaching and learning.

4. Establish professional development to inform teachers and principals of new edtech policies and ask for their feedback. When districts engage in edtech evaluations and potential change, educators may need to change how they integrate technology in their classrooms. Getting that buy-in is critical and this requires clear communication and built-in feedback opportunities. Leaders should take a hands-on approach, reach out and request feedback at the start of the process. New edtech policies and expectations must be communicated on an ongoing basis. Teachers must also be supported with valuable professional development opportunities that illuminate best practices to enhance technology usage for both teachers and students to optimize learning.

5. Be transparent with parents and local communities. Change can be hard, especially for parents and caregivers who have struggled with the multitude of ever-changing technology platforms that their children have accessed throughout the pandemic. District leaders need to recognize and respect the vital role that families play in successfully educating children to safely navigate the digital tools necessary for quality education. Giving them a consistent place to see what edtech tools are being used with their students goes a long way.

Tech-enabled learning is here to stay. Districts are responsible for taking a hard look at their edtech offerings and must collaborate with solution providers that comply with the law and embrace evidence-building and sharing to support effective and equitable learning.

Related:
How to maintain secure access and data privacy
5 tips to build community-wide support for IT transformation

As school districts emerge from the worst of COVID-19, they’re bringing with them new priorities. Many of the changes that districts have made during the pandemic, such as giving employees the flexibility to work remotely, will be carried forward. Other processes are being reevaluated to serve the needs of students and other stakeholders more effectively.

In looking to update everything from teaching and learning processes to school district operations, one of the most basic steps that K-12 leaders can take to position their schools for success is updating their education resource planning (ERP) solution by moving to a cloud-based system.

We can’t really talk about modernizing and streamlining district operations without discussing ERPs. An ERP is the backbone of a district’s operations, helping administrators manage essential financial functions related to payroll, HR, accounting, and more.

Scalability, affordability, and reliability—hallmarks of cloud-based software—make it an ideal solution for any district that is ready to modernize its ERP solution. Migration can come with some up-front costs, but districts will save in the long run thanks to the lower total cost of ownership of cloud solutions.

While an ERP is a critical solution, many commercial ERP platforms are aimed at businesses. They aren’t tailored to the needs of education, and they could require costly customization to meet a school district’s needs. An ERP designed specifically for K-12 education would meet the needs of all district staff more effectively and improve operational efficiency.

Here are three reasons to choose an ERP designed specifically for K-12 education:

1. You’ll have better compliance.

Reliable reporting is paramount, and an ERP designed for K-12 ensures the data you need for state and federal reporting is captured and stored in a central system. This leads to fewer errors and more accurate reporting.

2. You’ll see improved collaboration and integration.

An education-specific ERP solution aligns district team members so that everyone is on the same page. Having a single source of data eliminates confusion and ensures quick communication.

3. You’ll benefit from a partner with educational expertise.

Migrating to a cloud-based ERP or upgrading your existing solution is a big investment. However, forming the right partnership with a company that has extensive experience in K-12 education will ensure a successful rollout.

Looking to the cloud

A cloud-based ERP allows for remote and secure data storage, enabling district employees to access all the information they need—including paperwork, applications, and services—in one place from any device, at any time. What’s more, it can be customized to fit a district’s unique needs. Districts that turn to a cloud-based ERP solution can manage and access the resources they need entirely online.

School districts are constantly changing and innovating to meet the needs of teachers and students. As districts change, their ERP needs evolve as well. For instance, you might see a greater demand on district operations when you renew contracts or begin a new fiscal year. A cloud-based ERP can shift with these needs, easily scaling up or down depending on your priorities.

Shifting to the cloud is also a cost-conscious move. New hardware implementations and upgrades can be costly, but cloud-based ERPs give districts the ability to implement new capabilities without upfront investments in servers and installation. Piloting the launch of a new application and then scaling it district-wide is less expensive with the capabilities of cloud-based software, because you only pay for what you actually need and use.

Security is of utmost concern, particularly as K-12 education has become an increasingly attractive target for cyberattacks. Cloud management systems use data encryption and other measures to keep sensitive information secure. Storing data in the cloud also ensures that your district’s information is safe in the event of a natural disaster, because it’s all stored offsite in multiple locations.

When you’re looking to modernize your district’s operations to keep pace with the needs of students, teachers, and staff, it’s essential that you choose systems that give you the flexibility to grow and innovate. With a cloud-based ERP, you get all that—and more.

Related:
5 ways to make your IT department more efficient
How to build community-wide support for IT transformation

In this episode of Innovations in Education, sponsored by Promethean and Merlyn Mind and hosted by Kevin Hogan:

• 4 blended learning strategies for better student engagement
• Only out-of-the-box solutions will fix the real problems in schools
• The Promising Reality of AI

The new school year is upon us, and IT teams are ramping up strategic tech investments and systems to help ensure a smooth year ahead. For many of these IT teams, challenges around cybersecurity are top of mind, with recent research revealing over half of lower education organizations were hit by ransomware in the past year. On top of this, concerns remain around cloud costs, including new limits on free cloud storage, leaving some wondering what they’re supposed to do and having to pay up.

In light of these shifts and growing risks, K-12 IT teams need to rethink their approach to cloud storage costs and security. We recently experienced challenges at Hotchkiss School with our past cloud providers in this regard. We could not obtain the amount of secure storage we needed due to not only data consumption and performance challenges, but also because of their egress fees. In order to modernize and innovate, education decision-makers will need to embrace hybrid or multi-cloud storage options that keep their data secure by moving away from mainstream, high-cost cloud providers.

Further, to meet growing demands on schools’ IT departments, IT leaders will need to adopt a flexible cloud mindset that enables them to effectively and securely store and leverage the growing deluge of data they are inundated with – everything from student health care data to device and research data. Let’s dive into how a high performance, multi-cloud approach can help K-12 schools check the following major pain points off their list.

Data loss from ransomware attacks & other cyber risks  

Security is top of mind in every industry, especially in education where it’s important to keep our students’ and faculty information safe. In the face of growing security threats, protecting sensitive information by effectively backing up data to the cloud has never been more critical, and IT teams must operate not under the assumption of “if” an attack will occur, but rather “when.” This is especially important for schools that also rely on Microsoft Office 365 or other cloud-based SaaS applications for data storage. They must take additional backup measures as Microsoft does not guarantee that they will restore data if it is lost. In fact, Office 365 has remained the top target for SaaS attacks this past year.

While many IT teams may initially want to resort to the more traditional legacy approach of backing up their data on-premises, this strategy is less secure as it essentially acts as just one copy of data that can be easily targeted and destroyed. It also has limits as to how much information can be stored, which schools can quickly outgrow and need to pay in time and resources to maintain and scale. Cloud storage provides a more secure, easier-to-use, and cost-effective backup option.

Related:
Building community-wide support for IT transformation
5 tools every school tech director should use

Technology’s role has been elevated to an integral strategic function in today’s school districts. But getting everyone to understand the value of digital transformation can be challenging and test the persuasion and people skills of even the most seasoned IT leaders.

Here are some strategies IT teams can use to help build a supportive culture for ongoing technology investments.

Set Up Direct Lines of Communication

Less than 30 days into my role at Judson ISD, our district was hit with a devastating ransomware attack that led to a total network takedown. While there were many lessons learned from that experience, one of the silver linings was how it brought to light across the district how critical our technology systems are.

This realization served as a catalyst for our IT team to develop direct lines of communication with every department.

Now, each department in the district has a dedicated IT staff member who manages their technology, system, and platform needs. This structure helps bridge any communication gaps between teams and creates trust that IT is there to support each department and their goals.

Develop Your Business Case

It’s not a question of “if” but “when” – cyberattacks or some other event will impact your district sooner or later. And the older your equipment, the more vulnerable it is to negative events that will impact student learning and staff productivity.

The key is to be as proactive as you can in shoring up critical infrastructure. But many IT leaders struggle when faced with pushback about the need for technology investments or requests for increased funds. In these instances, leaders need to present a solid business case factoring in the total costs and impact to the district should the system or network fail.

Related:
5 safeguarding tips for schools this year
5 ways to make your IT department more efficient

Teaching methods have changed dramatically over the last few years, leading to numerous electronic resources entering the classroom. This makes school IT a formidable challenge—security experts have to juggle budget constraints with heavy traffic on the network due to a huge number of connected devices.

There is no stopping the use of technology to enhance student engagement and learning. Therefore, cybersecurity concerns are increasing along with K–12 schools’ dependence on technology.

While no network is impervious to assaults, a reliable and effective network security solution is crucial for safeguarding student data and decreasing districts’ vulnerability to data theft and sabotage.

The tools you select, and their respective performance levels, should be determined by your tech team’s budget and capabilities. Let’s outline the five tools that school tech departments need to be using.

Infrastructure and Configuration

Staying on top of network controls, flow, and operations is essential because unpatched network firmware is a common source of attacks. Network configuration helps set up and maintain networking devices, firmware, and software to block new exploits and fix bugs.

According to a recent Microsoft analysis, over the past two years, at least one attempted firmware assault has been made against 80 percent of organizations in the UK, US, Germany, Japan, and China.

Network Configuration Management (NCM) tools can help keep track of network devices by monitoring for unauthorized configuration changes and distributing firmware updates. Additionally, network administrators with better network visibility and control over the change workflow through NCM tools can both undo mistakes and prevent them.

Network Monitoring

Network monitoring tools analyze performance metrics and alert admins to anomalies. There are various brands that offer an overview of performance metrics such as latency, bandwidth usage, responsiveness, and network-based applications and devices.

You can enforce an acceptable use policy for all devices on your network and create automatic security by installing monitoring tools, such as firewalls and content filters.

Related:
3 tips to balance the back-to-analog edtech transition
5 safeguarding tips for schools this year

During the “emergency teaching” era of the COVID-19 pandemic, digital resources and edtech tools were used by educators worldwide in an effort to maintain students’ continuity of learning. Tremendous investments were made by school systems in an effort to rapidly scale digital learning.

With many of the COVID-era restrictions receding, it is tempting to think that we’ve entered into a new, highly digital era of education that will be far less dependent on pencils and paper. But, in the famous words of college football insider and former coach Lee Corso, “Not so fast my friend!”  

Interestingly, the post-COVID teaching environment has so far, in my opinion, been marked by a strong desire to see things done with pencil and paper. In my district, I hear from educators, students, and families alike that they wish to see what they learned online to be applied in hard copy. After a two-year period where “virtually” everything was done on an iPad, parents have a thirst to see their children bringing home papers in their backpacks again.   

This push back to analog forces district leaders to view edtech through a new, more critical lens. Now, instead of looking at edtech as a solution for all levels in all ways, we are looking at where hard copy materials fit in with our edtech investments. For example, my district looked at our edtech tools from Discovery Education – specifically the Social Studies Techbook – for reading passages, student activities, and assessments that could be accessed either digitally or as PDFs/hard copy.  

Really, what we’re seeking is a way to balance our edtech investments and the gains we’ve made in creating engaging digital learning experiences with some of the more traditional aspects of education. Here are some strategies my district is taking to bring this sort of balance to our classrooms.  

Look for Text Options 

Depending on the edtech resource, the text that students read has a high level of accessibility for students, including language adaptation, lexile or reading level adaptability, text speech (the words on the digital page are read out loud by the device, which can also adapt languages), and the ability to change colors of the text or background for easier reading. All of these accessibility affordance are critical aspects of digital technology for inclusivity and equity.  

But screen time can quickly overwhelm students and families are also increasingly concerned with the amount of screen time their children have, in and out of the classroom. One option for balancing screen time with hard copy material is utilizing the text option available within many edtech resources. As an example, reading passages are available within portions of units, and can easily be printed by the teacher, they can be offered to the students.  

Sometimes it feels like a school district IT department doesn’t get the attention it deserves. Yes, technology is more a part of today’s education than ever before, but when tech is running smoothly, it is easy to forget IT departments and the staff that keep the infrastructure running exist. 

In my six years as the director of technology for the Pittsburg Independent School District, a town about 120 miles east of Dallas, we’ve gone through many changes, not to mention what the pandemic put us through. But when COVID-19 forced us all to remote learning nearly overnight, my six-person team was able to move 2,500 students to a one-to-one program rapidly and quite successfully.

As I look back, I realize there were numerous factors contributing to the team’s stellar work. What follows are a few points that might help other IT departments better handle future challenges while generally improving operations for the long term.

Support from Administration is Vital

My superintendent, Terry Waldrep, has a degree in computer science, and the school board president, Greg Miller, is a technology company senior manager with a PhD in information technology. In some situations, IT directors might fear being second-guessed by leaders like these, but here it is quite the opposite. While some folks might perceive that fixing an IT problem or distributing new hardware is as simple as knowing what button to push, both individuals understand the complexities of IT and the importance of a planning and systems for an IT department.

For instance, when our district needed to implement multi-factor authentication to update ransomware policies, I knew the technical change was relatively simple. But when communicating the importance of this new policy and training staff, I feared resistance. Our school board president not only understood why we were taking this step, but he offered his expertise as a resource if needed to convince skeptical staff about the change. It’s very helpful to have someone, both at the board level and the executive level, who understands IT and is equally invested in its success as my team and I are.

Listen to Your Employees

When our schools transitioned overnight to one-to-one learning and we had to create a help desk for students, I was worried about burning out the staff. Not only was our department physically handling computers for students and staff during the early days of the virus, but each staff member was being pulled in many directions at the same time.

To help them, I secured approval to hire a help desk aide for the entire department to organize the help desk. This seemingly small addition helped immensely. Not only did it validate their importance as individuals and as part of a team, it reset the tasks for our six-person group. They became more effective, better organized, and less stressed. Never forget that switching in and out of different work modes is costly; eliminating inefficiencies makes the whole department greater than the sum of its parts.

A universal truth over the last two years within the education sector has been this: Students need to continue learning, whether in school, at home, or somewhere in between. For many school systems and institutions, this meant sending students home with whatever device they could get their hands on–even ones that had been earmarked for disposal. Technology had to be put into the hands of students, one way or another. For many, this came at the cost of proper security precautions. Schools and institutions were at higher risk of security attacks, with more sensitive online data than ever before.

In the two years since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, most schools have returned to a fully in-person learning environment. However, for many, the damaging effects linger–in 2021 alone, 67 separate ransomware attacks impacted 954 schools and colleges, putting at risk the personal data of more than 950,000 students, according to a study by security firm Comparitech.

As we head into a new school year, it is time to ask ourselves: How can we better prepare and protect our students to be a line of defense against malicious attacks? And furthermore, who is tasked with properly training them?

Here are some crucial considerations when it comes to the future of school cybersecurity training.

Why do schools have poor cybersecurity posture? How has COVID changed this?

Schools have been susceptible to cyberattacks as long as any other technology-using industry. While prior to COVID much learning, and even homework, was done offline, records, grades, data, etc. have been stored online for quite some time. However, unlike many technology companies and legacy organizations, there’s been a notorious lack of computer science training for school IT professionals. Education IT teams have been stretched so thin with the onslaught of remote learning, they had to scale, plan, and remediate at a quicker pace than ever before.

The Great Resignation. The War for Talent. The K-12 Staffing Crisis.

Whatever you call it, K-12 school districts have a retention problem and it’s not unique to teaching staff – superintendents, principals, nurses, bus drivers, paraprofessionals, and others are departing in droves.

Between the pandemic’s disruption on student learning, overloaded schedules, and increased workloads, staff are burned out, frustrated, and leaving for enterprise roles or retiring.

Already tasked with managing a plethora of networks, devices, and applications critical to the mission of learning, IT teams have now been elevated to a strategic role, charged with driving multiple digital transformation initiatives across their districts – often with little increase in team capacity.

These challenges are not unique to K-12, which means IT leaders are in high demand in the job market. As a result, IT retention grows more challenging every year and can impact district innovation if unaddressed. Recent studies found IT workers have the lowest intent to stay in their jobs compared to all corporate functions and 7 in 10 digital leaders say their company is unable to keep pace with change due to worker shortages.

But IT teams don’t need to throw in the towel – here are four ways leveraging professional and managed technology services and/or partnering with experienced managed service providers (MSP) can mitigate challenges, reduce burnout, and improve retention:

1. A Reprieve for IT Teams

The sheer number of systems, devices, data, compliance, networks, etc., that education IT teams oversee is staggering. IT workloads were already increasing before COVID-19, but the pandemic accelerated 1:1 initiatives, leading to an explosion in connected devices needing support, networks needing optimization to handle the surge in connectivity, and systems needing protection from increasing cyberattacks. The result? Stressed and overburdened technology teams with too much on their plates and forced to ruthlessly prioritize, often resulting in day-to-day maintenance falling through the cracks. 

Within the past few years, thanks to COVID-19 and distance learning, the amount of technology in schools across the country has increased a hundredfold. Many districts are now supporting 1:1 device initiatives, giving students daily access to the internet and information through Chromebooks, iPads, and other smart devices. To the relief of the world, education has mostly returned to the classroom after the pandemic mandated distance and hybrid learning.

Now, along with paper notebooks and colored pencils, classroom supply lists include technology as essential learning materials. With access to smart devices comes different responsibilities for teachers and students, new ways of learning, and new distractions. What’s your school’s current technology acceptable use policy?

As teachers continue to enhance instruction using 21st-century devices, the written policies for technology are often not clear or outdated. In many schools, the rules for daily technology use are frequently delegated to the discretion of each individual classroom teacher.

Teachers know their students best, but this open policy leads to confusion for both students and teachers who must navigate the variety of expectations from one class to another. It might be fine to use headphones during work time in period one, but in period two they better be out of sight. A student may forget which teacher encourages the use of social media as an inventive form of learning and expression, and which only allows access to the learning management system. It may seem to one teacher that the class right after homeroom often needs extra reminders to put their devices away.

Today’s technologies are fairly new, so most teachers don’t have the experience, training, or adequate support to help students overcome the addicting nature of apps that manipulatively track and collect data to entice and masterfully distract human behavior.

The U.S. Department of education articulates the need for a common language at all school levels around the expectations of effective technology use (U.S. Department of Education, 2016). Most schools have an acceptable use policy (AUP), a document that outlines those expectations. Often hidden in the back of student handbooks, the AUP lists the do’s and don’ts of technology as a contract to be followed by students and staff. It should not be assumed that students, parents, or even teachers read these terms and conditions, or even understand them fully.

School networks are getting faster and more modern, but school IT leaders and IT departments struggle to keep up with the demand for remote access and support, according to an annual CoSN survey.

The State of EdTech District Leadership 2022 survey provides a high-level sense of what school district leaders think of the state of technology in education. The 2022 K-12 IT Leadership Survey is CoSN’s ninth annual survey and was made possible by the Ed-Fi Alliance and CDW-G, conducted in partnership with MCH Data, K12 Insight and AASA.

“There are no lack of challenges facing our nation’s schools today, but the annual CoSN IT survey also shines a light on several areas where we can be encouraged; increased connectivity, more devices, increased awareness of security and the outsized impact that IT leaders are having on their school districts’ planning processes,” said Troy Wheeler, president of the Ed-Fi Alliance.

“We’ve made strides in all these areas, and especially in the increase in awareness and action around data interoperability. When there is a district-wide data strategy, instructional leaders and IT leaders alike can accurately see trends over time and can better support educators and students with their own data. We’ll continue to support these efforts with our partners at CoSN.”

Key findings from the report include:

1. Though cybersecurity is the number one priority for IT leaders, risks are underestimated. For example, only 8% consider their district to be at high risk for a ransomware attack. Yet we know districts are a prime target for cyber criminals, according to CISA.

2. With 84% of districts implementing 1:1 strategies with school-owned devices, BYOD initiatives have largely been abandoned. And 1:1 strategies are happening at all grade levels, including at the elementary level.

3. Providing support for home access strains the resources of school district IT departments. More than half of districts are understaffed in their ability to provide remote support to students and families.

4. School networks are modernizing – only 19% report the relatively slow speeds of 100Mbps or less. Eight in ten report taking steps to advance data interoperability in their district, however, most are still in the early phases. SSO (Single Sign-On) is the most implemented interoperability initiative with 80% of districts having fully or partially implemented it.

5. There is a considerable salary gap between those working in towns/rural districts and those working suburban/urban districts for current IT district leadership.

6. Over the next 5 years 31% of current IT leaders plan to retire, including 12% who said they are retiring earlier because of the pandemic. This will be a major challenge for school systems everywhere.

7. IT leaders are still overwhelmingly white (85%) and predominately male (64%).

Demographics:

Nazareth Area School District is an eastern Pennsylvania school district with more than 4,800 students across six schools.

Biggest challenge:

Facing increasing demands to provide exceptional experiences for both students and teachers, our legacy network was simply not able to keep pace. We needed new network technology capable of supporting the digital curriculum within the classroom while also providing reliable wireless coverage outdoors to support the district’s new security strategy and emergency preparedness app.

Related content: 6 ways bus wi-fi could benefit your district

We realized that meeting these needs would require us to modernize the network from the edge to the core and that the solution would have to be both utility grade and simple to deploy.

Related Content:

eSchool News IT Solutions: Hardware and Management Guide

The eSchool News IT Solutions: Hardware and Management Guide is here! It features strategies to help K-12 IT leaders work with school administrators and teachers to prioritize IT solutions that support innovative digital learning in classrooms. A new eSchool News Guide will launch each month–don’t miss a single one!