National School Board Association conference

Wow, lots to report from my first day at the NSBA conference. This will require frequent posts. Hopefully I can organize my thoughts.

Friday,today, I attended a full day session put on by the Technology Leadership Network which is a special interest group of the NSBA. Approximately 50 school board and educational leaders from around the US plus folks from Winnipeg, Canada and Sidney, Australia attended site visits at the Palo Alto Unified School District(PALY).

PALY is a K-12 district with 11,000 students. It is located next to Stanford University in the heart of Silicon Valley. Links can be found at PAUSD.org or paly.net

I calculated their per student spending as probably 25% more than Barnstable. Although the majority of that has to go to staff payrolls since the region has the most expensive housing market in the country.

I was expecting to see schools paved with gold and kids with ethernet cords plugged into their ears. Instead, I found a calm, innovative, integrated approach to using technology driven by creative teachers.

Their approach to technology is really very much site based. The District is responsible for infrastructure, grant writing, and equity (not much required). The individuals schools PACS and alotments of school based funds keep the technology going in each specific school.

They really do have decent hardware and software but nothing outrageous. For example they are just beginning to test out Smart Boards in a few classrooms. Also, they are talking about a capital bond to handle technology upgrades next year. They are discussing one to one laptop initiatives.

However, there does seem to be a tremendous culture of teachers experimenting with the integration of technology into their daily classes.

I am fascinated by this culture of innovation that seems to be in the air. Of course, PALY has never actually neglected technology. At the same time they are certainly using their equipment through its entire life cycle. What is obvious is that there has been consistent leadership and community support for the use of technology going back a generation.