Administratorsare challengedto integratetechnologyinto the classroomand its operationsin a way that productivelysupports the goal of educatingchildren. Technologyfor its own sake is counterproductive.
Government Standards
The pressure to address these issues has increased in recent years with the implementation of the No Child Left Behind act in the U.S., and many other mandates at the state and local level. No Child Left Behind states that by the end of the eighth grade, all students should have technology literacy. States must certify that they are working toward this goal to receive certain federal funds.
Governments and communities are raising the bar on education standards, even as budgets are more and more constrained. In many cases, not meeting these standards means losing funding and losing students to other schools.
Given these additional headaches, it behooves a school district to seriously review its communications strategy to see how it can get teachers and staff more connected to parents and each other – in the classroom, in a mobile campus environment, and in the community.
Security
Every school needs a way to quickly lock down the premises and broadcast emergency messages to the necessary personnel. And information security is also vital. Student records, teacher files, and district applications must be protected from mischievous students, hackers, identity thieves, worms and viruses.
And just like businesses, districts have human resources, payroll, food services, transportation departments, etc. These staff members need access to the highest quality, most reliable enterprise network – with access and security extended to wireless data service. A district that runs well operationally is best positioned to support teaching and learning.
And with tight budgets for network and telecom equipment, a good solution must be user friendly with simple network management, manageable with only a handful of network administrators.
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