Key points:
Most K-12 education technology leaders say they believe ai can benefit education, and about a third have an overall ai initiative, but cybersecurity remains at the top of their priority lists, according to the edtech-district-leadership-survey/” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>edtech State District Leadership 2024 report cosn.
The annual survey, now in its 11th year, provides school district leaders and policymakers with a comprehensive understanding of the K-12 IT landscape.
While educational technology leaders can often be isolated within their own district, this year's report offers the opportunity to analyze best practices in other districts and measure priorities and initiatives compared to other schools and districts.
CoSN's Educational technology Leadership Report offers valuable insights for superintendents, school boards, and business officials as they outline priorities and budgets to address the challenges and priorities outlined in the report—critical information that will also serve as a directional guide for the development of CoSN programs and resources.
“The role of educational technology leaders is rapidly expanding as technology permeates every aspect of our education system, requiring their proactive involvement. Our latest survey underscores the growing complexity of their challenges, from developing generative ai best practices and cybersecurity measures to addressing the digital equity gap. Since 2013, demands on educational technology leaders have increased, but district resources have not kept pace with these growing needs,” said Keith Krueger, CEO of CoSN.
The survey and report were conducted in partnership with AASA, the Association of School Superintendents, CDW Education, K12 Insight, Lightspeed Systems and MCH Strategic Data. This year's key findings include:
1. The overwhelming majority of educational technology leaders (97 percent) see benefits in how ai can positively impact education and more than one-third (35 percent) of districts report having a generative ai initiative.
2. Cybersecurity remains the top concern for edtech leaders, and 99 percent of districts are taking steps to improve protection. Increasingly, districts are on track to implement many cybersecurity best practices.
3. An overwhelming majority (93 percent) of districts are using technology solutions designed to address or improve student well-being.
4. A growing number of districts are no longer providing any services to address broadband access to students' homes: 31 percent this year compared to 19 percent just two years ago.
5. Single sign-on (SSO) is the most implemented interoperability initiative at 43 percent. Full implementation rates of other interoperability initiatives lag far behind.
6. Cybersecurity ranks first on edtech leaders' lists for professional learning, with 85 percent of respondents indicating they were extremely or very interested. In second place was IT crisis preparedness at 78 percent, followed by driving and sustaining K-12 innovation at 77 percent.
7. edtech leaders cite the inability to hire skilled staff as a top challenge, ranking second behind budget constraints.
8. Sixty-four percent of districts report taking steps to increase team diversity, and a quarter are actively recruiting. However, only one-third (34 percent) of districts report adding underrepresented populations to their technology department team in the past two years.
“Leveraging and championing technologies in our school systems has never been more important in public education. Everyday terms like artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, digital equity and interoperability are a priority in learning communities across our country, so it's no surprise to see some of this year's key findings focus on these areas,” said David R. Schuler, Executive Director, AASA. “Once again, it is an honor to partner with CoSN on this invaluable resource. I congratulate Keith Krueger and his team for administering the survey.”
The report was developed from a national survey of more than 980 educational technology leaders in US school systems. According to the results, districts are modernizing their infrastructure; however, other responsibilities, such as HVAC, telephone systems, and physical security systems, are under their purview and run on the school network. edtech leaders also face persistent issues, including obstacles to hiring highly skilled IT talent, device and internet access issues in students' homes, funding cliffs as pandemic funds expire, and enormous threats. of cybersecurity attacks.
“CDW is a proud corporate partner of CoSN and this annual survey to help support our district leaders in problem-solving, planning for the future, and building capacity in educational technology leaders,” said Janice Mertes, state-level ambassador for CDW Education.
“As the K-12 community addresses critical challenges, including infrastructure security, data privacy, ai adoption, and digital equity, the 2024 State of Education technology report again delivers important insight into IT leaders' priorities. Lightspeed Systems is proud to be a long-standing partner of CoSN, working together to understand and address these major issues head-on,” said Brian Thomas, CEO of Lightspeed Systems.
This press release edtech-leaders-no-1-priority-in-2024/” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>originally appeared online.
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