Division of Program Support
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EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY NEWS From the New Hampshire Department of Education |
January 31, 2005 |
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IN THIS ISSUE § E-Rate Update § NCLB Title II-D Applications § NCLB Flexibility Website § New National Tech Plan § NH State Software Contracts § Federally Funded Comprehensive Centers
Looking for other info? Check out previous issues at www.nheon.org/oet/etnews |
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====================================== E-RATE UPDATE ====================================== http://www.sl.universalservice.org/
The following is information forwarded from the USAC and NCES concerning school and library applications for the E-Rate program. The first item pertains to the current funding schedule and the second item pertains to problems that are being encountered with the NCES ID field.
1. Schools and libraries have until 11:59 p.m. EST on February 18 to apply for FY 2005 E-Rate funding, which runs from July 1, 2005, to June 30, 2006. Applicants qualify for discounts of 20 percent to 90 percent of the cost of eligible products (Internet access, internal connections, and telecommunications services), depending on the number of students they serve who are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches and whether they are considered urban or rural. For more information, go to http://www.sl.universalservice.org/.
2. Some schools and libraries are reporting that they are having difficulty in completing their E-Rate applications when they left the NCES ID field empty or entered the 8-digit NCES private school code. USAC has been unable to duplicate the problems, suggesting that they have been corrected. However, they did forward the following information to NCES which NCES has asked us to share with you:
**Public and private schools and libraries applying for E-Rate grants complete an electronic application that requests an NCES ID number. If the applicant cannot find that number on the NCES public or private school, or library, locators, the applicant can leave that item blank, or key in anything. It's an open alpha field.
**The private school NCES ID code consists of 8 digits.
The public school NCES ID code consists of 12 digits. The application will
accept either number of digits, 8 or 12.
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====================================== NCLB TITLE II-D APPLICATIONS ======================================
Our office is still receiving and reviewing applications for Round 3 of the NCLB Title II-D formula grants. Applications will be accepted until February 28, 2005. If you are still preparing your application, here are some tips: ·
Be sure that
you use at least 25% of your allocation for high quality professional
development. Check out the NCLB descriptors of HQPD at: http://www.ed.state.nh.us/education/doe/organization/instruction/ · Don’t forget to complete the ANNUAL School Building Tech Survey for each school in your district (http://nh.vived.com) and to use the LoTi survey for gauging progress with technology implementation in the classroom. These are useful data gathering tools for evaluating progress toward the goals of your technology plan. · Don’t forget you must submit a Tech Progress Report by 2/28/05 in order to report how you spent previous year grant funds.
Our office is working with the Integrated Programs staff to coordinate the release of all of the NCLB title program applications at the same time this year. This will INCLUDE the Title II-D application and is expected to be released by June 30, 2005.
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====================================== NCLB FLEXIBILITY WEBSITE ======================================
At the request of the US DOE, the NEIRTEC organization has prepared a website and discussion board to help states and local school districts better understand the Flexibility provisions of NCLB. The site will assist states/districts in determining whether the Flex provisions can be helpful in their context.
NEIRTEC is currently
hosting an "online Expert Panel" on local and state flexibility -
running January 21 through Feb. 4. The "expert panel"
discussion board gives interested states and districts access to the
information and resources available via the website, and also to staff from
the Seattle Public Schools - a district that is currenty in Year Two of their
Local Flex implementation. Visit the website to sign up and participate in
the dialogue.
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====================================== NEW NATIONAL TECH PLAN ====================================== http://www.nationaledtechplan.org “Over the next decade, the United States will face ever increasing competition in the global economy…. To an overwhelming extent, this competition will involve the mastery and application of new technologies in virtually every field of human endeavor. It will place particular emphasis on the need for heightened skills in mathematics and science.” These words come from the National Education Technology Plan which was officially released on Friday, January 7th, 2005. What do you think about the plan? Visit the website to read the plan and the 7 action steps contained within it.
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====================================== NH STATE SOFTWARE CONTRACTS ======================================
Is your district taking
advantage of the State of New Hampshire Software Contracts? SAMPLE PRICING: For questions or pricing, just call or email: Greg Hall at 800-527-6389 x5846 (Greg_Hall@shi.com) or Barb West at 508-799-5433 (Barbara_West@shi.com).
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====================================== COMPREHENSIVE CENTERS ======================================
Congress has funded new Comprehensive Centers that may or may not include technology components based on the educational community’s feedback. There is a federal Regional Advisory Centers (RACs) process set up to garner feedback from across the states and regions about what the challenges are that states and regions are facing and what technical assistance is needed form the new Comprehensive Centers to address these challenges. If technology does not come up consistently as a need, it may not be an emphasis in the new comprehensive centers. Therefore, we are encouraging you to visit the Regional Advisory Centers website, www.rac-ed.org, and make comments about the types of technical assistance you would like to have through these comprehensive centers. This is the time for the technology voice to be heard.
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Regards, Cathy Higgins Visit us on NH Educators Online at http://nheon.org/oet |
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ET News is sent from the Office of Educational Technology at the New Hampshire Department of Education. ET News serves as a primary e-mail communication tool about technology matters pertinent to NH educators. Current and previous issues are posted on the web at www.nheon.org/oet/etnews and include information about: NHDOE technology surveys and technology planning Federal technology funding and E-rate discounts Research studies, curriculum information, and professional development related to technology implementation
Requests from service providers to disseminate information about their technology products and services using the electronic newsletter ET News can no longer be accommodated by existing OET staff (see March 29 issue of ET News). Providers are referred to the Reports and Statistics section of the NHDOE website, where several data reports are available in various formats, including School and SAU Information with names, phone numbers, and addresses, Student Dropout Data, and more. Go to the Reports and Statistics area of the NHDOE website at: www.ed.state.nh.us |
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