Dear Colleague Letter
The following letter has been mailed to the head of every school, college, and department of education in the United States.
March 2000
Dear Colleague:
Technology is an integral part of children's reality today and the future they will create. Technology offers a great potential for new and more powerful learning, but only if teachers are prepared to guide, shape, and lead this change. Today's teacher preparation programs play a major role in meeting this challenge. Working together, stakeholders can ensure that tomorrow's teachers apply the best tools to support the learning needs of America's children.
The CEO Forum on Education and Technology, a coalition of industry and education leaders, developed a self-assessment tool to help colleges of education chart a new course to improve the technology preparedness in today's teacher education programs. This School Technology and Readiness (STaR) Chart:
- provides teacher preparation programs with a set of benchmarks they can use to measure their progress in integrating technology into their programs;
- offers explicit goals that schools, colleges, and departments of education are encouraged to strive toward as they move from Early Tech to Target Tech; and
- draws national attention to the need for programs, policies, and funding to ensure that all teachers entering the classroom are competent and confident in their ability to use technology effectively to support student learning.
Over the past several years, access to computers and the Internet has exploded. But with this access has come a growing Digital Divide. President Clinton has proposed major new initiatives to help bridge the technology gap among our schools, families, and communities. We can only make progress in improving the digital opportunity for more Americans if we create partnerships among government, industry, academia, and nonprofit organizations. As one strategy to help close the Digital Divide, we must ensure that every future teacher is a well-prepared, technology-proficient educator. We can achieve this by joining forces in new partnerships that enable us to meet the objectives outlined by the CEO Forum's work. We hope that you will join us in this effort.
We know that the single most important factor in a child's education is a well-qualified teacher. Therefore, we are calling on you to take this opportunity to strengthen your teacher preparation program to ensure that all future teachers are well prepared and technology-proficient. In doing so, we encourage you to review the enclosed Letter of Commitment, which indicates that your institution commits to:
- Completing the CEO Forum's STaR Chart self-assessment*
- Setting a long-range goal of moving toward Target Tech status; and
- Ensuring that every new teacher graduates from our institution prepared to use and integrate technology effectively into teaching and learning.
Please submit the Commitment Form to the CEO Forum by Friday, April 14, 2000, via fax or online, so that we may add your institution's name to the Commitment Letter to President Clinton demonstrating your dedication to improving teacher preparation.
Sincerely,
Richard W. Riley
Secretary of Education
U.S. Department of Education
Arthur E. Wise
President
National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education
David G. Imig
President and Chief Executive Officer
American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education
Therese K. Crane
President
Compass Learning
CEO Forum Co-Chair
John S. Hendricks
Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer
Discovery Communications, Inc.
CEO Forum Co-Chair
Please submit the Commitment Form by Friday, April 14, 2000, so that we may add your institution's name to the Commitment Letter being submitted to President Clinton demonstrating your dedication to improving teacher preparation.
