May 2003 — Special Feature

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10 Technology Funding Sources in NCLB

By Charles Blaschke

No child left behind reflects conservative goals, namely accountability and parent choice, to be met through liberal means: increased salaries and financial incentives for teachers, reduced class size, and targeting of funds on high-poverty schools and districts. While instructional technology use is cited, even encouraged, in numerous provisions of the law, it is not a priority within the U.S. Education Department's (ED) regulations regarding implementation of NCLB issued over the last year.

Under Title II, Part D, "Enhancing Education Through Technology," 50% of funds are available through the state discretionary component and 50% are provided to districts under a formula basis (see "Implementing the Complex-ities of NCLB" on page 25). However, there are two problems with this fund. First, two years ago, before NCLB was passed, the administration promised education technology advocates that if they supported converting the competitive Technology Literacy Challenge Fund federal grant program to a block grant it would ask for an additional $130 million, raising its total to $1 billion. But, when the appropriations for fiscal 2002 were finalized, the total amount was slightly less than $700 million, which is about $166 million less than the funding for technology in fiscal 2001.

Second, ED regulations dated May 22, 2002, encouraged districts to transfer up to 50% of the formula portion of the funds to other activities. While the law stipulates that states have to report annually on how many students at the eighth-grade level have achieved technology-literacy proficiency, how many teachers have been trained to use technology, and how many students have access to the Internet in the classroom, these regulations do not require such reporting. The problem this poses to technology advocates can be summed up in seven words: "What d'esn't get reported, d'esn't get done." If states don't have to report how much progress is being made in meeting some of the technology indicators, then Congress may stop its funding of such programs for which progress is not being measured.

Nevertheless, it is almost impossible to implement many of the important provisions of NCLB without relying on technology. District technology decision-makers, who are faced with both shrinking budgets and pressure to find technology-based solutions to help their districts meet some of the NCLB requirements, find themselves in a predicament. However, there are tricks, opportunities if you will, for both using and funding technology through different programs and requirements mandated by NCLB.

The following are 10 such areas where districts can use technology to meet NCLB standards and use NCLB to fund the purchase of technology to meet the necessary requirements.

  1. Improving student achievement in math and/or reading. Technology-based instructional solutions that have proven to be effective in improving student achievement in math and/or reading will be in high demand as a result of NCLB. A year-old report, which has yet to be released, conducted by James A. Kulik, Ph.D., for the National Science Foundation, includes a meta-analysis of 36 "controlled evaluations." The report found that integrated learning systems (ILS) have produced not only statistically significant academic increases compared to controlled groups, but the "effect size" is educationally meaningful in math and science, with mixed results in reading. (Visit