Working At The Edge

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Superintendents and Technology

By Randy Ziegenfuss

The Gallup Organization and Education Week recently teamed up to survey superintendents across the country. The organizations plan to administer  similar surveys for superintendents four times annually. The first survey asked questions about Common Core Standards and the potential of technology. While only about 2,500 of 12,000 superintendents responded (NOT representing a nationally representative mix). the results prompt some questions.

  • In 2013, why do we still have educators (especially superintendents in such influential positions) who would strongly disagree or even disagree (1 or 2 below) with any of the survey statements?
  • Does the fact that the survey is admittedly NOT representative of a national mix mean anything significant?
  • What is the bottom line in terms of interpreting the data?

Personally, it baffles my that we still have leaders in influential positions such as superintendent who think technology is something superfluous. Since the survey participants do not represent a national sample, the results may be skewed. Maybe future surveys will shed more light on these results But I think the bottom line is that the survey confirms the notion that we have work to do in developing school leadership to embrace new models of learning that include the use of technology. A lot of work. While between 50-75% agree or strongly agree with the statements, I don’t think that’s good enough.

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Randy Ziegenfuss
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Randy Ziegenfuss
I've retired from public education after 34 years, most recently as Superintendent. In addition to blogging at WorkingAtTheEdge.org, I co-host two podcasts at TLTalkRadio.org and ShiftYourParadigm.org. Learn more at https://workingattheedge.org/about/.
Randy Ziegenfuss
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Latest posts by Randy Ziegenfuss (see all)
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About Working At The Edge:

My name is Randy Ziegenfuss, and I'm a retired public school superintendent and a life-long educator with over 34 years experience developing a passion for teaching, learning, leadership and technology. <read more...>

I first came across the phrase working at the edge while learning about the work of Marzano, et al. School Leadership That Works: From Research to Results. In this work, the researchers define 21 responsibilities of the school leader, one being change agent. A change agent is defined as one who is, "...willing to challenge school practices that have been in place for a long time and promoting the value of working at the edge of one's competence."

Randy Ziegenfuss, Ed.D.

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