SETDA is developing a document for release in fall 2025 to help schools use federal professional development funds to boost teacher tech training, working in partnership with Learning Forward, a professional learning association for educators, as well as the International Society for Technology in Education and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ISTE+ASCD), according to a news release Monday. The project is supported by a grant from Google.org.
The focus of the guide is Title II-A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which provides federal funding to states and districts for educator professional development. The document will include research on how to effectively train teachers to use technology and details on how schools can best use Title II-A funds to provide this training, the news release states.
The impetus for the project is the fact that, according to a May 2024 report from the U.S. Department of Education (ED), fewer than 40 percent of school districts use any portion of their Title II-A funds for teacher professional development on the use of technology. Learning Forward's Chief Policy Officer Melinda George said the hope is to raise that percentage.
“Developing educators’ skills and knowledge around the use of technology must be planned and implemented as ongoing, job-embedded and collaborative professional learning,” George said in a public statement. “Title II-A dollars provide an essential funding source for equipping teachers and leaders to meet the needs of all students.”
The decision to create the resource comes in the wake of a “call to action” in the 2024 National Educational Technology Plan (NETP) to make sure teachers in every school offer quality lessons with and about technology. Lack of teacher professional development in this area has led to what ED calls a "digital design divide" — a division between districts that do and do not give teachers the time and support necessary for them to learn how to create lessons that use digital tools.
To close this divide, school leaders must address “opportunities for educators to expand their professional learning and build the capacities necessary to design learning experiences enabled by technology,” the plan states.
SETDA worked with ED to build the 2024 NETP. A common theme of educator input for the plan was that teachers need more professional development to be able to build quality lesson plans that include technology, according to SETDA Executive Director Julia Fallon.
“As the lead contractor to the U.S. Department of Education in developing the 2024 NETP, we heard from educators across the country about the critical need for time and support necessary to design instruction that meaningfully integrates technology use,” Fallon said in a public statement. “We are excited to collaborate with Learning Forward and ISTE+ASCD to identify ways that the long-standing Title II-A program can be leveraged to address these challenges and drive the modernization of our education system.”
