Practices and Tools for Meeting Needs of Today’s Learner

More than twenty-five years after the National Commission on Excellence in Education’s report A Nation-At-Risk (1983) cast a bright light on the predicament of public education in the United States and after two major federal legislative acts (NCLB, 2001 and IDEA, 2004), school leaders are still searching for “transformative” strategies and tools to achieve the quality learning opportunities needed for all children within our nation’s schools. In addition, the geometric expansion of knowledge and technology over this same period has been nothing less than extraordinary. In his keynote address at the Connected Learning Community Technology Summit, Bill Gates (2001) stressed that 21st century classrooms must be rich in content, collaboration, and technology. In light of the rapidly expanding content and evolving technologies, Gates challenged educators to seize the power and flexibility of computers to “transform the learning experience for every child.”