Administrator Benefits

ClassLink has been conducting focus groups with superintendents for years and we have built software and service offerings to address their challenges. Want to know what today’s school district leaders cite as their top instructional technology challenges? Here’s what they say.

Challenge 1: Cost and Return

Instructional technology has a higher recurring cost structure than desired. This is especially driven by the high rate of tech obsolescence and, in recent years, lower state and federal aid specifically towards technology.

So we asked the leadership,
‘Does this mean your district is less likely to invest in instructional technology?’ here is their reply.

…“no, we don’t mind committing more resources to technology, so long as it yields an instructional return and does so in a more cost effective way than in the past. We have to find a way to lengthen the useful life of the equipment AND improve it’s contribution to learning”

Challenge 2: Home Access

The instructional software found in most classrooms today is more complex than the simple ‘drill and kill’ applications that were commonplace in years past, yet there is less ‘free’ time in the day’s schedule to take the time needed to learn and maximize the value of these newer software programs. Just like investments in textbooks, students and teachers must be given access to the district’s instructional software investments from home.

From a technical perspective, that means more than token ‘file access’ or ‘e-lockers’. Students and teachers need a reliable and Universal access to their entire electronic Learning Environment. That means a full and consistent experience from their home computer or for that matter, any computer on the internet. A true Universal Learning Environment gives students and teachers secure and consistent 24/7 access to all their software and school work from any computer in the school, community or from home.

…“24/7 access to the district’s instructional software would allow students and teachers to do what they already do with their school textbooks and notebooks, work on their own schedule.”

Challenge 3: Know what works

In recent years, largely through NCLB, district leadership have been embracing research-based and data driven decision making leveraging data warehouse solutions to store and analyze all the information for the aim of identifying what improves learning and doing more of it.

Yet with all this attention on electronically analyzing test scores, curriculum completeness, lesson alignment, etc., districts still have little information on which of all their of instructional software investments raise grades. K-12 school districts in the U.S. spend nearly $3 billion a year on software and related services and district leadership are beginning to ask the tough questions regarding measuring the learning return on instructional technology.

…”accountability is everywhere, like so many other areas in a school, if technology needs resources and funding, it needs to start measuring its contribution towards student achievement.”

Classlink has been listening...

Since 1998, ClassLink has specialized in products and services that deliver Universal access to all the Learning software on your school computing Environment. That's why we call it a Universal Learning Environment. No other company has the experience, the dedication and the awards that we do in this space.

Join the hundreds of thousands of students and teachers already benefiting from 24/7 access to instructional software tools from any computer in the school, community or from home.

Click here to have a ClassLink associate contact you.