Thank you. It’s great to be here today. You know, as I look
out at this audience of education professionals, I can’t help
but think of Mrs. Darby’s seventh grade math class at Johnson
Junior High. Mrs. Darby was the first teacher in my school
to have a teletype terminal in our school, and that really
changed my life. I know now better than ever how important
it is for technology to become part of our children’s lives
in school.
I’ve personally benefited from the Houston Independent School
District and now, my wife and I have the privilege of giving
back to teachers, educators and the children they influence
through our Family Foundation. Over the past seven years, the
Michael and Susan Dell Foundation has committed $170 million
to education programs around the world…and we’re particularly
proud that we’ve contributed $70 million right here in Texas.
This is a great state, one we are very proud to be a part of…it’s
a place where you can expect us to continue to invest in what
you do to provide the best possible future for the children
of Texas.
I believe we all know that when the public and private sectors
work together, we can make an incredible impact. What I’d like
to share with you today is what’s working, based on our own
experience at the Foundation.
We all know there are no silver bullets to improve student
achievement.
But we have observed that there are several critical elements
that make any reform or program successful:
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First, we have to understand the needs of the students
in your school or district – what are the gaps in their learning?
What are their strengths?
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Second, we have to define what “good” looks like – how
high is high? How will you measure success?
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Third, it’s imperative that you monitor results real-time
so that you can make continuous improvements in the classroom.
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And, finally, we have to cultivate the leadership and skills
necessary to execute well.
In our work, we have seen many different programs that work
well to improve student results if they have those critical
elements – from AP Strategies to Avid to charters and more.
Like many things, success is in the execution.
And technology plays such an important role in improving education
today. Let me describe three important observations.
The first is to develop technology as a SKILL.To help
young people succeed in today’s global economy, they
need to have the math and science proficiency and technical
skills required to compete. The impact of education technology
goes beyond the individual, though. Successful nations need
people with 21st century skills and the ability to fully utilize
the tools of the modern age.
The fact is, those countries with a well-trained workforce
attract companies looking to expand globally. Such companies
generate real economic opportunity and the kinds of well-paying
jobs that are greatly needed in all parts of the world – including
right here in the U.S. and in Texas.
As an example, India’s focus on math and science education
has been an integral part of the economic success it’s enjoyed.
With the IT industry flourishing there, India’s gross domestic
product has increased around 8 percent per year for the last
three years, making it one of the fastest-growing economies
in the world.
Likewise, China has steadily increased its annual government
expenditures on education. This is really interesting. Just
last year, it committed to having education spending equal
to four percent of the GDP, representing an estimated $27 billion
investment in education over the next five years.
It’s important that WE also invest in the education of
OUR students, because in today’s world, they’ll
be competing against students in the countries I just mentioned,
and beyond.
To that end, MSDF is a founding partner and investor in the
Texas High School Project, a $261 million dollar public/private
partnership focused on improving high school graduation rates
and increasing college access for high need students in major
urban areas. Our foundation is investing in proven, results-driven
program and new, innovative efforts like the T-STEM initiative
which will create 35 math/science academies serving 20,000
low income students.
The second point is that technology is also important as a
delivery mechanism. Today’s technology can help teachers
deliver content to the classroom in an exciting and consistent
way.
But all too often, walking into a modern-day classroom is like
teleporting back to the 1950s.
Here’s what we’re doing to change that. At Dell,
we’re working with many innovative districts to combine
wireless notebooks, interactive whiteboards, polling devices,
document cameras, projectors and televisions to transform an
ordinary classroom into an engaging, interactive learning environment.
In Australia, we’re working with the Northern Territory
Department of Employment, Education and Training to connect
40,000 students across the Outback using thousands of desktop
and notebook computers.
And we’re very excited about a project we’re working
on in Mexico. We’re installing computers, software, interactive
whiteboards, projectors and printers in more than 48,000 fifth
and sixth grade classrooms.
In districts like Round Rock ISD – right up the road – we’re
working with schools to install what we call “Intelligent
Classrooms.”
Beyond just engaging students, these districts are building
21st century skills that they’ll need to compete in today’s
global economy.
And then, perhaps what’s most often overlooked is the
third point…the role of technology as a management tool. One of the challenges facing today’s educators is the
abundance and complexity of the data required to manage a large
enterprise and drive student achievement. Today, districts
are actually overflowing with data, but it’s mostly housed
in a fragmented and outdated IT infrastructure. They don’t
have the tools or resources to translate that data into meaningful
and actionable information.
Where data systems do exist, the progress is typically reported
to the districts and states – not teachers – and
that’s usually months after it is collected. And the
data often takes the form of an end-of-year assessment, which
doesn’t allow parents or teachers to understand student
performance in real-time so they can make needed adjustments.
Data systems should be improved to provide teachers with timely
access to student progress so they can use that data to provide
targeted, effective teaching and improve student achievement.
Ideally, districts would have access to:
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IT and business processes that ensure frequent data capture
and access;
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Various levels of data for use at the state, district,
system, school, department and classroom levels;
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Strong assessment and curriculum systems that provide frequent
assessments aligned to state curriculum;
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A way of distilling data into user-friendly reports or
scorecards (so you don’t have too much data and too
little information);
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And the training to ensure that teachers and staff can
translate data into an action plan (e.g. How should this
change my classroom instruction next week / next month /
next semester?
So here in Austin, our foundation is working on district-wide
high school redesign with the Austin Independent School District
and Superintendent Pat Forgione in partnership with the Gates
Foundation. The focus in AISD is on improving data-driven decision
making at the campus level.
They are developing and implementing a set of scorecards, tools,
and professional development tools to help teachers and principals
to better understand student needs, target students with differentiated
instruction, and track the results so that high school redesign
can achieve its goal of increased student performance. At the
state level, MSDF is launching a public-private partnership
with TEA to roll out what we’re calling “Tools
for Teaching Excellence Statewide Pilot.” There’s
your pilot program, Ross. The project will support the development
and implementation of simplified scorecards and supporting
processes and systems in six Texas school districts, which
will provide teachers and professional personnel with better
data to improve student performance.
I’m proud of these projects. But there’s much more
to do.
And it’s not necessarily going to be easy. Providing
education technology to all students comes with some fairly
big challenges. How do we fund technology for all schools?
How do we integrate technology seamlessly into the curriculum?
How do we assess whether a student has actually developed the
skills they need?
This is territory just now being explored in many U.S. classrooms.
And I’m the first to say that we don’t have all
the answers for making it happen. But we recognize that we’re
an important part of figuring it out.
Ross talked about creative ideas. To help generate ideas, we’re
launching a new online community today called Dell Ideastorm
which empowers consumers to share their ideas with us on how
to advance technology.
We couldn’t think of a better place to announce this
than here at the Education Summit, which symbolizes the power
of listening…and more importantly, learning.
With IdeaStorm, we’ve established an “Education” category,
and we’re inviting teachers from around the world to
log on and share their ideas on how technology can improve
education, now and going forward.
This outlet is a great way for Dell to hear directly from teachers,
but it’s also an online community where teachers, parents
and students can exchange ideas and learn from each other.
You know, no matter which industry you come from, we all have
a vested interest in education. The knowledge and skills of
our citizens’ impacts how you staff your business, how
you market your products and services, and frankly, whether
your customers are employed and can afford the products you
provide
Perhaps more than ever before, the Internet Generation – our
children today – are poised to leverage technology in
revolutionary ways. But we have to work together so children
can translate that technical proficiency from their personal
lives to their school work, and then later to their careers.
I want to close by remembering Mrs. Darby again, since she
reminds me of a quote by Henry Brooks Adams, who said, “A
teacher affects eternity, he can never tell where his influence
stops.”
All of you play a tremendous role in influencing the children
of the Lone Star State and your impact will last a lifetime.
As a fellow Texan, I can tell you that we’re proud of
what you do as educators, and I know that my wife, Susan, and
I will always do our best to support your efforts.
Thank you.
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