This chapter provides guidance, ideas and resources to assess the integration of technology into a school or district's instructional and management practices. Infusing a school with technology can be a transforming experience: the potential exists to change almost every aspect of school operations, and much of teaching and learning. Applications of technology in practice are examined through key questions, indicators, and measures for technology integration in the school setting.

There are a number of reasons to track the effectiveness of technology integration. The integration of technology into a school is in many ways like its integration into any business setting-technology is a tool to improve productivity and practice. Measures need to be available to assess effectiveness, and yet some of the most significant effects can be difficult to measure. For administrative tasks, technology can improve worker productivity by removing repetitive aspects of complex tasks or improving system communication. Technology integration in the classroom also has the potential to support important educational goals. Technology, it has been argued, helps change teacher-student relationships, encourages project-based learning styles, and supports the acquisition of skills such as "higher order thinking," analysis, and problem solving. The most important reason for measuring, though, is the understanding that the impact of technology on schools is dependent upon how successfully technology is integrated.

Defining Technology Integration

Technology integration is the incorporation of technology resources and technology-based practices into the daily routines, work, and management of schools. Technology resources are computers and specialized software, network-based communication systems, and other equipment and infrastructure. Practices include collaborative work and communication, Internet-based research, remote access to instrumentation, network-based transmission and retrieval of data, and other methods. This definition is not in itself sufficient to describe successful integration: it is important that integration be routine, seamless, and both efficient and effective in supporting school goals and purposes.

Integrating technology is what comes next after making the technology available and accessible. It is a goal-in-process, not an end state. The goal of perfect technology integration is inherently unreachable: technologies change and develop, students and teachers come and go-things change. It is the process by which people and their institutional setting adapt to the technology that matters most. The process of technology integration is one of continuous change, learning, and (hopefully) improvement. Developing a culture that embraces technology is also important to its successful integration; for example, sending important messages by e-mail, or encouraging staff to use electronic calendars to schedule meetings, fosters a culture that accepts technology as "natural" to the business of everyday work.

The understanding of integration here is constructed on the basis of analyses, presented in earlier chapters, of measures of the availability and accessibility of equipment, infrastructure, software, and applications. The present chapter begins with three key questions that address what users-teachers, students, administrators-bring to the application of technology: their own skills and knowledge. The next three key questions focus on the incorporation of technology into instruction's major components: curriculum standards, practices, and student assessment. Finally, two key questions address the incorporation of technology into two major aspects of school management: the processes and practices themselves, and the evaluation of administrative and instructional staff.

Indicators related to teacher and administrator training may be found in Chapter 6, Professional Development. Indicators and data elements related to maintenance and support of software and hardware may be found in Chapter 5.

Obtaining measures for indicators in this chapter often requires purpose-built survey questions or other forms of assessment. Technology integration is one domain that may well require special data collections, although wherever possible in the handbook, indicators and data elements have been recommended that can be found in, or easily added to, existing record systems.

The indicators provided here are recommended because they will give useful, comparable information. It should be stressed that the handbook does not recommend a data collection, nor does any agency require that any of the data in this chapter be collected. Technology planners and administrators can choose what measures and standards best to apply in their districts. Enough indicators are given to provide examples; users will adapt these examples to their own school or district's situation, or develop new ones.