Advocacy 

Kathleen McClaskey, NHSTE's Advocacy Chair

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NHSTE Advocacy Plan

       Broadband Access & Network Connectivity

●      Short Term Goal - Increase the involvement of NHSTE’s technical membership in broadband efforts across the state.

●      Medium Term Goal - Encourage the collaborative development of architecture standards, policies, and protocols resulting in reliable networks that remove “network down/slow” issues from learning environments.

●      Long Term Goal - Initiate a NH ConnectEd collaborative effort to address broadband needs/solutions.

       Professional Learning

●      Short Term Goal - Define emerging professional learning paradigms through multiple partner collaborations (NHSTE, NHDoE, IHE).

●      Medium Term Goal - Continue to work with institutes of higher education through Bob McLaughlin’s effort to support the development of 21st century teachers emerging from NH teacher preparation programs.

        Meta-discipline of Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math (STEM)

●      Short Term Goal - Provide the Governor’s STEM Task force with existing federal, regional, state, and local initiatives and resources that are aligned with their final recommendations.

●      Short Term Goal - Emphasize and promote the STEM focus at CMTC.

●      Medium Term Goal - Collaborate with NH ConnectED and other organizations (e.g. SERESC) on professional learning opportunities that would support STEM efforts across the state.

●      Long Term Goal - Conduct a review of inclusive STEM efforts to help ensure that students with learning challenges have access to STEM experiences.

       Digital Learning Environments & Strategies

●      Short Term Goal - Monitor state and federal legislation around data security and privacy issues as they impact cloud-based and web-based services, tools, and digital resources.

●      Medium Term Goal - Inform and support schools about new learning environments that include access to digital resources, instructional models. and learner needs/preferences.

        Anyone interested in working on any of the NHSTE Advocacy goals or joining the NHSTE Advocacy Committee, please contact Kathleen
        McClaskey at khmcclaskey@gmail.com.

        September 2014

        __________________________________________

I attended the Washington Policy Summit on April 10th and 11th and had the opportunity to meet with Senator Shaheen for a brief conversation and photo op. I met with the legislative aides for education of Senator Shaheen and Rep. Kuster and met with the commerce and educational aides for Senator Ayotte’s office. The discussion included these issues:

• To Raise the E-Rate’s annual cap to ensure that schools and libraries are able to provide a technological infrastructure sufficient to preparing all students for college and careers. This falls under the Commerce Department but the need to raise the cap is critical and I asked at each office to have or Senators and Representative provide support to that. The FCC has the right to raise rates but looks for support from Congress. The current cap was determined 10+ years ago and the funding has not been sufficient based on the demand of $5 Billion+ each year. An FCC Commissioner spoke to us on April 11th and told us that support from Congress is important to raise the rate this year.  Read more here about raising the cap and how much NH has received over the last 10 years: E-Rate Background

• • Support a dedicated educational technology program in any ESEA Reauthorization bill or bills. Such legislation has been proposed in the current and prior Congressional sessions:

• • House –HR 521 (113th Congress), the Transforming Education Through Technology Act (TETA). We urge House members to co-sponsors this measure

  • Senate – S. 1178 (112th Congress), the Achievement Through Technology and Innovation Act (ATTAIN). We urge the reintroduction of this bill in the House and Senate.

  • Representative George Miller spoke to us on April 11th and he was passionate about the House bill TETA that he is sponsoring. I spoke with Representative Kuster’s educational aide asking her to have Rep. Kuster be a co-sponsor on this bill.  She sounded very positive that could happen.

  • On a related note, we heard from House and Senatorial Education Committee members and it looks like that the reauthorization of ESEA may occur this August. Senator Harkin (D) and Senator Alexander (Republican) have been in discussion on the reauthorization.
    

  • Read about the background to the TETA bill: ESEA TETA Bill 2013
    

NHConnected

This is a collaborative group of state-wide organizations focusing on education and communicating with one another. For more information, please contact Kathleen McClaskey (NHSTE's Advocacy Chair).
Calendar - New Hampshire Educational Events

5 Ways to Advocate Today! (from ISTE)

Do you have . . .

One minute? Tweet! Enter your zip code at tweetcongress.org to find the Twitter handle of your U.S. representative and send him/her a tweet. Be sure to include your city and state and use the hashtag: #edtech

Two minutes? Spread the word. Send a customizable letter or email through the Ed Tech Action Network (ETAN) and share this website with 5 friends: www.edtechactionnetwork.org

Five minutes? Develop an effective elevator speech. Imagine yourself in a situation where you unexpectedly are in contact with someone who could be very effective in raising support for educational technology. You have less than a minute to make a positive impression on this person. Learn how to make a compelling case.

Fifteen minutes? Educate yourself and join the conversation. Hear it from the source: Hilary Goldmann, ISTE’s Senior Government Affairs Officer, shares the latest advocacy news from Washington, D.C., as it happens.

Sixty minutes or more? Get involved with the advocacy activities for your state’s ISTE Affiliate. Join their Advocacy Committee. If they don’t have one, start one. Set up a meeting with a policy maker or their staff locally. Can’t get to D.C.? That’s okay. Policy makers have offices throughout the state and they or their staff will meet with you. It’s a great way to share your expertise and become the go-to person for advice.