School Technology Leaders Increasingly Focused on Broadband and Network Capacity and Student Data Privacy

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School Technology Leaders Increasingly Focused on Broadband and Network Capacity and Student Data Privacy

For the first time, broadband and network capacity is the top priority for school system technology leaders, according to CoSN's (the Consortium for School Networking's) 2016 K-12 IT Leadership Survey Report.

Released today at the CoSN 2016 Annual Conference in Washington, DC, the fourth annual report also revealed that IT leaders are devoting more attention and resources to the privacy and security of student data.

The report shows to the education community the trends, challenges and priorities for school system technology leaders today.

The 10 key findings of the 2016 K-12 IT Leadership Survey Report follow:

  1. Broadband and network capacity is the top priority for IT leaders, replacing assessment readiness (which for the first time failed to make the top three).
  2. Privacy and security of student datais an increasing concern for IT leaders, with 64 percent saying they are more important than they were last year.
  3. Nearly 90 percent of respondents expect theirinstructional materials to be at least 50 percent digital within the next three years.
  4. Virtually all responders (99 percent) expect to incorporate digital Open Educational Resources (OER) over the next three years, with 45 percent expecting their digital content to be at least 50 percent OER within that timeframe.
  5. Nearly 80 percent of IT leaders use online productivity tools – the largest use of cloud-based solutions in education.
  6. District bans on student personal devicesare a thing of the past – only 11 percent have banning policies.
  7. The path to IT leadership differs for women and men. The vast majority of women come from educational / instructional backgrounds (72 percent). The majority of men (54 percent) come from technology / technical backgrounds.
  8. Racial diversity in IT leadership is lacking. Ninety-percent of school IT leaders are white.
  9. IT leaders have advanced education, with 75 percent earning some college beyond their bachelor's degree.
  10. More than one-third of IT leaders plan to retire in the next six years.

The 2016 K-12 IT Leadership Survey was conducted in partnership with MDR and sponsored by SchoolDude.

To view the entire report, please visit: cosn.org/itsurvey.

Tech & Learning