Technology Leadership, Planning, and Professional Development
Core content
Leadership items ask how a technology program is built and sustained. Know the anatomy of a campus or district technology plan: vision tied to the improvement plan, measurable goals, needs-assessment evidence (achievement data, teacher-readiness surveys, infrastructure audits, budget review), professional development design, infrastructure and refresh cycles, funding, an evaluation and revision timeline, and named stakeholders.
Understand total cost of ownership-hardware, software and licenses, network, technical support, professional development, replacement, and disposal-not just purchase price. Know E-rate basics and the CIPA obligations attached to them, acceptable-use policy development, data governance and privacy, and equity issues such as the homework gap. For professional development, apply adult-learning principles: sustained, job-embedded, collaborative, content-focused, with modeling, coaching, and follow-up; one-shot workshops rarely change practice. Coaches and teacher leaders exercise distributed leadership, and change management requires a shared vision, early wins, and openly addressing concerns.
Traps to expect
Options that sound efficient often fail: a single large training day offered as the "best" professional development, buying devices before planning bandwidth, support, and training, or evaluating PD only with a satisfaction survey. TCO distractors list devices and software but omit support, PD, and refresh. Plans without measurable objectives or a review cycle are weak. Leadership is not limited to administrators-coaches and teacher leaders are legitimate answers. Also watch compliance confusion: E-rate discounts trigger CIPA requirements.
Worked example
A campus rolls out a device initiative. The plan states the goal (increase writing proficiency), the measure (rubric-scored samples each quarter), the support (coaching cycles), the cost (four-year TCO including refresh and PD), and the evaluation (teacher implementation data at 6–8 weeks plus achievement data at year end). Rule of thumb: if a plan cannot name who measures what, when, and with which evidence, it is not yet a plan.