Ms. Patrick said the report is not a paper exercise. 鈥淲e are going to follow up specifically on each action step and recommendation,鈥� she promised.
It is the first such plan to be produced by the current Bush administration, following two plans that were drawn up in 1996 and 2000, during the Clinton administration.
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The new report, which is a one-shot requirement under the No Child Left Behind Act, is being delivered to Congress almost exactly one month after President Bush signed an omnibus spending bill that cut by 28 percent the main federal block grant for the use of technology in schools.
That cut to funding for the Enhancing Education Through Technology grant program has alarmed school technology advocates, who have vowed to campaign for restoration of the money for the next fiscal year.
Educators are likely to use the new national technology plan to make their case, because the aims of the federal grant program, which dispensed $692 million to states and districts in fiscal 2004, ending Sept. 30, are consistent with the plan.
鈥淸The plan] is being released to a new Congress, which has a job to do in restoring these cuts,鈥� said Melinda G. George, the executive director of the State Education Technology Directors Association, based in Washington.
鈥榃here We Need to Go鈥�
The plan鈥檚 28 specific recommendations include support for virtual schools, greater broadband access for schools, and integration of instructional and administrative data systems.
The report does not spell out a federal responsibility for school technology.
鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 directly call out specific roles for any group,鈥� said Susan D. Patrick, the Education Department鈥檚 director of educational technology, whose office crafted the report, using input from students, educators, researchers, and the business community. 鈥淚t is designed to help [all the groups] focus on where we need to go.鈥�
Ms. Patrick said the report is not a paper exercise. 鈥淲e are going to follow up specifically on each action step and recommendation,鈥� she promised.
