The purpose of the Instructional Technology Initiative (ITI) Task Force was to collectively research and identify a shared vision and ideal practices to support instructional technology efforts District-wide. Upon establishing a common, shared vision, the District will be better positioned to make informed instructional technology and infrastructure decisions moving forward. Convened in April 2015 by former Superintendent Ramon Cortines, the task force was carefully selected to ensure broad stakeholder representation from students, parents, and teachers to District administrators and community members. Recommendations were informed by a variety of task force efforts. For example, task force meetings were designed as collaborative learning opportunities to hear from both District stakeholders and leading education technology experts. In smaller workgroup meetings, members engaged in activities such as reviewing relevant research, examining similar efforts in neighboring Districts, and exploring national education technology standards. 

When the group first came together, members were passionate about ways to change the narrative and ready to make recommendations.  To ensure the quality of collaboration and task force outcomes, Dr. Gipson, Task Force Chairperson, advocated for setting time for learning as a community to capture the group’s best thinking. Thus, the task force work progressed along the following timeline: 


Meetings structures and methods of capturing members’ work were hybrid in nature, modeling ways digital tools could be used for collaborative activities alongside traditional methods. Feedback was elicited at each meeting, and each meeting was designed to provide a dynamic learning and immersing experience. Together, members developed and refined recommendations aimed at providing a robust instructional technology learning experience for all learners.

This report is comprised of the following sections:

• Introduction: This section provides the framing necessary to understand the proposed recommendations, which require an instructional paradigm shift.
• Foundations: This section highlights two resources that played an integral part in the development of each recommendation and the infrastructure requests needed to support a 21st century instructional shift.
• Recommendations: This section outlines the instructional recommendations put forth by the ITI Task Force, which were developed to lead subsequent infrastructure decisions. Recommendations were informed by a great deal of discussion through independent workgroup efforts and collaborative task force learning experiences.
• Infrastructure: This section identifies the infrastructure needs that must be fulfilled to support the proposed instructional recommendations.
• Funding Options: This section provides a summary of funding models that can be considered by the District to support effective instruction leveraging digital tools.
• District Efforts:This section outlines the District’s current efforts to implement an effective and sustainable model to implement personalized learning practices with digital learning tools.
• Glossary: This section defines keywords that are essential to understanding the full extent of each recommendation and their implication for cultivating a District-wide culture that supports personalized learning for all learners.