More Resources Secretary Paige's Remarks

Testing students and holding educators accountable for their academic progress are prevalent themes throughout the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). To strengthen the implementation of NCLB, the U.S. Department of Education is sponsoring two technology leadership summits, the first of which will be held March 10-12 in St. Louis and is designed to provide guidance and strategies for decision-makers who are developing accountability and assessment systems.

"Technology will play a very important role in achieving the goals and objectives of No Child Left Behind," said U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige, who is scheduled to give the keynote address on the first day of the summit. "Ultimately, we want to use these summits to have productive discussions with state and local education leaders and offer them insight on how emerging technologies can help schools meet the requirements of NCLB."

The first summit, entitled, "Empowering Accountability and Assessment Using Technology," will provide technical assistance to help state and local school districts identify technology tools and resources to support the accountability, student information and data requirements of NCLB; demonstrate how to use data to inform decisions; provide guidance on how to implement online assessments; explore next-generation assessment tools; and demonstrate how online assessments can inform instruction at the classroom level.

Six-person teams of representatives from each state have been invited to attend the summit. The teams will be made up of chief state school officers, directors of accountability, curriculum, assessment, technology, and information technology and state education board members. Registration also is open to the public.

The summit will also include five plenary sessions and 60 concurrent workshops, including Moving Accountability Data from Information to Action, Online Tests versus Paper Tests, and Ways Technology Can Support the Accountability and Assessment Provisions of NCLB.

The second leadership summit, "Increasing Options Through E-Learning: Policy Framework and Models for Virtual Schools," is scheduled to be held in July.

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