If you are a teacher, education administrator, parent, or interested community member looking for demonstrated ways to facilitate technology integration with professional development programs, you’ve come to the right place.

Here you will find

• a list of 10 key questions designed to help educators choose a Model for their professional development programs. Included with each question is a list of strategies used by Technology Innovation Challenge Grant (TICG) project leaders to accomplish their professional development goals.
• the opportunity to share and Discuss successful techniques for accomplishing professional development goals
• snapshot descriptions, with a focus on professional development aspects, of the 38 Projects funded nationwide from 1998 to 2000 by the TICG program. Individual project listings also include plans, evaluation instruments, curricular material, and many other documents use by the projects that can be uploaded, as well as contact information and links to project Web sites.
• Spotlight articles that showcase three exemplary TICG projects
• an extensive list of Research resources used by the projects to design and implement their professional development programs
• a convenient Search capability for locating projects and associated products

Brief History of the Technology Innovation Challenge Grant Program

In 1994, Congress passed the Improving America's Schools Act, pledging $2 billion over a five-year period to, in the words of then-Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley, "help states and local communities create and implement their own plans for integrating technology into teaching and learning for the purpose of achieving excellence among students." The section of this law known as the Technology for Education Act of 1994 created the Technology Innovation Challenge Grant Program. This program awarded $5 to $10 million each to local education agencies to develop and demonstrate, over a five-year period, innovative information/computer technology applications that addressed systemic educational reform. Among the projects' requirements were to

• focus on reforming and improving schools
• serve all youth, especially children of poverty
• activate community partnerships with a commitment of local funds
• strive to achieve rigorous standards in core academic subjects
• improve the productivity and knowledge of employees
• build in careful evaluation

This Web site highlights the 38 TICG projects funded for five years from 1998 to 2000, with special emphasis on the professional developments methods and models used by the projects. Initially, from 1995 to 1997, 62 TICG projects were funded nationwide. They are described in Seeds of Innovation: Three Years of the Technology Challenge Grant Program, a publication produced by and available from IAETE at AEL. This publication may be ordered through AEL's online store.