Founded in 2001, the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) is the 501(c)(3) non-profit, national member association that serves, supports and represents the interests of the educational technology leadership of state education agencies in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Access more information about SETDA's founding partners.
As government at every level and in every sector is looking to technology to drive innovation and effectiveness, accountability, public engagement, and cost-savings, so too are state education agencies (SEAs). Coupled with the widespread recognition that today’s K-12 students will face dramatically different opportunities and challenges in work, life and citizenship than previous generations, it is a certainty that technology will play an increasingly pivotal role in public education. In fact, in the hands of students and teachers, technology already has begun to transform teaching and learning from a one-size-fits-all industrial era model to an experience that is much more personalized, engaging, flexible and empowering. What remains at issue is how well and how quickly technology will be meaningfully leveraged at scale to make real and lasting improvements in the outcomes and well being of all children.
To that end, SETDA members work nationally and collaboratively with a wide range of state and local colleagues and in public-private partnerships to address two core education leadership questions: (1) How can states deploy technology in meaningful, sustainable and scalable ways to help educators, schools and districts meet longstanding goals for education, especially those goals that have been most challenging for public education to meet?; and (2), what must the education system do to remain responsive to evolving expectations for what students should know and be able to do and for what students, educators, parents and the public expect of schools vis-à-vis technology?
While every SEA is organized differently, in general, the SETDA membership is directly involved with or responsible for:
- Providing state leadership and building capacity for the meaningful use of technology within the SEA, as well as in collaboration with states across the nation;
- Developing the state educational technology strategic plan, implementing it, and evaluating progress toward achieving its goals, including approval of local school district technology plans;
- Managing and coordinating educational broadband deployment and statewide education networks;
- Design, deployment and evaluation of other statewide educational technology initiatives, including issues related to infrastructure, equipment, software, professional development, and pedagogical and technical support;
- Student and educator technology literacy/digital citizenship standards setting and assessments;
- Teacher effectiveness and instructional practice related to the use of new and emerging technologies, including professional development, mentoring/peer coaching, and the use of data in the classroom;
- Online learning/eLearning and state virtual schools;
- Digital content, eTextbooks, and other online or video-based instructional materials, including learning management systems;
- Online and computer-based state assessments and ePortfolio initiatives;
- Longitudinal state data systems and state reporting; and,
- The administration of federal education programs involving technology, including Title II, Part D of ESEA (the Enhancing Education Through Technology program) and the E-Rate.
In addition, in many states, educational technology directors also are involved with or responsible for school library media programs, statewide science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) initiatives, and other curricular efforts that support student achievement.
Based in the Washington, DC area, SETDA works collectively and in partnership with other national organizations and serves as a forum for inter-state collaboration and cooperation on a range of issues, including the identification and sharing of research and best practices, the establishment of public-private partnerships, state-federal relations and advocacy, and professional development for state educational technology directors and other SEA staff. In addition, SETDA undertakes ad hoc projects of national significance to advance issues of core concern to the membership. The organization is managed by an Executive Director and governed by a nine-member board of directors, comprised of current state educational technology directors and one former (emeritus) state educational technology director.
SETDA's 2011 - 2012 Board of Directors includes:
In addition, SETDA works in partnership with the U.S. Department of Education, education associations and the corporate community. Its founding partners include ISTE, CoSN, FETC, the R*TECs and CCSSO.
