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Geoff Fletcher
Deputy Executive Director
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SETDA Leadership Summit Features U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan,
Marks a Decade of State Educational Technology Leadership

November 21, 2011 (Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan led a team of staff from the Department of Education, Department of Defense and White House to the 2011 State Educational Technology Directors Association  (SETDA) Leadership Summit, “Leveraging Technology for Learning” to announce the launch of the Learning Registry. This cross-agency, public-private effort will go a long way toward helping educators and others find and efficiently use digital content in the classroom. This is the second year in a row that Secretary Duncan has attended the SETDA Leadership Summit to announce a major federal education technology initiative. Last year, he announced the National Educational Technology Plan, Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology. Duncan also brought birthday greetings to SETDA: “Congratulations to SETDA on a decade’s contributions to the digital transformation of the classroom.”

The 2011 Leadership Summit marked the tenth anniversary of the founding of SETDA and was attended by representatives from 40 states, leading educational technology companies and special guests from leading nonprofits, academia and professional organizations. The Summit’s panels, discussions and work groups focused on five cross-cutting areas that are key to leveraging technology for learning:

• Making the Shift from Traditional Textbooks to Digital and Open Content;
• Increasing Access to Broadband and Technology for All Students;
• Innovations in Education: A Focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education;
• Preparing for High Quality Online Assessments; and,
• Improving Educator Effectiveness: Teachers as Co-Learners.

The Leadership Summit opened with a keynote address from Lee Rainie, Director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project, and the luncheon keynote featured student presentations focused on their experiences with and perceptions of technology in education. Videos of Rainie’s presentation, Duncan’s announcement and select other presentations are available at:https://www.setda.org/web/guest/2011leadershipsummitgallery.

About the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA): Founded in 2001, SETDA is the national member association that represents the interests of the educational technology leadership of state and territorial education agencies in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. SETDA members work collectively and in public-private partnerships to ensure that meaningful technology innovations with broad potential for systemic improvements and cost-savings in teaching, learning, and leadership are brought to scale. For more information, please visit www.setda.org.