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 Michael J. Ruiz
VIII. Leadership & Vision
     Wolf and Hall's article discusses potential ramifications, alternatives, and remedies in regard to President Bush's proposition that would call for the elimination of Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) funding.  Bush's proposition to cut EETT funding would directly impacts state and school districts that rely on federal funding for assessment, outreach to parents, data-driven decision-making, and specific content areas of learning such as reading, writing, and math.  With the December 31st, 2006 deadline set forth by the guideline in the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) quickly approaching, states must now not only show how technology will be integrated throughout the entire curriculum and instructional methods, but also statistically show evidence how technology has increased learning.  The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) has already began to take a leadership role in helping legislatures, corporations, and educational stakeholders to realize the importance of technologies role in student achievement, developing highly qualified teachers, and using data effectively for accountability.  The SETDA feels that state and school districts have had sufficient data that demonstrates important outcomes by integrating technology throughout the curriculum, but must do a better job of disseminating these results.  Lastly, the authors suggest several things that technology facilitators and teachers continue to do in order to show that educational technology is essential and eliminating EETT funding would be a detrimental to the future of America.
     Although Wolf and Hall'sarticle was informative and clearly explains what will happen to EETT funding and how it will impact our educational institutions, it fails to show any charts or tables that shows the impact of the budget cuts.  The authors point would be driven home if some visual aid was used in order to see how much each state is slated to lose in educational technology funding.  Wolf and Hall also refer to another issue of T.H.E. Journal in order to see what steps each state is taking in order to prove the importance of EETT funding.  Having this information included in the article would have strengthened the message that Wolf and Hall were trying to send.
      President Bush's elimination EETT funding will impact every school district in our country.  I have been fortunate enough to be teaching in a technology-rich school district for the past eight years.  During that time I have utilized various authoring tools and media applications to further enhance student knowledge in content areas.  Through technology integration, my students have learned important concepts and gained important experience in utilizing technology.  It is essential that President Bush reconsider eliminating EETT funding. If he fails to recognize the need for this funding all students will be left behind.

     Wolf, M. A., & Hall, S. (2005).  Fighting the good fight.  T.H.E. Journal, 32, 15.

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