Dive Brief:

• Writing for eSchool News, CoSN CEO Keith R. Krueger offers advice on 10 areas where districts should direct special attention when measuring their digital readiness, based on his organization's Digital Leap Success Matrix. 
• Among the core areas of focus are leadership and vision, strategic planning, ethics and policies, instructional focus and professional development, team building and staffing, stakeholder focus, infrastructure, information management, communications management, and business management.
• Krueger also notes that the matrix is closely aligned to CoSN's Framework of Essential Skills, and that its Peer Review initiative can further strengthen the process via visits from experienced school tech leaders who share their wisdom and best practices with districts planning new digital rollouts.

Dive Insight:

Planning is critical to the success of any ed tech initiative, and CoSN's matrix offers a comprehensive strategy for doing so. But no matter what process you use, the question at the center of any new program should always come back to "How does this empower students to do amazing things that make a difference in the world?"

Getting teacher input, asking for a trial, and doing due diligence on research around products and approaches are also critical before you ever get to these steps, as you want to be sure you're getting your money's worth. How can the learning be made as interactive as possible? Does the tech help students do more than passively consume content? What's the right mix of the tech in the curriculum/lesson plans? No matter how you word these questions and organize them in your adoption and implementation process, the frequency with which they pop up in advice from experts hammers home their importance to success.