The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) and its Texas state affiliate chapter, The Texas K-12 CTO Council, are honored to support the work of current and aspiring superintendents and district leadership teams in leading all aspects of digital learning transformations.

The COVID-19 crisis has brought to light many challenges within the nation’s K-12 education systems. Some are new and others may have existed for a while. One of the more confounding current problems is the matter of digital equity. As schools across the nation moved from their traditional in-school settings to both hybrid and fully remote teaching and learning, student access to appropriate digital devices and robust internet access became even more critically urgent. Additionally, having the skills to leverage technology tools for learning is now essential for teachers and students – and to some degree, parents and families – in order for effective teaching and learning to continue.

The vision of anywhere, anytime learning depends on equitable access to devices and high-speed internet for ALL students, as well as their families and guardians. In our current reality the issues around access go beyond the ability to continue learning. Today, everyone needs reliable broadband access in order to stay connected with family and friends, access health services, job opportunities, and other critical resources. For all these reasons, the issues involved in leading digital transformation and assuring that all students have reliable digital access are now more relevant than ever. CoSN is pleased to provide multiple resources to assist school leaders in navigating the challenges of digital equity.

 EmpowerED Superintendent Monthly Webinar:
“Achieving Digital Equity: Innovative Leadership Strategies for Today’s School Leaders”

The upcoming episode of the monthly EmpowerED Superintendent Webinar series, co-hosted by CoSN, AASA, and edWeb.net, and sponsored by ClassLink, airs on Monday, December 14, 2020. The title and focus of this upcoming webinar, broadcast live at 4 p.m. CT, is Achieving Digital Equity: Innovative Leadership Strategies for Today’s School Leaders. Solving the problem of digital equity requires a focused vision and strategic implementation of multiple innovative strategies. In this engaging webinar Dr. A. Katrise Perera, superintendent, Gresham-Barlow School District, OR, Glenn Robbins, superintendent, Brigantine Public Schools, NJ, and Dr. Aaron Spence, superintendent, Virginia Beach City Public Schools, VA, share effective strategies for bringing their communities together to implement solutions that successfully address digital equity. Free registration for this December 14, 2020 webinar is now available at https://home.edweb.net/webinar/supers20201214/. Webinars in this series are also freely available as recordings at https://home.edweb.net/supers/and via podcast at https://home.edweb.net/podcasts/ a day or two after the live broadcast.

CoSN Critical Focus Areas: Issue One-Pager
Creating Equitable Opportunities for All Learners: Digital Equity Strategies for Learning Inside and Outside the Classroom

The CoSN EmpowerED Superintendents webpage presents a series of “one-pagers” to guide and empower superintendents and their leadership teams in leading digital transformations. CoSN’s one-page document on Creating Equitable Opportunities for All Learners describes four impactful strategies for “thinking outside the box” to achieve digital equity within a school system.

CoSN Digital Equity Initiative

For an in-depth look at a variety of strategies to address digital equity check out the resources provided through CoSN’s Digital Equity Initiative, including access to the Digital Equity Toolkit, at https://www.cosn.org/digitalequity.

If your school or district would like more information about joining CoSN or getting more involved with CoSN and/or Texas K-12 CTO Council, please contact Dr. Alice Owen, Executive Director, Texas K-12 CTO Council at exdir@texask12ctocouncil.org or call 855.458.9286.