The Learning Accelerator Releases Snapshot of EdTech Purchasing in Houston Independent School District

Posted on June 02, 2014

New Blended Learning Snapshot Series will report on successful examples of blended learning implementation across the United States

Cupertino, CA - June 2, 2014 – The Learning Accelerator (TLA) has released “TLA Blended Learning Snapshot: EdTech Procurement in Houston” (HISD), the first in their Blended Learning Snapshot Series. The series captures and shares specific examples of success in key areas of blended learning implementation, such as education technology (EdTech) procurement, human capital, and others. Blended learning is an educational model that combines teacher­-led instruction in the classroom with online, mastery-based education that enables personalized learning for each student and increased effectiveness for teachers.

This snapshot highlights HISD’s success with purchasing EdTech and is a real-world example of how to follow the recommendations found in the Smart Series Guide to EdTech Procurement. The information in this snapshot is taken from a series of interviews with key leaders and stakeholders throughout HISD and captures the district’s procurement and implementation processes. The snapshot also highlights challenges HISD had to overcome and presents a list of key recommendations for other districts that are purchasing EdTech. Interviewees included a full spectrum of staff, ranging from Houston’s Chief Technology Officer to principals at the pilot schools.

“Over the past year, EdTech purchasing mishaps often received more attention than successes,” said Daniel Owens, Partner at TLA. “HISD’s purchasing story is an excellent example of a district with a clear strategy and strong commitment to improving educational opportunities for students and staying true to learning goals throughout.”

HISD is the largest district in Texas and the seventh largest in the country and their successful strategy demonstrates that any size district, in any situation, can innovate. HISD’s leaders learned from others, took their time, supported teachers and students in the transition and effectively managed the initiative to bring EdTech devices to their students.

“Creating the conditions for long-term success before moving into key implementation decisions was critically important to our success,” said HISD Chief Information Technology Officer Lenny Schad. “We began with setting common goals, identifying funding, and securing stakeholder support as the strong foundation to move forward with this crucial transition.”

The HISD Snapshot is the first in an eventual series from TLA, whose goal is to showcase best practices from successful blended learning implementation strategies from across the country. Seeing firsthand how Houston successfully accomplished its EdTech buying goals allows other districts to emulate the key elements for a successful implementation of their own.

For more information and to download the full report, please visit: http://learningaccelerator.org/resources 

The Learning Accelerator is a non-profit organization dedicated to transforming education by accelerating the implementation of high-quality blended learning in schools districts across America. Learn more at www.learningaccelerator.org. What is blended learning? Watch this brief video.