A Study of Minnesota Elementary Principals’ Perceptions on 1:1 Technology Implementation

Abstract According to the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institute the rapid advancement in technology today requires students to attain a broader set of competencies to be successful than in the past (Winthrop, McGivney, Williams, & Shankar, 2016). To achieve these higher standards, education must take “new approaches that can reach children who have not yet been reached” to attain higher student learning outcomes (Winthrop et al., 2016). School leadership matters when a school or school district is considering a technology initiative (Anderson & Dexter, 2005) and principals must be increasingly involved in the project to model and support implementation (Anthony & Patravanich, 2014; Stuart, Mills, & Remus, 2009). “A growing body of evidence has suggested that we are in the midst of a global learning crisis. Pedagogical practices and curricula used in schools are ill equipped to allow children to learn the skills they will need for the future. If education systems in their current form fail to improve learning outcomes, it is because the design of the way education is delivered itself is flawed. In a failed system, incremental improvements are insufficient to bring about the transformational shifts to curriculum and pedagogy needed to get better results.” (Winthrop et al., 2016) The 2017 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) depicts Minnesota’s achievement levels relatively unchanged from the 2015 NAEP results, however, Minnesota continues to have one of the largest achievement gaps in the nation (NAEP, 2017). Minnesota school districts are infusing technology into classrooms to address learning disparities, and in 2016 the State of Minnesota reported that 55% of Minnesota schools had operationalized some level of a 1:1 technology initiative. The purpose of the study was to examine the perceptions of a sampling of Minnesota elementary principals on the extent, value and quality of their involvement in the implementation of their school districts’ 1:1 technology initiatives. Further, the study intended to ascertain the sample group principals’ perceived preparedness to provide leadership and training to their schools’ teaching staffs, (including staff employed one or more years following implementation,) regarding their school districts’ 1:1 technology initiatives