Seven Steps to Prepare - Step 3

To qualify as an approved technology plan for a Universal Service discount, the plan must meet the following five criteria:

1. Establish clear goals and a realistic strategy for using telecommunications and information technology to improve education or library services.

2. Contain a professional development strategy to ensure that staff will know how to use these new technologies to improve education or library services.

3. Include an assessment of the telecommunication services, hardware, software, and other services that will be needed to improve education or library services.

4. Provide for a sufficient budget to acquire and maintain hardware, software, professional development, and other services that will be needed to implement the strategy.

5. Include an evaluation process that enables the school or library to monitor progress toward the specified goals and make mid-course corrections in response to new developments and opportunities as they arise.

You may wish to compare your plan with the Technology Plan Analysis Rubric, a research-based rubric for developing powerful technology plans. Plans based on this rubric will not only meet E-rate criteria, but provide a strong foundation for effective use of technology in your institution. The rubric can be found at the EDmin Open Systems, Inc. Technology Planning Web site, at http://www.edmin.com/

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