Advocacy for educational technology is a core part of ISTE’s mission, because we know that decisions made by policymakers at the local, state, and federal levels
affect our nation’s classrooms every day. ISTE
members definitely have the power to influence
the outcomes of those decisions, but we all have
more pull when we work together. That’s why we
launched the new ISTE Advocacy Network in
January.
ISTE’s federal and state government relations
program has always taken a proactive approach
to legislative and regulatory trends that impact
digital learning across the country. That’s why
ISTE established the ISTE Advocacy Network to
help build on our advocacy and policy successes
and continue to grow our state advocacy work.
What does that mean for our members? The
network’s website is intended to be a one-stop
shop where you can find the most relevant
digital-learning public-policy information, take
action, make your voice heard, and promote
change in your community. It tracks U.S. digital-learning legislation and regulations across the
states and Washington, D.C., and it gives ed tech
advocates multiple ways to get involved.
The ISTE Advocacy Network includes:
• In-depth analysis of state and federal policy
issues
• Links to state and federal ed tech legislation
• State-by-state profiles with details about the
ISTE state affiliates, state legislature leadership
and composition, education policy landscape,
and funding for ed tech legislation
• The ISTE Advocacy Toolkit, which includes
an advocacy checklist, tips for setting up
meetings with policymakers, instructions for
organizing a student technology showcase, a
template to write a letter to editor, and more
• Take Action area that gives advocates tools to
easily share their stories and opinions with policymakers through tweets, emails, and letters
• Blog about ed tech public policy and advocacy
I encourage you to review the resources on the
website, join the network if you are not already a
member, and take action by sharing your story or
sending a message to a policymaker. Contact me at
hgoldmann@iste.org if you are interested in shar-
ing your advocacy experiences in a guest blog post
or becoming more involved in our advocacy work.
It takes only a few minutes of your time, but
the impact of those few minutes can add up to
huge changes. Policymakers won’t know that
digital learning is important to their constituents
unless we tell them. And remember, ISTE is here
to support you every step of the way.
Don’t forget to register for ISTE’s ABCs of Ad-
vocacy and the Washington Education Technolo-
gy Policy Summit, March 18–19, 2014, in Wash-
ington, D.C. The ABCs of Advocacy is ISTE’s
state policy and advocacy training workshop.
The Ed Tech Summit, co-hosted by ISTE, the
Consortium of School Networking, and the State
Educational Technology Directors Association,
focuses on the latest federal ed tech policy issues
and gives attendees the opportunity to meet with
their elected representatives or staff. To register,
visit iste.org/ABCofAdvocacy.
Welcome to the ISTE
Advocacy Network!
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By Hilary Goldmann
Hilary Goldmann,
ISTE’s senior government affairs officer,
has 20 years of experience in public
policy and advocacy.
Her column appears in
every other issue of L&L.
