This guest post comes from Ji Soo Song, director of projects and initiatives at SETDA, Coleen Putaansuu, Title II, Part A Lead program supervisor at the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Tate Toedman, federal programs officer at the Nebraska Department of Education. Views expressed in guest posts are those of the authors.
The rapid rise of AI-powered tools has clarified something for states: Education leaders are seeking coherent, sustained professional learning that helps educators navigate changing pedagogical approaches. SETDA’s new strategy guide lays out steps state education agencies (SEAs) can take to close the “digital design divide” between educators who receive ongoing, high-quality support and those who do not.
Programs like Title II-A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act can support efforts to close this gap. However, recent data from the U.S. Department of Education reveals that states and districts are spending less of their Title II-A funds to support technology-integrated instruction compared to other issues. Therefore, SETDA, in partnership with FullScale, ISTE+ASCD, and Learning Forward, recently began developing strategies for investing in meaningful, sustainable professional learning initiatives.
The guide translates findings from a national survey of state and local education leaders into six actionable steps SEAs could use to shift systems toward more sustainable and impactful professional learning initiatives related to education technology (edtech):
- Align Funding With Instructional Priorities Across Initiatives. Funding decisions are most powerful when explicitly tied to instructional goals. State education leaders can ensure that Title II-A and other professional learning funds are aligned with a shared definition of high-quality, technology-integrated instruction.
- Define and Promote Aligned Visions of Tech-Integrated Instruction. Without a clear, statewide definition of high-quality, technology-integrated instruction, professional learning often focuses on isolated tools rather than transformative teaching.
- Leverage Compliance Structures to Encourage and Support Continuous Improvement. By designing monitoring systems that double as continuous improvement tools, SEAs can help local leaders use required data collection to make more strategic professional learning investments.
- Encourage Durable Professional Learning Models. Durable models like instructional coaching, professional learning coaches, and job-embedded inquiry or improvement cycles can give teachers the time, space, and community needed to meaningfully integrate technology into instruction.
- Document, Highlight and Scale What Works. Examples of excellence exist across states, but without deliberate documentation and dissemination systems, they often remain isolated.
- Work Across Silos in State Leadership. Our research found that, too often, state-level departments operate in isolation. Different teams make key decisions about curriculum, assessment, technology and professional learning. By bringing leadership teams together, SEAs can ensure that technology integration is embedded in instructional initiatives.
In response to the guide’s recommendations, states like Washington are considering both immediate actions and long-term strategies. The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction will build necessary intra-agency relationships to map different state funds that can help build educators’ edtech capacities. The office will also leverage its regional Educational Service Districts to communicate recommendations for local leaders from the SETDA guide, as well as highlight existing examples from Washington. OSPI will also examine how language around effective edtech professional learning systems could be integrated into existing state funding guidance documents.
In Nebraska, the state department of education is working on enhancing the scope of its statewide educator conferences and also identifying teacher leaders who can more sustainably lead professional learning opportunities around topics like AI, accessibility and the Universal Design for Learning. In addition, Nebraska Support Ed, while currently still under development, will serve as a one-stop shop for professional learning resources with multiple entry points and intentional learning progressions.
Rethinking professional learning from a systems standpoint can increase educators’ capacities to use technology meaningfully — including AI — in ways that prioritize student learning. With clear vision, aligned resources and informed improvements, SEAs can ensure every educator receives the sustained supports needed to prepare students for a rapidly changing world.
