By initially looking inward to reveal its organizational strengths and needs, Louisiana DOE gained perspective and agility in co-designing a multi-year plan.
Throughout some of the most beautiful, diverse lands in the United States, a transformation at the intersection of learning, instruction and technology infusion is taking place—especially in the south. School systems across the State of Louisiana are dramatically expanding technology infrastructure to enable teachers and students to learn, share and create.
The Louisiana State Department of Education (LDOE) actively guides this powerful trend through its Louisiana Believe to Achieve vision. Throughout 2021, LDOE has partnered with Dell Technologies and Advanced Learning Partnerships to craft a clear, comprehensive multi-year technology plan.
As we work to complete this project, it is important to acknowledge the wise initial step that Louisiana’s leaders took to understand its current-state strengths and gaps. A small team of ALP consultants facilitated a needs assessment / assets inventory process over the course of a two-month period. This approach included document and data review, stakeholder interviews and a facilitated SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunity and threat) analysis with State Department leaders.
This process revealed a series of findings and recommendations organized around two overarching queries:
- What do students and educators require to achieve purposeful gains in learning?
- How can technology systems reduce barriers and accelerate progress to achieve these gains?
Louisiana DOE applied many of the recommendations from the needs assessment / assets inventory process toward the co-creation of its updated state technology plan. A steering committee was activated, which consisted of educators in cross-functional roles and representing a rich cross-section of communities. Through a sequence of facilitated work sessions, Louisiana DOE leaders were able to secure rich, clear feedback around local needs to inform its Believe to Achieve Priorities:
- Ensure every student is on track to a professional career, college degree, or service.
- Remove barriers and create equitable, inclusive learning experiences for all children.
- Provide the highest quality teaching and learning environment.
- Develop and retain a diverse, highly effective educator workforce.
- Cultivate high-impact systems, structures, and partnerships.
By initially looking inward to reveal its organizational strengths and needs, Louisiana DOE gained perspective and agility in co-designing a multi-year plan. As school systems across the state recover from destabilizing forces brought about by the pandemic and Hurricane Ida, students and educators enjoy stable and agile accessibility to learn across time and space.
