The Gates LEAD Project, a joint effort of the EdVenture Group and the West Virginia Department of Education, funded in part by the Gates Foundation, was designed to give school administrators the skills and knowledge they need to make informed decisions about technology.

Through two-day LEADership Academies and online Connected University courses that followed, administrators gained hands-on experience with productivity tools, an introduction to state technology initiatives, strategies for using and evaluating technology in the classroom, and an understanding of how all these relate to long-range planning. During an extension period from fall 2003 through winter 2005, LEAD adminstrators also took part in Gates LEADing with Handheld Computer Seminars designed to increase personal productivity through emerging handheld technologies. From October 2001 to February 2005, just under 700 West Virginia administrators participated in the program. Project leaders gathered information from participants about the effectiveness of the training.

REA, the external evaluator for the project, conducted a series of evaluation activities to learn more about how administrators used what they learned.

REPORTS:

Full Report (pdf)