For the third year in a row, cybersecurity is the top technology priority for K-12 schools, according to an annual survey of state education technology leaders. Other key findings include an increase in state support for artificial intelligence in education and a decline in the number of state leaders who believe they have the funding needed to improve school cybersecurity.
Commissioned by the nonprofit State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) and produced by Whiteboard Advisors, the National EdTech Trends Report 2024 is based on responses to a survey of education and technology leaders in 46 states.
This year, those responses showed that AI remains a top priority in education technology, coming in second after cybersecurity and followed by digital equity, which SETDA defines as access to the internet.
Reflecting these key issues, the number of respondents who said their state had a plan in place for using AI in education increased from 2% in 2023 to 14% in 2024. The number of states using broadband programs to help connect students to the internet also increased, from 71% in 2023 to 85% in 2024.
In the opposite direction, the percentage of state leaders who said they believed their state provided sufficient funding for school cybersecurity fell from 19% in 2023 to 8% in 2024.
“While this result may mean that states are not funding cybersecurity efforts in 2024 at the same level as in 2023, it may simply reflect a shift in perceptions of the cost of combating the growing threats facing school systems,” the report says. “In other words, last year’s ‘abundant funding’ may be this year’s underfunding.”
In terms of unmet education technology needs across states, home access connectivity again tops the list this year, followed closely by funding, which saw a 4% increase in need starting in 2023.
SETDA Executive Director Julia Fallon said the two needs are intertwined as school districts face the loss of pandemic relief funds this fall, in addition to those in June 2024. the elimination of the Emergency Connectivity Fund and the affordable connectivity program.
At the same time, devices purchased early in the pandemic for students to use at home may reach a point where they need to be updated or replaced.
“With funding gone, the financial burden of doing these kinds of things shifts, and so we’re seeing, obviously, schools thinking about equitable access,” Fallon said. “Especially when students now have devices that they can go back and forth with and collaborate on to do their homework.”
The importance of internet access and devices at home also ties into communicating with families, Fallon said, noting that she no longer receives paper updates from her own child’s school.
“Everything comes to me by email, and if I don’t have a connection at home, it cuts off a very important channel of communication for families,” she said.
A third, growing unmet need is professional training in educational technologies for teachers, which increased from 17% in 2023 to 24% in 2024.
Additional findings from the third annual edition National EdTech Trends Report The survey results indicate opportunities for improvement. For example, only 11% of respondents said their state requires local districts to develop education technology plans, which the report cites as “critical to ensuring that these tools are used effectively and equitably and that states and districts adopt strategies to support their use.” Nearly 60% of state leaders surveyed said there was no national education technology plan in place where they lived.
Such planning could help schools strengthen another weak spot: adopting inclusive technologies. Nearly half of the state leaders surveyed said their state provides no guidance to schools on how to ensure their educational technology tools adhere to the principles of universal design for learning, one of the key recommendations of the National Plan for Education Technology 2024.
Fallon said she hopes state leaders will use the report, which includes examples from specific states, to further modernize their own education systems in sustainable ways.
