Andrew Westrope

Sacramento

Managing Editor, Center for Digital Education at Government Technology

Managing editor, @CenterDigitalEd. MI native, BS in physiology, I love film+lit. We all contain multitudes. Tweets are mine and represent no one else.

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Articles

Chris Rein

2 months ago | govtech.com | Andrew Westrope

Over the course of seven years as New Jersey’s chief technology officer, Chris Rein has honed an approach to IT that one might call responsible modernization. A steady focus on critical infrastructure over costly experimentation helped prepare the state for transitions to cloud, hybrid work and other new norms. Now, it’s helping Rein balance innovation with fiscal strategy in finding the safest and smartest uses of artificial intelligence for the state. As co-chair of Gov.
Beyond the Curriculum ’25: Facing Fiscal Uncertainty in K-12

Mar 27, 2025 | govtech.com | Andrew Westrope

By some accounts, the loss of pandemic-era grant funding, diversity and equity initiatives, the Institute of Education Sciences and the U.S. Department of Education within a six-month span has K-12 districts across the U.S. reeling. But some education leaders, who have seen disruption many times before, remain sanguine about planning for the future.
FETC25: TECHShare Live Showcases AI Tools of Tomorrow

Feb 5, 2025 | govtech.com | Andrew Westrope

Co-leading the Jan. 17 event, Leslie Fisher, director of Fisher Technologies Inc., said the technological breakthroughs driving many new artificial intelligence (AI) tools could be game-changers for students with learning disabilities.
FETC25: How to Craft Sustainable, Flexible Technology Plans

Jan 30, 2025 | govtech.com | Andrew Westrope

ESSER is over. E-rate is in doubt. The future of the U.S. Department of Education is unclear. For all the fiscal turmoil of pandemic expenses and changing presidential administrations in recent years, some educators think long-term planning for technology in K-12 is only going to get harder. Amid so much uncertainty, panelists at the Future of Education Technology Conference in Orlando this month said the trick is to craft technology plans with the assumption of change built into them.
FETC25: K-12 Budgeting for Technology in 2025 and Beyond

Jan 28, 2025 | govtech.com | Andrew Westrope

The budgeting process for school districts was challenging enough before it necessarily involved so much attention on fast-moving and controversial technologies, but a few years into the artificial intelligence craze, administrators have learned some lessons.
FETC25: The State of E-Rate and How to Make the Most of It

Jan 23, 2025 | govtech.com | Andrew Westrope

Leading a Jan. 14 session focused on updates to E-rate and planning for its future, Beverly Sutherland, president of the consulting firm EdTechnologyFunds Inc., started with a recap of recent history. She said the program was established in 1996, modernized in 2015 and now funds over $4.68 billion in services for schools and libraries each year.
FETC25: A Cyber Attack from the Victim’s Perspective

Jan 21, 2025 | govtech.com | Andrew Westrope

Sensenich, now retired, shared her firsthand experience last week with attendees of the Future of Education Technology Conference in Orlando, Fla. Recounting a 42-day effort by her team of 10 to restore systems at Rockingham County Schools, she said they discovered a problem in December 2017 shortly before the holiday break, starting with a call from central office about a handful of computers running slowly. A day later, they got another call about more machines running slowly.
FETC25: How Esports Could Transform K-12 Education

Jan 17, 2025 | govtech.com | Andrew Westrope

Heading a Thursday panel at the Future of Education Technology Conference in Orlando, Fla., Robbins recommended that attendees survey students and parents to gauge their interest in esports, get administration and IT to buy in, and waste no time or ambition in setting up clubs accordingly. Most teachers and school coaches know at least a few students who are nice kids but just don’t engage.
FETC25: Creative Assignments Can Teach Digital Citizenship, Too

Jan 16, 2025 | govtech.com | Andrew Westrope

At a time when technology is revolutionizing job markets far beyond STEM fields, even creative careers will require future professionals to be tech-savvy enough to reach online audiences, respect intellectual property laws, manage their digital footprints and protect their data. And those lessons should start in K-12.
FETC25: Data Masking to Protect Schools from Data Theft

Jan 15, 2025 | govtech.com | Andrew Westrope

To some cybersecurity experts, the data breach of PowerSchool earlier this month fit an emerging pattern. It followed a similar breach of the online learning platform Learnosity six months prior, and the school security company Raptor Technologies six months before that. After years of going after school districts, cyber criminals are now targeting ed-tech vendors, too.