Nominate a Connected Educator as a White House Champion of Change

In honor of Connected Educator Month this October, the White House will host a “Champions of Change” event to celebrate local leaders in education, whose creative approaches in using technology to enhance learning serve as examples of what we should strive for in every classroom, for every child. These leaders will be invited to the White House to celebrate their accomplishments and showcase their actions to support more connected schools and students.

This past June, President Obama launched the ConnectED Initiative, a bold effort to connect 99% of America’s students to high-speed wireless internet in five years, calling on the FCC to modernize its existing E-Rate program to meet this goal. As part of the initiative, the President challenged the federal government as well as states, districts, schools and communities to help prepare all teachers to thrive in a connected classroom and leverage technology to re-imagine learning.

Today, the average American school has less bandwidth than the average American home, even though it serves more than 200 times more people.  Only around 20% of our students have access to true high-speed internet in their classroom. As President Obama asked at Mooresville Middle School at the launch of this important initiative: “In a country where we expect free Wi-Fi with our coffee, shouldn’t we demand it in our schools? Shouldn’t we want that for our children’s education? “

Although the ConnectED initiative was recently launched, the creative efforts of educators and school leaders in using technology to support learning and improve student achievement has been taking place for years. Innovative education leaders are using technology to increase engagement, boost achievement, and spur creativity in unprecedented ways. Teachers, school leaders, and support staff across the country are working tirelessly on these efforts in their community.

Today, we’re asking you to help us identify these standout local education leaders by nominating a ConnectED Champion of Change by midnight on Friday, September 20^th. Click on the link below to submit your nomination (be sure to choose ConnectED in the "Theme of Service" field of the nomination form).

Nominate an Educator as a ConnectED Champion of Change

We are looking forward to hosting this event and highlighting the great work educators and schools from across the country are doing to connect our students to the future through technology.

Bess Evans is a Public Engagement Advisor in the Office of Public Engagement and Office of Science and Technology Policy.