DC Technology Office Welcomes Student Robotics Competition

Today the District of Columbia Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) announced OCTO’s inaugural partnership in the regional FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition for high-school students.

FIRST, founded in 1989, designs accessible, innovative programs to build self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills while motivating young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology, and engineering. In the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), teams of students and their mentors build robots designed to solve a defined problem. Each team has six weeks to build its robot from a standard kit of parts. Then the teams test their robots in challenge matches that measure the effectiveness of each robot, the power of collaboration, and the determination of students.

This year, for the first time, the District of Columbia is hosting the regional FRC competition, scheduled for February 26-28 at the Washington Convention Center. OCTO employees will serve as volunteer mentors to the District teams. District Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Vivek Kundra will sit on the regional judges’ panel and has enlisted local business and community partners to support the regional competition. Winners of the regional competition will compete in the international FIRST Championship on April 16-18 in Atlanta, Georgia.

This year’s competition launched on Saturday, January 3 via an international satellite broadcast on the NASA channel. DC regional competitors and mentors viewed the kickoff from McKinley Technology High School in the District.

“Forty years ago, NASA fueled a generation’s imagination with the success of Apollo 11,” noted FIRST founder Dean Kamen in the kickoff broadcast. “Just as NASA scientists landed a man on the moon and returned him safely to earth in 1969, so too will these young people go on to explore new frontiers and develop breakthrough technologies that will change the world.”

The District will field 15 teams for the 2009 FRC, one from Friendship Public Charter Schools, one from the University of the District of Columbia’s Saturday Academy and 13 from the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS).

The DCPS teams include 200 students divided among five veteran teams that have entered at least one FRC before and eight rookie teams participating for the first time. The five veteran teams are Ballou Senior High School, Bell Multicultural High School, Roosevelt Senior High School, McKinley Technology High School and Francis L. Cardozo Senior High School. The eight rookie teams are School Without Walls High School, Calvin Coolidge Senior High School, Phelps Senior High School, Eastern Senior High School, Wilson Senior High School, Dunbar Pre-Engineering High School, Luke C. Moore Academy High School and Anacostia Senior High School.

District Chief Technology Officer Vivek Kundra welcomed the District teams to the January 3 kickoff broadcast at McKinley Tech. To cheers from the crowd, he congratulated McKinley Tech for helping lead a far-reaching “technology transformation” in the District’s public schools. Kundra recalled how a similar high school science competition sparked his lifelong fascination with science and math and set him on the path to an exciting technology career. “This competition will help you gain the skills you need to prosper in the global economy. It can really be a life-changing experience, leading to an exciting career in technology,” he said. “The science competition I entered in high school opened up the wonderful world of science, math and technology for me, as I know this competition will for you.”

To learn more about FIRST, visit http://www.usfirst.org/.

District of Columbia Expands “DC One Card” ID to Summer Youth Program

The District of Columbia’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO), in collaboration with the Department of Employment Services (DOES), today announced the expansion of the “DC One Card” to participants in the DC Summer Youth Employment Program. The new picture ID is a consolidated credential designed to provide access to many DC government facilities and programs in a single card.Today, the DC One Card grants borrowing privileges at DC libraries and provides access to recreation centers throughout the city. Eventually the DC One Card will also become a student ID and an access card for DC Government buildings and programs.“We want to make it easy for our summer youth to get to their jobs, and we want to give them more than just a job—a complete summer experience in the District,” said DOES Director Summer Spencer. “Now our summer youth can travel to and access their jobs, and they can enjoy all the resources of our parks, recreation centers, and libraries—with just one handy card.”

This fall the District will issue DC One Cards as IDs for students in DC Public Schools.

“Soon students and adults of all ages will have easier access to all DC government services,” said Chief Technology Officer Vivek Kundra. “We are leveraging technology to help District youth make a smooth transition into the workforce.”

To learn more about the One Card and other DC Government technology initiatives, visit www.octo.dc.gov.

For the over 18,000 participants in the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP), the new card will include a bonus—immediate WMATA SmarTrip® capability to help them travel to and from their summer jobs. The new DC One Card provides SYEP participants SmarTrip® functionality without the standard $5 fee. In addition, the SYEP participants will be able to load the $10 already deposited in their SYEP debit cards onto the DC One Card for use on Metro, even before they receive their first paychecks.

Build the 21st Century Classroom by Building a Modern Network Infrastructure

Build The 21st Century Classroom by Streamlining eRate Federal Reimbursement

Mayor Fenty Announces More Than $20 Million in Federal Dollars for DCPS

Today, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty announced the District’s award of more than $20 million dollars for key technology investments in the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) from the Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) of the Universal Service Fund (USF), more commonly known as “E-Rate.” The Mayor made the announcement at Washington DC’s First Annual Education and Technology Summit, which was coordinated and led by a public-private partnership between the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) and the Center for Digital Government.
Approximately $6.3 million will go toward outstanding debt, dating back to 2003 (this check was paid directly to Verizon for services rendered) and $13.8 million will be used to fund current IT initiatives, including installing wireless access points, internal cabling, conduit repairs, switch and router maintenance, and network interface cards at DC public schools.

The announcement comes at a time when the Fenty administration has achieved a number of IT accomplishments, including the deployment and installation of more than 6,300 new PCs for DCPS teachers and administrators, completing an agreement to receive 250 laptops for DCPS from the US Department of Justice, and supporting work by a District-based telecommunications carrier, Allied Telecom, to connect over 90 schools to a high-speed broadband network. OCTO also digitized 4.6 million DCPS personnel files in 54 days and created an IT Investment Board comprised of key District government business and technology owners to ensure proper and efficient usage of DCPS IT dollars. This E-Rate reimbursement coupled with more than $14 million being approved for spending by SLD, will total more than $20 million for DCPS technology investments.

“This announcement symbolizes an incredibly important step for the District and our schools,” Mayor Fenty said. “We hope that securing these critical funds will be another catalyst toward our ultimate goal to transform not only the school system but the District’s ability to leverage resources, like E-Rate, with greater effectiveness on behalf of our residents, businesses and visitors.”

Mayor Fenty used the Education and Technology Summit as backdrop for this announcement to highlight the Summit’s objective of bringing together some of the best thinkers and practitioners in the fields of education and technology to discuss an increasingly important nexus that aligns directly with the mission of the USF.

“For far too many years, DCPS was not able to effectively use the full array of resources at its disposal to maximize important infrastructure investments in the schools,” CTO Kundra said. “Because of poor management and lack of prioritization, DCPS has left millions on the table. However, we are now seeing a new day under the Mayor’s leadership where accountability and attention to details as rudimentary as meeting filing deadlines can mean the difference between the schools receiving millions in technology investment dollars for infrastructure upgrades and development or receiving nothing.”

“DCPS is committed to providing the District’s students and their families with the best path to educational success,” DCPS Chancellor Michelle Rhee said. “This E-Rate funding announcement and Education and Technology Summit are prime examples of the innovative and positive direction that the Mayor’s transformation agenda is taking the District.”

SLD is an independent not-for-profit corporation established to administer universal service for qualified schools & libraries. The Schools and Libraries Universal Service support mechanism was established as part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 with the express purpose of providing affordable access to telecommunications services for all eligible schools and libraries, particularly those in rural and economically disadvantaged areas. It is administered by the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) under the direction of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and is one of four support programs funded through a Universal Service fee charged to companies that provide interstate and/or international telecommunications services.

The Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) is the central information technology and telecommunications agency in the District of Columbia Government. OCTO’s Education and Technology Summit coordinating partner the Center for Digital Government is a national research and advisory institute on information technology policies and best practices in state and local government that provides public- and private-sector leaders with decision support, knowledge and opportunities to help them succeed in 21st century government.

Build the 21st Century Classroom by Introducing Online Textbooks in High Tech Campuses

Mayor Fenty, Chancellor Rhee, and CTO Kundra Invite You to Attend Washington, DC Technology and Education Summit May 7

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, Chancellor Michelle Rhee, and DC Chief Technology Officer Vivek Kundra invite you to participate as a delegate in The First Annual Washington, DC Technology and Education Summit.

This first-of-its-kind conference for DC public schools is "A Global Exchange Designed to Transform Public Education." The conference agenda will offer local and international strategies for transforming public education.

The event will feature Mary Cullinane, Director of Innovation and Business Development from Microsoft. She will provide leadership insight into her work in building the School of the Future in Philadelphia, PA.

The Summit is complimentary for all public sector educators, and includes:

• VIP Reception


• EXPO Area


• Informational Sessions

WHERE:

The Renaissance M Street Hotel

1143 New Hampshire Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20037

(202) 775-0800

WHEN:

May 6, 2008 - Opening Reception
6:30 to 8 pm

May 7, 2008 - Conference
9 am to 3 pm

Register online now! Select from the following link to register for the conference:

• Washington, DC Technology & Education Summit Online Registration

For questions or to RSVP, please contact:

Katy Farrar
Registration Coordinator
(800) 940-6039 ext. 1306
kfarrar@centerdigitaled.com

OCTO Delivers Computers to Every DCPS Classroom

This month, fulfilling a pledge made by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s administration in November 2007, the District’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Vivek Kundra, announced completion of a project to provide personal computers (PCs) to all District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) classrooms.

This $4 million initiative was aimed at equipping every classroom teacher and administrator with a secure and reliable desktop computer. The District’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO), under the direction of CTO Kundra, negotiated a discounted price of $628 per PC to purchase the computers. OCTO’s IT ServUs PC support program then deployed teams of technicians to crisscross the city, installing the PCs and linking them to the District’s 35,000-user email and Internet access network, as well as OCTO’s round-the-clock IT ServUs PC Helpdesk.

The OCTO PC project revived and fast-tracked a project planned but never executed by the former DCPS administration before Mayor Fenty’s schools takeover last year. In September 2007 DCPS Chancellor Michelle Rhee and CTO Kundra signed an agreement for OCTO to take over DCPS information technology functions. The former DCPS administration had planned the PC project to take a year, but Mayor Fenty, Chancellor Rhee, and CTO Kundra determined that the need for PCs in the classrooms was urgent, and the project should be completed in just eight weeks. Using OCTO’s Geographic Information Systems technology to chart the most efficient routes around the city, OCTO’s IT ServUs team beat the eight-week timetable by one week, starting the project on November 26, 2007 and completing the installations on January 8, 2008.

“This project lays the foundation for using technology to improve public education in the District,” said CTO Kundra. “We must use the Internet and other technology resources to empower our teachers to make learning more exciting and help our students prepare to compete in the global economy.”

The OCTO teams installed a total of about 5900 PCs, about 70% for teachers in DCPS classrooms, 25% for administrative personnel, and 5% for use by custodians, cafeteria workers, and long-term DCPS volunteers. About 500 PCs remaining from OCTO’s bulk purchase will be reserved for various uses, including the District’s four new high tech campuses, additional cafeteria use, and spares for later replacements as needed.

The PCs will serve as classroom teaching tools and will also provide teachers with a variety of resources that few DCPS teachers had before. Now teachers can access a central database of student records and create and maintain grade and attendance records electronically. They can also access the District’s email system and use it to share ideas and information with their colleagues, principals, administrative personnel, and parents. Teachers can now use the Internet to identify and download teaching tools and resources for their students.

“This initiative is critical to driving student achievement forward in the District. Our schools have gone too long without having access to the technology they need to compete,” Chancellor Rhee said. “Among other benefits, I look forward to increasing central office capacity to communicate with all of our teachers and students.”

Before the OCTO project, some teachers and administrators had PCs—but an OCTO analysis found them riddled with viruses, and some teachers said they had been waiting months for simple PC problems to be fixed. The new DCPS PCs are equipped with powerful anti-virus protection. When problems surface, teachers can call the IT ServUs Helpdesk, get a ticket number for tracking, and have the problem resolved within a few minutes, or at most a few hours.

“Customer service is the heart of our program,” said OCTO IT ServUs Director Aki Damme. “Nothing is more gratifying than knowing we can help thousands of teachers teach more effectively and give students all over the District a more vibrant, up-to-date environment for learning.”

Fenty Administration Unveils Plan to Provide Computers to Every DCPS Classroom

Today, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, Chancellor Michelle Rhee and the District’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Vivek Kundra announced plans to provide 6356 computers to District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) by the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO).

According to Mayor Fenty, “These computers will empower our educators and administrators with the technological tools they need to focus efforts on the District’s greatest resource—our children. After decades of mismanaged program funds and little to no technological progress, this effort is the first step toward upgrading the school system’s technology to fit the demands of modern day users.”

This $4 million initiative includes a price of $628 per computer and will also consist of infrastructure improvements such as network cables, power strips and access points. The objective of the initiative is to provide every classroom teacher and administrator with a secure and reliable desktop computer throughout the school system.

These additional Dell desktop PCs will help facilitate the creation of a digital infrastructure for the future of DCPS. The computers will serve as both a teaching tool in the classroom and a resource for teachers. Teachers will be able to access a central database of student records, access educational tools and share best practices and enter grades and attendance records.

This initiative will provide our teachers with instructional tools beyond textbooks and give administrators the infrastructure they need to be effective leaders, engaging our students with new ideas and new opportunities for learning,” said Rhee.

The program is part of OCTO’s overall mission for technology adoption in the District’s public schools. The office’s goal is to use technology as an enabler, allowing teachers to tap into the power of technology to improve the quality of our children’s education.

Today, we are laying the foundation for our teachers to use technology to improve public education. We must use the Internet and other computer applications to help our students compete in the global economy and to enable our teachers to do what they do best, teach and mentor the future leaders of our country,” said Kundra.

The official computer deployment will begin November 26. Anacostia and other schools East of the River will be among the first schools to receive new computers. By February 1, 2008, every classroom will be equipped with a PC and a student computer lab.

McKinley Tech Internship Program

The DC Office of the Chief technology Officer (OCTO) has established an internship program with McKinley Tech and identified four additional schools (Amidon and Whittier Elementary Schools, Jefferson Middle School, and Coolidge High School) to become High-Tech campuses to create a pipeline of homegrown technology talent in the District.

Elements of this program will include inviting technology practitioners to visit the campus, providing internships at OCTO for DCPS students and helping students acquire IT certifications. The expected outcome is a program model that demonstrates success in encouraging student involvement in technology-related activities and studies.

Also, OCTO GIS will also relocate to Jefferson Middle School. In association with that move, ciriculum will be developed over the 2008-2009 school year.

4.6 Million DCPS HR Records Digitized in 54 Days

In 54 days, OCTO digitized 4.6 million neglected District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) human resource records, allowing the District to avoid a CAFR audit. Prior to the start of production, the DCPS file room was managed by one full time staff person and over the past 10 years documents bundled by rubber bands or paper clips were transferred to the file room with a brief cover sheet or post-it note. When DCPS staff requested certain documents, they would have to sift through millions of loose pages. After the project, DCPS HR reported a 25% increase of productivity.

OCTO will continue to transform DCPS HR filing by automating all personnel documents and eliminating the need for a manual or paper file room. We will also provide online benefits administration and payroll processing by allowing employees to sign up for and change their benefits, enter their own time, view their earnings, and print their own W-2's. Subsequent efforts will automate performance management compensation history and allow for online job application/resume processing.