Nearly a quarter of a century ago, Congress formed the Office of Educational Technology (OET) within the U.S. Department of Education (USDE). Since then, the use of educational technology in schools has changed dramatically and exponentially. Now, with the demise of the OET, former OET employees fear the office’s progress to push for equitable access to technology for students and teachers nationwide will be lost. As such, as the implementation of artificial intelligence tools accelerates, there is a greater risk for children to be left behind. The positions of all OET employees were “abolished” as a result of the USDE’s massive layoffs across the department.
OET’s responsibilities over the years, among many other things, included the development of six National Educational Technology Plans between 2000 and 2024. The latest plan identified three persistent barriers to equity in ed tech to be addressed by education leaders at state, district and school levels. Those barriers included inequitable implementation of ed tech in classrooms, uneven availability of ed tech professional development opportunities for teachers, and gaps in students’ access to broadband connections, devices and digital content.
With OET’s closure, online access to all of its publications and guidance for schools over the years has vanished. Even before the office closed, research had pointed to early signs of uneven and fragmented AI adoption across districts and states. In an April 1 House hearing, Democratic lawmakers voiced their concerns that this issue could worsen alongside the shuttering of OET.
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