School Technology Leadership: An Empirical Investigation of Prevalence and Effect

Abstract

The general question addressed is what technology leadership attributes make what kind of difference in the success of various technology-related programs. First, this article has integrated the prescriptive literature on technology leadership with the National Educational Technology Standards for Administrators (NETS-A) and then has operationalized technology leadership in terms of NETS-A. Data from the 1998 Teaching, Learning, and Computing nationwide survey of more than 800 schools were used to examine technology leadership characteristics and their effect on indicators of technology outcomes. The findings confirm that although technology infrastructure is important, technology leadership is even more necessary for effective utilization of technology in schooling.