Each year, the National School Boards Association (NSBA) selects three school districts as co-hosts of a Technology Site Visitation, the purpose of which is to show educators how technology can be used to implement change across an entire district. One of NSBA's 2008 site visits took place in February at the Kyrene Elementary School District, a high-performing suburban district in the Phoenix, Ariz., area that extends over 170 square miles, enrolls 18,500 students, and employs approximately 2,000 teachers, administrators, and staff.

Like most school districts, Round Rock Independent School District is dedicated to providing its students with the latest internet technologies to advance the education process while maintaining the safest and most productive online environment. But achieving this balance is an ongoing challenge--and one that Round Rock ISD realized it could no longer accomplish with its existing IT resources.

I was summoned to the office 10 minutes before the morning bell, which often signals a teacher is getting a new student. Teachers in rooms next to mine even predicted that as the reason for the summons as I headed out of my room.

Stationed thousands of miles away in Afghanistan, Staff Sergeant Kevin S. Cook is online checking a list of reading materials for his daughter Alexis, a second-grader attending Rockfish Elementary School in Hope Mills, N.C.

eSN Best Practics Summit: Atomic Learning session

eSN Best Practics Summit: ePals session