As another election season heats up, a longstanding consortium of educational technology advocates has unveiled a new initiative meant to spark a national conversation about the importance of computers in schools. Organizers say they're looking for ed tech to become a central issue in campaigns from the local school board all the way to the presidency.

The National Coalition for Technology in Education and Training (NCTET) is a 10-year-old nonpartisan organization that examines and supports the use of technology to improve education and training in America.

Its initiative, called "Will Our Students Make the Grade," is a grassroots campaign centered on three main objectives: to educate public officials about the positive impact of technology on teaching and learning; to encourage a commitment by candidates to providing technology tools for all students and educators; and to enlist stakeholders and community members to speak up for the nation's children.

One way NCTET hopes to accomplish its goals is by encouraging voters and stakeholders at all levels to write to their local and federal lawmakers in support of educational technology initiatives and funding measures. Visitors to the organization's web site will find instructions for how to contact a public official; ideas about ways to speak up at public forums; suggestions for getting the media involved in coverage of issues related to educational technology; and step-by-step instructions for inviting a public official or candidate to speak at a school or community meeting.

"We want individuals to speak up, to get these issues into the campaign dialogue as much as possible," said NCTET board member Mark Schneiderman. "We need to call the candidates to task."

Schneiderman, who serves as director of education policy for the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA), said there's been some concern among advocates that ed tech is not receiving the level of attention from policy makers that it once did.

With student-to-computer ratios falling and virtually all of the nation's schools now online, Schneiderman says lawmakers have shifted their education agendas to address more in-vogue topics, such as the No Child Left Behind Act and the impending reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, to name two. What the average stakeholder sometimes doesn't realize, he said, is that technology plays a critical role in helping schools meet the provisions of these and other national initiatives.

Ann Flynn, director of educational technology for the National School Boards Association (NSBA) and a fellow NCTET board member, agreed.

"People tend to take for granted that these issues are important to everyone," she said.

Although technology is more pervasive in schools today, Flynn said, there are a number of impediments that prevent students from reaping the educational benefits of a digital learning environment.