How New England graduate programs in school administration are preparing aspiring school administrators to become technology leaders

This study examined whether accreditation standards and related variables (e.g. funding or faculty development) facilitate technology integration at graduate programs preparing school principals. The study also considered the value of Bolman and Deal's (1997) change-oriented management theory as a conceptual framework for analyzing technology integration progress. The research questions incorporated three essential concepts: the progress of technology integration, the definition of best practices, and definition of obstacles to change.; A purposeful sample of New England state-approved programs was selected. Information regarding the study population of thirty-eight schools was collected through a survey of program directors and through inspection of the Web site of each school. The survey return rate of 50% produced both quantitative and qualitative data regarding Directors' perceptions of the technology integration progress of their programs. In addition, the Web site review produced technological advancement data for 100% of the study population.; The study's conclusions were mixed. All programs appeared to need more progress to successfully integrate technology into their curricula, but some were clearly more successful than others. Assuming the study's results generalize to the population, approximately one third of New England graduate programs in administrator preparation have achieved a substantive degree of technology integration. New England administrator preparation programs that are accredited by NCATE showed more technology integration progress than others. However, the progress achieved to date may not be sustainable change as described in Peter Senge's biological model of organizational change (Senge et al., 1999).; New England graduate programs in administrator preparation do not appear to be pursuing a balanced management approach to achieving technology integration as interpreted through the four-frame analysis of Bolman and Deal (1997). Campus wide technological funding was shown to have a significant relationship with integration progress. Three human resource variables within the administrator preparation programs were shown to have significant relationships with overall integration progress: technology proficiency of faculty, faculty rewards, and technology-focused faculty development.