Bette Manchester is a national and international leader in educational innovation.  Her work focuses on fostering changes in policies and practices that enable schools to move from industrial age to information age organizations. 

 

For the past five years, Bette has been the Director of the Maine Learning Technology Initiative, through which every grade 7 and 8 student and teacher in every public school in Maine has a laptop computer, and every school has wireless, broadband, internet access throughout the building.  This is already the largest computer-for-every student initiative in the U.S., and perhaps the world, and it is now being extended to all public high schools in Maine.  Research to date has established many positive outcomes of this initiative, from increased attendance rates to improved student performance on statewide writing assessments to widespread public support.

 

Bette has been one of a triad of leaders who have made the Maine Learning Technology Initiative possible and successful.   Seymour Papert, a professor at MIT who has advocated for individual computers for K-12 students for many years, articulated the rationale behind the Maine Initiative.  Former Governor Angus King, influenced by Dr. Papert, believed one-to-one computing would be the most powerful way to address both equity and economic development concerns across the state of Maine.  Governor King was able to harness the political and public support, and the state funding, to launch the initiative.  He wisely turned to Bette Manchester to lead the work with educators and administrators, developing teams, strategies, and programs to address the many issues of technology implementation, professional development, curriculum reform, accountability, public engagement, and educational leadership development throughout the state.  As Governor King said during his recent visit to North Carolina: “It never would have been successful without Bette’s leadership.”

 

Bette has been a tireless advocate for innovations that update schools and make effective educational use of information and communications technologies. She has been a keynote speaker at many conferences throughout the U.S. and in other countries. She has provided advice and guidance to many states, districts, and schools, including the North Carolina 1-1 Learning Collaborative.  She has contributed to leadership development programs organized by the Regional Technology in Education Consortia and the State EdTech Directors Associations.  She has encouraged and supported research on the impact of one-to-one computer on teaching and learning, research that has led to program improvements in Maine, documented key lessons to inform other programs, and established that changes in practices and increases in learning result from well-implemented one-to-one programs.

 

Bette’s success with the Maine Learning Technology Initiative builds upon her lifelong dedication to education and her many prior accomplishments.  Her career includes being a special education teacher, a district special education coordinator, and principal at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, as well as her work at the Maine State Department of Education.  Bette is the recipient of many prior awards, including Maine Principal of the Year, Milken Educator Award, Principal of two National Schools of Excellence, and the Inabeth Miller Learning and Technology Award.  Bette holds B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Maine, and exemplifies the concept of a lifelong learner, constantly seeking to learn from those she teaches and leads.

 

Bette now serves as Director of Special Projects at the Maine Department of Education, overseeing all educational technology initiatives including distance learning and Title IID teacher professional development programs. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Anytime, Anywhere Learning Foundation and the Seymour Papert Institute.  She is an advisor for the Maine Gates Grant for High School Reform and is part of the team developing a Center for Digital Learning at the University of Southern Maine.  We certainly look forward to future collaborations between this new Center and the Friday Institute.

 

While Bette is widely recognized for her work with educational technology, she is always clear that it is “not about the technology” but about effective teaching and learning, with up-to-date curriculum and modern technologies, supported by building and district leadership.  For Bette, the goal of the Maine Learning Technology Initiative is not to bring computers to students, but to bring the best possible education to prepare all students in Maine, from those in urban centers to those in the most rural fishing, lumbering, and farming communities, the best possible education to prepare each student for the life he or she will lead in the 21st century.