Welcome to EdTechRI: A New Era of Independent Innovation for Educators
Since the early 2000’s, Rhode Island (RI) educators and technology leaders gathered to promote the excellence in education through the integration of existing and emerging technologies. In 2010, Rhode Island Society of Technology Educators was born, codifying the group into a 501 (3)(c) not for profit public charity, and in 2018 getting legislative authority to secure Master Purchasing Agreements (MPAs) for Rhode Island schools. Together they built a robust network of educators, technology directors, and innovators dedicated to K-12 education. Today, we are announcing officially the next evolution of our organization: EdTechRI.
With any name change, there are questions on why the change and what does it mean for our membership.
The Catalyst for Change In recent years, the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) merged with the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), undergoing significant organizational changes, a national rebranding, and a complete restructuring of their affiliate program. As part of that transition, they changed how they allowed organizations to use their intellectual property, requiring all organizations using the STE/ISTE names to rebrand, if they did not have certain characteristics that met their new partnership model.
Respecting their needs, we decided to charter a new course. For us, their transition served as the perfect catalyst to renew, refresh, and re-vitalize our organization. Rather than waiting or letting external forces dictate our identity, the Board of Directors took a different approach. We recognized an opportunity to rebrand, and undergo our own organizational restructuring, to get back to how the organization came to be.
Business as Usual—But Better First, we want to reassume our membership that our foundation remains the same. While our public facing identify is now EdTechRI (registered as a fictitious name or DBA), our official legal name remains as originally incorporated with the Rhode Island Secretary of State.
This means there has been no disruptions in our operations, simply a quiet period of reflection, working on restructuring our organization to empower all educators and practitioners. Our RI legislative purchasing authority, our Master Price Agreements (MPAs), and all of our existing contracts remain intact. We are still the same trusted organization you have replied on, sooner with a wider horizon and a broader reach.
The Power of True Independence Operating now as a fully independent EdTechRI allows for incredible opportunities that directly benefit you, our members and partners. As we are no longer subject to externally mandated membership minimums or geographic boundaries, we are working on opening our membership to all education entities, expanding our network further than only Rhode Island.
This independence also bring other benefits:
100% Direct Investment We no longer pass fees to a national parent company. Every dollar we generate stays within our organizations to fund initiatives, grants, and events that directly benefit our members.
Freedom to Innovate We are no longer bound on what professional development opportunities we produce. EdTechRI is free to create, host, and share whatever training programs best server our educational community.
Our Renewed Vision, Mission, and Pillars In this period of quiet reflection, and restructuring, EdTechRI has quietly been working to develop guiding principles to reflect our true purpose.
Our Mission: EdTechRI accelerates educational excellence through technology innovation, collaborative networks, and dedicated advocacy.
We have introduced four (4) new grounding principles, we call Pillars, as the foundation of our work to come:
Amplify: Elevating the voices, achievements, and needs of our community.
Advocate: Championing policies, funding, and resources that support limitless learning.
Accelerate: Speeding up the adoption of impactful technologies and best practices to drive student success.
Anchor: Providing the reliable foundation our community needs through robust networking, targeted training, and powerful purchasing agreements.
Background work continues, but EdTechRI is already moving full speed ahead. This isn’t just a new name. It is a renewed commitment to our community designed to welcome and support schools everywhere.
We thank our founding educators and tech directors who incorporated RISTE, now EdTechRI, and pushed for legislative authorities that allowed us to become what we envision for tomorrow. We thank our current and previous volunteers, and all the members who grew up with RISTE and continue to rely on us as your trusted resource in the community.
Thank you for being the driving force behind every we do. We can’t wait to continue this journey with you.
Here's to the future,
Michael Sujka, President