RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC - A Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools administrator received the state's top award for school technology directors, presented by The Centers for Quality Teaching and Learning™.

Dr. Betty Weycker, flanked by Winston-Salem/Forsyth Superintendent Dr. Donald Martin, who nominated her, and QTL's Janice Johnson, who presented the Elsie Brumback Award.

Dr. Betty Weycker, Winston-Salem/Forsyth's Assistant Superintendent for Technology, was awarded the annual Elsie L. Brumback Award for leadership in the use of classroom technology. The award was announced during the opening session of the statewide NCaect (North Carolina Association for Educational Communications & Technology) Conference at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel in Research Triangle Park.

Dr. Weycker was honored for promoting and improving the use of technology in her district - from increasing technology in schools to providing professional development for staff, bringing in funding, and supporting teachers.

The award is sponsored by The Centers for Quality Teaching and Learning™, a Raleigh-based educational non-profit that offers programs designed to help teachers reach every student every day. The award is named for Elsie L. Brumback, a nationally recognized instructional technology leader who spent more than two decades promoting and improving technology-based learning in North Carolina as director of Instructional Technologies for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Superintendent Dr. Donald Martin nominated Dr. Weycker for the award, citing her "outstanding leadership" in developing a technology plan for the system's 71 schools.

That plan focuses on the use of technology as a tool for enhancing student achievement. It has included a partnership with local businesses called "Touched by Technology" that has resulted in the addition of 7,500 PCs plus printers, whiteboards and data projectors throughout the district. The campaign also helped in the passage of a school bond issue that emphasized technology. In addition, Dr. Weycker has written several successful technology grants for the system, including substantial grants such as IBM's Reinventing Education 3 Grant, totaling $1 million.

Dr. Weycker and her team now support about 17,000 computers and 100 servers across the school district, plus an infrastructure that allows widespread Internet access for students and teachers, web pages for teachers and classrooms, and student data management for the district.

"Her interests in the use of technology as a tool and integrating technology throughout the curriculum have resulted in the development and implementation of many creative technology projects for the system," says Dr. Martin. "Dr. Weycker's leadership supports the Vision for Technology in the WS/FCS: To utilize the power of technology to transform education, changing the way we teach, learn and communicate every day."

The selection committee assembled by The Centers for Quality Teaching and Learning, including past winners of the award, agreed that Dr. Weycker's qualifications for the award are particularly impressive. "She, without a doubt, meets all of the criteria (and even more!) than the award exemplifies," said Ms. Brumback.

Now in its eighth year, the Elsie L. Brumback Award recognizes one North Carolina educator who has exhibited outstanding leadership and dedication to the development of high-quality educational technology programs in his or her district or region of the state. A selection committee composed of distinguished educators and past winners chose the state winner, who receives a plaque and a $1,000 check.