Resources:
Total Cost of Ownership

The May/June, 2008 issue of EdTech Magazine contains an article titled "Getting the Answers," which addresses reasons for conducting a TCO assessment and an overview of the TCO process. Read this informative article here.

A research survey, “The Unique Challenges Facing the IT Professional in K-12 Education” reports on staffing issues, IT assets, software, help desk, software as a service and IT funding in K-12. Issues such as school board perceptions of technology used for instruction are also covered. This survey was conducted by eSchool News in coordination and partnership with School Dude.com.

Value Judgements: this article by Neal Starkman, writing for T.H.E. Journal focuses on a superintendent level perspective concerning using TCO to get a handle on technology planning and costs and provides an overview of the process for conducting a TCO assessment in enough detail for district leaders to understand what is involved. Kershaw County SD in South Carolina and Watertown SD in South Dakota serve as mini case studies.

Podcast: Measuring VOI Aussie-Style. One of CoSN’s major new initiatives is Measuring the Value of Investment (VOI) of education technology. As part of that effort, CoSN is partnering with key leaders in Australia and the UK to make this part of a global research effort. While in Australia, Keith Krueger, CEO of CoSN, had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Kathryn Moyle, our partner in Australia on this VOI research effort.

"Technology in Schools: Suggestions, Tools and Guidelines for Assessing Technology in Secondary Education," is a guidebook published by the National Center for Education Statistics and its National Forum on Education Statistics to guide school leaders and policy makers on defining the most useful data points to collect to make technology decisions. Of particular interest are the chapters related to Finance and Maintenance and Support.

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) has created a tool to help school district's assess how well they are supporting their technology. The tool measures how well districts are doing in four areas: equipment standards, staffing and processes, professional development and intelligent systems. The index is based on a research from a pilot project in 10 school districts in the state of Washington.

In "The True Cost of Ownership," education technology expert Jamie McKenzie expands on CoSN's work on TCO to look at other, more intangible factors in the school environment that can contribute to the costs of implementing technology effectively. These include how technology is implemented in a district, and how it may, for a time, disrupt district operations and the established educational culture.

A new way of evaluating Total Cost of Ownership is called Rapid Economic Justification. It is designed to project the quantifiable benefits of an investment in information technology.

The Denver Public Schools have conducted a study of their TCO and published it on the Web. It includes a chart of "Estimated Figures Used for the Purpose of Calculating Total Cost of Ownership."

International Data Corp. has prepared a comparison of TCO in the K-12 and business worlds by surveying a number of school administrators.

"Managing Technology Efficiently in California K-12 Schools: Policies & Practices for Minimizing the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)," by Kyra Caspary, Tim Kusserov, Jake Lavin and Mazair Movassaghi. Goldman School Of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley.

"Investing in K-12 Technology equipment: Strategies for State Policymakers" is a study prepared by the Education Commission of the States with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It reviews the current installed base of computers in K-12 schools and projects the funding that will be necessary to meet certain technology goals. The report acknowledges that it focuses almost exclusively on the cost of providing desktop computing, and does not deal with the costs of networking, tech support and staff development.

"The Costs of Computers in Classrooms: Data from Developing Countries" is a World Bank-sponsored study that looked at the cost of operating and managing computers in four developing countries-Barbados, Turkey Chile and Egypt. The study was conducted by Marianne Bakia, currently director of The Learning Technology Project of the Federation of American Scientists. A copy of the study can be downloaded below:

The Costs of Computers in Classrooms: Data from Developing Countries (PDF)

AEL has developed a Total Cost of Ownership Calculator to help school leaders estimate their total technology costs over a five-year period. The calculator provides for costs associated with professional development, increased energy consumption and building modifications, among other items. The calculator's assumptions can also be reviewed at that site.