Addressing the Digital Divide: Current State and Guidance for Education Leaders

About the Presenters

Ji Soo Song is the Director of Projects and Initiatives at SETDA, where he designs, executes, and evaluates the organization’s efforts to support member states, advocate for federal edtech policies, and implement promising practices on topics such as digital equity, procurement, and professional learning. Previously, Ji Soo served as a digital equity advisor and Federation of American Scientists Impact Fellow at the U.S. Department of Education. In this role, he led the Office of Educational Technology’s work to bridge the digital access divide. His responsibilities included crafting federal policy guidance on broadband adoption, organizing national campaigns and convenings, and supporting development and implementation of the 2024 National Educational Technology Plan. Ji Soo holds a B.A. from Dartmouth College and an M.Ed. in education policy and leadership from American University. He was a fellow with the Institute for Educational Leadership’s Education Policy Fellowship Program.

Brad Hagg currently serves as the Director of Educational Technology in the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE). He has worked with Indiana schools for over 25 years, serving as Director of Technology and Chief Technology Officer for two public school districts prior to joining the IDOE. Brad has served as a board member, chairman, and president of the Hoosier Educational Computer Coordinators (HECC) organization. He has also been an active member of the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) organization as well as its Indiana CTO Council chapter. He is currently serving as the Chair of the SETDA Board of Directors. He has been selected as the Technology Coordinator of the Year in Indiana and was also recognized by the National School Boards Association (NSBA) as part of its “20 to Watch” Educational Technology Leaders program. Brad is a Certified Education Technology Leader (CETL) and maintains other technology certifications and specializations.

Emily Jordan is the current Vice President of Foundation and Education Initiatives at Connected Nation, a national non-profit committed to helping close the digital divide. Emily provides overall program leadership and directs the day-to-day operations of the organization’s current education and foundation-based projects. She provides high-impact program management services, including proactive identification of program challenges and goals as well as managing partner relations and all external relationships with key stakeholders for those projects. She oversees the development and implementation of the education strategy and is responsible for the creation and execution of project workflow, timelines, and budgets. She supports the digital inclusion team in advocating for digital equity as well as other education technology-related policies.

Delia DeCourcy is a Senior Strategist on the Lenovo Worldwide Education Team. Prior to joining Lenovo, she had a 25-year career in education as a teacher, consultant, and administrator, most recently as the Executive Director of Digital Teaching and Learning for a district in North Carolina. Previously, she was a professional development consultant supporting 28 school districts in Michigan, a faculty member at the University of Michigan’s Sweetland Center for Writing, a middle and high school English teacher, an assistant principal, and a non-profit director. She is the co-author of the curriculum text Teaching Romeo and Juliet: A Differentiated Approach published by the National Council for the Teachers of English.