Published December 2002

In new job, Radcliff focuses on technology in schools

By Eric Fetters
Herald Business Writer

Renee Radcliff has seen the future of computers in the classroom, and she wants to bring that future to Washington.

After all, a state known as a leader in the technology sector deserves schools that are using cutting-edge computers in more creative and educational ways, she says.

Renee Radcliff

“I think it would be incredibly beneficial for kids and also for teachers,” said Radcliff, who recently started a new job as manager of state initiatives for Apple Computer Inc.

Ideas she’s promoting include having laptop computers for each student and incorporating those into the daily lessons. When the topic is the Civil War, for example, students could explore history Web sites and report on what they learn from those rather than reading from a traditional textbook.

“If we’re truly going to help all the kids out there learn, we have to look at all the options for teaching them,” she said.

Radcliff’s new focus on technology and education comes after a varied career for the Lynnwood resident, including a stint in the Legislature.

The former editor of a Snohomish County business publication a decade ago, Radcliff represented Mukilteo as a Republican in the state capital from 1995 until 2001. Radcliff, 43, also was president of the Everett Area Chamber of Commerce for two years before she served as president of the American Electronics Association’s Washington Council.

While she can recall the first unwieldy computers she used as a journalist in the late 1970s and early ’80s, Radcliff’s interest in technology came out of her experience in Olympia, she said.

“When I joined the Legislature, I think I was one of the only ones there who knew how to turn on a computer,” she quipped.

Because of her knowledge, she helped train other legislators how to work with computers and became involved with technology policy issues. She became even more familiar with those issues when she worked for the American Electronics Association.

In her new job, she is one of 15 people making up Apple’s Strategic Initiatives Group, which she describes as “a cross between a government affairs (organization) and (a) consulting group.” She and the managers in other states are lobbying lawmakers to bring laptops into the nation’s schools.

“As part of that, we’ve spent a lot of time looking at other states and at what’s working and what’s not,” she said.

Maine is one of those states trying to take a new approach. After seeing promising results from a pilot program, that state’s leaders are working toward the goal of providing each middle- and high-school student with a laptop.

Radcliff would like to see a similar program in Washington state. Even if such a program didn’t use Apple’s laptops, she would consider it a success, she said.

“Apple pays my paycheck, but I’m not just selling Apple,” she said.

While she has received an enthusiastic response from just about everyone she has approached with the idea, finding the money is a challenge in these days of shrinking state budgets. In addition to working with state officials, she’s talking to individual school districts and working with business leaders.

In the meantime, Radcliff said she’s enjoying her new job, which has allowed her to get involved with her son’s school. She’s also serving on the board of the South Snohomish County Chamber of Commerce.

Back to the top/December 2002 Main Menu