Our Name Changed, But Our Work Continues

When I joined the CALIE board of Directors in the summer of 2024, we were still called CUE, short for “Computer-Using Educators.” It’s a name that carried significant weight in the education community, representing 40+ years of California educators gathering around technology, building community, and pushing outcomes forward. No one on our board took that history lightly.

When conversations started about who we were becoming, we didn’t move quickly. We deliberated and asked hard questions. We brought our members into the process, looked at where education was heading, and listened to what our community was telling us. Over time, the answer became clear: the organization had grown beyond what the name described.

That’s how CALIE was born. And now, that same evolution is reaching our annual conference.

In 2027, Spring CUE is becoming SPRING FORWARD.

I want to share why this feels right to me, and why I think this moment in education is exactly when it should happen.

The Mission That Made Us

When CUE was founded in 1978, the mission was clear: expand access to emerging technology and develop a community of educators to use it well and support each other in doing so. Schools were gaining access to the tools, and then they needed the knowledge to use them. CUE brought people together around that shared mission for more than four decades, and it worked.

Since then, the classroom has changed. The tools are already there. More than 1.6 million devices were connected to California schools through pandemic-era federal funding alone. The average district accesses nearly 2,700 distinct edtech tools in a single year. We made real gains in closing the access gap, including rural districts and communities that historically couldn’t afford these tools. But what has all of this technology actually accomplished, and how is it being measured?

From Access to Impact

That question is live and loud right now. It’s the conversation educators are walking into every day. And it’s the conversation they deserve a community built for.

The CALIE board’s work over the past few years has been pointed toward exactly this moment. We didn’t rebrand to CALIE because we wanted a new logo. We did it because our mission sharpened. What California education needs now is discernment, not just adoption. It needs educators who can evaluate technology, not just implement it.

We’re still gathering in the spring. We’re still bringing together teachers, coaches, technology leaders, and administrators from across California and beyond. But now, we’re not just gathering around technology. We’re gathering around impact.

The educators showing up in 2027 won’t be asking “What’s new?” They’ll be asking “What’s worth it and why?”

What We’re Building

I’ll be honest: the name Spring CUE was beloved by many, myself included. People have strong feelings about it, and when changes like this are announced, the first instinct is often to ask, “Why change something that worked?”

My answer is that we’re not changing because it stopped working. We’re changing because we grew, and we want to keep working for you and what you need.

The educators I talk to want a community that takes their judgment seriously. One where the conversation is honest about what technology is actually doing for students (and what it isn’t). One that helps them go home and do their jobs better, in whatever role they hold.

That’s what SPRING FORWARD will be. And it’s going to be built the same way everything we do is built: by educators, for educators, for every role.

We’ll see you in March.