Richard Culatta to Step Down as US Director of Educational Technology

For Richard Culatta, impatience is a virtue. That much is clear in the flurry of edtech initiatives undertaken during his time as Director of the Office of Educational Technology at the US Department of Education. “I’m not the most patient person in the world,” he admits. “We have kids’ futures at stake here and we don’t have the luxury of taking a long time.” His time at the department, however, is drawing to a close. Culatta announced on Dec. 2 that he will step down from the post at the end of 2015. “This was a very hard decision” to make, he said. “I absolutely would not do it if we did not have a phenomenal team that would continue and accelerate the work.”

Culatta joined the education department in November 2011 as a deputy under Karen Cator, who was then director of the office. Since then, his team has embarked on a wide range of education technology initiatives, from establishing a nationwide network of education leaders to hosting gaming and data “jams” for developers and designers. Culatta’s next step will be working “at the state level” back home in Rhode Island, where he first dipped his toes in digital learning as an instructional technologist at the University of Rhode Island.