The Progress Report on the Long Range Plan for Technology, uses the Texas STaR Chart to show progress in the four key areas of Teaching & Learning (TL), Educator Preparation & Development (EP), Leadership, Administration & Instructional Support (L), and Infrastructure for Technology (NF).
The use of technology has helped in the area of TL by bringing many digital tools to the classroom and has become an integral part of the curriculum. Digital content is widely available for educators and distance and online learning have made it possible for students to reach materials not available locally before now. The data for TL shows that from 2006-2007 to 2007-2008, Early Tech decreased, meaning more schools moved into a higher category. During the same time period, Developing Tech decreased by 4% while Advanced Tech increased by almost the same amount, showing that schools were continuing to increase technology use. Most schools stayed in the Developing and Advanced Tech and data shows that Target Tech for those years remained virtually unchanged.
EP is critical in training educators to be comfortable enouigh to embrace technology and to be excited about using technology in their classrooms. Technology professional development is a high priority due to the urgent need to ready all educators for the tremendous challenges of teaching 21st Century learners. In the area of EP, Early Tech decreased by 3% from the 2006-2007 to 2007-2008 school years indicating that schools were moving toward Developing and Advanced Tech. In the same time period, Developing Tech was unchanged, while Advanced Tech rose 3%. Target Tech remained seemingly unchanged at 1%. I feel like the educational professional development virtually stalled due to professional development increasing in other areas. TAKS is my theory. I know that is where most of my district's inservice dollars are spent.
Strong leadership is essential to encourage and drive the technology integration. It would be almost impossible to continue developing to Target Tech without support and funding from the administration. Between the school years 2006-2007 and 2007-2008, both Early and Developing Tech decreased by 1% and 6%, respectively, while Advanced and Target Tech increased.
21st Century infrastructure includes both hardware and human components. The human aspect assures the network is maintained and kept updated. Infrastructure must be maintained at a level as to provide high speed connections capable of delivering huge amounts of data. The two year data for NF seems to show that the increase in the Advanced Tech is approximately the same as the decreases in Early and Developing Tech indicating that improvements in infrastructure are being made. Target Tech increased slightly.
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