The Texas STaR Chart was designed around the four keys of the Long-Range Plan for Technology 2006-2020. For this blog, I chose to focus on the area of Educator Preparation and Development. This area focuses on the following: content of training, capabilities of educators, models of professional development, levels of understanding and patterns of use, professional development for online learning, and access to professional development. Professional development for teachers in technology is a priority but it doesn't come without barriers. "Preparing teachers and administrators to effectively facilitate and mange 21st Century learning in technology involves radical retooling of the existing educational system. Securing time, resources, and effective models for professional development presents a tremendous challenge to our state and our entire nation." In order for us to meet the demands of the 21st Century, we are going to have to find ways to break down the barriers and find effective ways to prepare our teachers.
According to the 2008-2009 Texas Campus STaR Chart summaries, my campus scored a 15 in the area of Educator Preparation and Development. Our scores indicated that my campus was in the Developing Tech. stage for this area. Two years prior (2006-2007), my campus scored a 10, with individual areas falling at Early Tech. So according to the data, we have seen some improvement, but not enough.
At the state level, 74.2% of the campuses fell in the Developing Tech stage for this area. Only .6% of the campuses indicated the highest level of progress (Target Tech). According to the statewide summary, this is an area we need to focus on as a state to get our campus scores to the highest level of progress.
How are we going to be able to achieve this? The state is going to have to give schools more money for technology. Administrators are going to have to plan in their budget time and resources for technology development. Teachers need to be able to attend technology training to help keep them current. They will also need support and time to implement new technology into their daily plans. Technology integration needs to be a priority in every campus' CIP and teachers need to be required to take staff development in this area every year. Scores on the STaR chart will not improve overnight. It is going to take some work but if we are truly dedicated to making it happen, it will!
Work Cited:
http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/comm/PartIIIEducatorPreparationandDevelopment.pdf
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment