1. How do your proposed strategies (Week 8 Step 6) meet the required standards as your Week 6 Step 4 stated?
Technology-
Goal 1: Improve academic achievement by allowing students to participate in opportunities that allow collaboration, communication, critical thinking, problem solving, creativity and innovation to solve real-world problems in an effort to achieve the Target Tech Level in the Texas STaR Chart.
Standard:
NCLB 04: A description of how the applicant will—
(A) identify and promote curricula and teaching strategies that integrate technology effectively into curricula and instruction, based on a review of relevant research, leading to improvements in student academic achievement, as measured by challenging State academic content and student academic achievement standards; and
(B) provide ongoing, sustained professional development for teachers, principals, administrators, and school library media personnel serving the local educational agency, to further the effective use of technology in the classroom or library media center, including, if applicable, a list of the entities that will be partners with the local educational agency involved in providing the ongoing, sustained professional development
Strategies:
- Reassign current Instructional Technology Specialists on staff to a single campus location. Also, reassign all Curriculum Technology Coaches to a single campus as well and convert their title to Instructional Technology Specialists in order to support the goal of allowing a campus based technology facilitator to be available for each campus. Since the district is very large additional campus technology specialists will need to be hired over the next two years until all campuses have one technology specialist on staff.
- Technology Training Specialist will recruit staff across the district to provide and receive professional development. This individual will also maintain and updated professional development catalog for all employees seeking technology training.
Observable Items:
• Classroom observations
• Review of lessons plans and curriculum guides
· Results of teacher feedback
· An review of lab schedules
· Student portfolios
· Completed training modules,
· Attendance records,
· Student products,
· Course offerings for training
· Benchmark and TAKS results
· Student records from software
· Video samples of classes being taught
· Teacher logs
· Teacher created online content
Person(s) Responsible: Instructional Technology Department, Campus Administrative Teams, and Technology Liaisons
Meeting the needs:
This standard is met by the proposed strategies and observable items by recognizing that the current gap we are experiencing in our district is not because of a lack of ability reflective of the classroom teacher but instead in the lack of maintaining a adequate technology support system at the campus level. By providing the necessary technology staff at the campus level the teachers will be able to receive support year around instead at their convenience.
Goal 2: Provide school district staff with opportunities to learn how to appropriately integrate technology as a tool utilizing collaborative, interactive and customized learning environments in an effort to achieve the Target Tech level in the Texas STaR Chart.
Standard:
NCLB Correlates-
01: A description of how the applicant will use Federal funds under this subpart to improve the student academic achievement, including technology literacy, of all students attending schools served by the local educational agency and to improve the capacity of all teachers teaching in schools served by the local educational agency to integrate technology effectively into curricula and instruction.
04 (B): provide ongoing, sustained professional development for teachers, principals, administrators, and school library media personnel serving the local educational agency, to further the effective use of technology in the classroom or library media center, including, if applicable, a list of the entities that will be partners with the local educational agency involved in providing the ongoing, sustained professional development
Strategies:
- Create partnerships with neighboring school districts and universities in other to share professional development costs or to offer a professional development fair Using survey data and STaR chart information Campus Administrators will differentiate the needs and wants of their staff.
- Director of Technology Instruction will negotiated with district leadership incentives opportunities for teachers to attend technology professional development such as “Early Release” Passes and Free lunch coupons.
Observable Items:
· An examination of meeting agendas
· Attendance records
· Credit records
· Campus Technology Plans
· Distance Learning Reservation Lists
· Website availability for teachers
· Test records
· Percentage of teachers achieving SBEC proficiencies
Person(s) Responsible: Instructional Technology Staff, Teachers, Campus Technology Teams, Campus Administrative Team, Curriculum Coordinators
Meeting the needs:
This standard is met by the proposed strategies and observable items by acknowledging that the district cannot provide teachers with needed professional in an isolated environment insulated from the outside learning community. Instead the proposed strategies help close the gap but sharing and exchanging professional development knowledge and burden in order to help lift teachers into a high level of technology integration.
Management:
Goal 3: Increase the level of administrative support and use of technology in all focus areas as represented in the STaR Chart.
Standard:
NCLB Correlates-
01: A description of how the applicant will use Federal funds under this subpart to improve the student academic achievement, including technology literacy, of all students attending schools served by the local educational agency and to improve the capacity of all teachers teaching in schools served by the local educational agency to integrate technology effectively into curricula and instruction.
NCLB 04: A description of how the applicant will—
(A) identify and promote curricula and teaching strategies that integrate technology effectively into curricula and instruction, based on a review of relevant research, leading to improvements in student academic achievement, as measured by challenging State academic content and student academic achievement standards; and
(8) A description of how the applicant will encourage the development and utilization of innovative strategies for the delivery of specialized or rigorous academic courses and curricula through the use of technology, including distance learning technologies, particularly for those areas that would not otherwise have access to such courses and curricula due to geographical isolation or insufficient resources.
Strategies:
- Using survey data and STaR chart information Campus Administrators will differentiate the needs of their staff and share findings at District Technology Meetings.
- Hire a technology facilitator for each campus to assist the Director of Instructional Technology
- Technology Training Specialist responsible for accountability of training
- New Technology applications will be reviewed by the District Technology Training Specialist in order to provide programs that will be most effective instructionally.
Observable Items:
· A review of agenda items
· Surveys
· Campus Technology Action Plans
· Campus Improvement Plans (CIPs)
· Podcasts on District website,
· phone records,
· video content available through district website,
· online grade book access
· staff web pages
· Training materials
· Professional Development course offerings
Person(s) Responsible: Instructional Technology Department, Campus Administrative Teams, Technology Services, and Information Services
Meeting the needs:
The district has a need to continue to provide administrative leadership and support for teachers in the use of technology. This standard is met by the proposed strategies and observable items by providing resources in the hands of the administrative team in order to best serve their individual campuses. By addressing weakness in personnel staffing for example, campus administrators will have the capable to model effective usage of technology in a collaborative setting.
Funding-
Goal 4: Provide an infrastructure system that allows all users 24/7 access to all e-learning opportunities and provide technical assistance to support instructional and administrative needs to achieve the Advanced or Target Tech level in the Texas STaR Chart.
Standard:
NCLB (5) A description of the type and costs of technologies to be acquired under this subpart, including services, software, and digital curricula, and including specific provisions for interoperability among components of such technologies.
(12) A description of the supporting resources (such as services, software, other electronically delivered learning materials, and print resources) that will be acquired to ensure successful and effective uses of technology.
Strategies:
- Use student aides on campus to assist the technology technicians. The high schools provide off-periods for upper class men to work as aides therefore assigning these students to help technology technicians will ease some of the busy work from the technicians. In addition, these student roles can be expanded into internships or apprenticeships providing students with job-relating training and helping the district with a needed service.
- Updating the E-ticket service system known as HEAT.
- Grant Committee will research and write grants
- Apply for E-Rate
- Switch email, calendar, security, cloud services toward Google Apps for Education service instead. This will be a cost effective measures but because of the cloud computing capabilities this switch in infrastructure design will bring the district closer to 24/7 learning environment.
- Tap the resources available with the Partners in Education Office in order to seek support from local corporations and private donors
- Recycle old hardware for money- since items like copper can be harvested from old machinery the money recaptured will be awarded toward the purchasing of newer hardware.
- The need of new computers will be reviewed by the District Technology Committee and each need will be prioritized
Observable Items:
· Purchase orders
· Delivery records
· Student Aide/ Internship logs
· Help Desk Records
· Staff surveys
· Contract awards
Person(s) Responsible: Technology Services, Teachers, Campus Technology Teams, Campus Administrative Team, District Level Administrative Teams
Meeting the needs:
This standard is met by the proposed strategies and observable items by acknowledging that the district is facing significant economic downturn and as a result budgetary shrinkage. In order to provide the high quality of education our stakeholders have come to expect from this district all resources must be used to their fullest extent. For example, the usage of students to provide low level tech services or switching to Google Apps for Education is not only cost effective but the innovative thinking will set a tone for the rest of the district as technology is embraced more so. Additionally, the district needs to continue to invest in upgrades and new technology-based products and services to increase the
district's operating efficiency and effectiveness.
2. Review the reading materials in Technology domain to propose using other standards which are not adopted by your studied school. Explain why those new standards should be considered for your studied school.
Updated to included ISTE specific standards
My district relies heavily on NCLB and StaR chart data for the development of their technology plan. ISTE standards are not incorporated into the actual document but are instead considered to be used whenever possible in practice. I feel that ISTE standards should be built into the technology plan because many teachers are not familiar with ISTE or their standards. Also, I believe that if Cy-Fair ISD intends carry influence outside of our district borders in the education world maintaining common nationally recognized standards like ISTE would be a positive step in that direction. ISTE provides standards for students, teachers, administrators, and facilitators. Therefore, every group would be vertically aligned to the same end goal in mind. If these standards are embedded into our technology plan than we would be holding ourselves up to a higher standard but also in order to create documentation and maintain data on the success of these newly or weakness of these adopted standards. Incorporating the ISTE standards would commit the district into using them regularly rather than sporadically with consequence/reward.
ISTE standards that could be fitted into the technology plan:
Technology-
For Teachers:
II. PLANNING AND DESIGNING LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS
AND EXPERIENCES
Teachers plan and design effective learning
environments and experiences supported by
technology. Teachers:
III. TEACHING, LEARNING, AND THE CURRICULUM
Teachers implement curriculum plans that include
methods and strategies for applying technology to
maximize student learning. Teachers:
A. facilitate technology-enhanced experiences that
address content standards and student
technology standards.
B. use technology to support learner-centered
strategies that address the diverse needs of
students.
C. apply technology to develop students’ higher
order skills and creativity.
D. manage student learning activities in a
technology-enhanced environment.
For Administrators:
Educational Administrators promote an environment
of professional learning and innovation that
empowers educators to enhance student learning
through the infusion of contemporary technologies
and digital resources.
a. Allocate time, resources, and access to ensure
ongoing professional growth in technology fluency
and integration
b. Facilitate and participate in learning communities
that stimulate, nurture and support administrators,
faculty, and staff in the study and use of technology
c. Promote and model effective communication
and collaboration among stakeholders using digital
age tools
d. Stay abreast of educational research and emerging
trends regarding effective use of technology and
encourage evaluation of new technologies for their
potential to improve student learning
Management-
For Administrators:
1. Visionary Leadership
Educational Administrators inspire and lead
development and implementation of a shared vision
for comprehensive integration of technology to
promote excellence and support transformation
throughout the organization.
a. Inspire and facilitate among all stakeholders a
shared vision of purposeful change that maximizes
use of digital-age resources to meet and exceed
learning goals, support effective instructional
practice, and maximize performance of district
and school leaders
b. Engage in an ongoing process to develop,
implement, and communicate technology-infused
strategic plans aligned with a shared vision
c. Advocate on local, state and national levels
for policies, programs, and funding to support
implementation of a technology-infused vision
and strategic plan
Funding-
4. For Administrators:
Systemic Improvement
Educational Administrators provide digital age
leadership and management to continuously
improve the organization through the effective
use of information and technology resources.
a. Lead purposeful change to maximize the achievement
of learning goals through the appropriate use of
technology and media-rich resources
b. Collaborate to establish metrics, collect and analyze
data, interpret results, and share findings to improve
staff performance and student learning
c. Recruit and retain highly competent personnel
who use technology creatively and proficiently
to advance academic and operational goals
d. Establish and leverage strategic partnerships
to support systemic improvement
e. Establish and maintain a robust infrastructure
for technology including integrated, interoperable
technology systems to support management,
operations, teaching, and learning
References:
ISTE | Membership, NETS Standards, Books, Journals and Professional Development for Teachers. (n.d.).
ISTE | Membership, NETS Standards, Books, Journals and Professional Development for Teachers. Retrieved April 2, 2012, from
http://www.iste.org/welcome.aspx
