The Texas Long -Range Plan for Technology

The Texas Long Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020 describes four key areas targeted for growth across the state; Teaching & Learning, Educator Preparation & Development, Leadership, Administration, & Instructional Support and Infrastructure for Technology. One of the Key Areas of the Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology 2006-2020 is Educator Preparation and Development. This key area addresses the professional development needs of teachers and all members of the education community. It is further broken down into the following Focus Areas: Professional Development Experiences, Models of Professional Development, Capabilities of Educators, Access to Professional Development, Levels of Understanding and Patterns of Use, and Professional Development for Online Learning. The professional developments must be aligned with the SBEC Technology Application standards to support lesson planning, classroom management, and administrative tasks. This area has shown little growth in the last three years based on the state and local STaR Chart results, a tool used to track progress by teachers, campuses, and districts toward achieving the goals of the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology. A review of the STaR charts for my local campus and the state summary results shows little growth over the last three years. While the largest percentages of teachers and campuses are in the developing and advanced levels, there has been only a very slow movement upward in those numbers. If the Long-Range Plan for Technology is to be effective, there must be strategies put into place that can realistically be accomplished and measure. By being able to follow the recommendations for Teaching and Learning, preparation of the educator/professional development, and Administrative support, the goal can be reached by 2020. The largest area of concern is the very low levels reported in the highest proficiency level (Target Tech), less than 1% state-wide and also the lowest reported on my own campus. Professional development needs to be at a level the teacher is comfortable using and provide specific curricular uses in the classroom. Educators must be allowed to access technology at a level where they feel comfortable exploring and then moved forward skill levels strategically connecting each successive skill to a usable classroom curricular tie The best way for improvement in this area (Educator Preparation and Development) is extended and continuously access to technology professional development.