STaR Chart Summary: Educator Preparation

Upon study of the STAR chart information from my campus, the area that reflects the greatest weakness on my campus deals with educator preparation and development. The basic goal of this section of the Long-Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020 is to provide teachers, new and veteran, with training that will allow them to better prepare students for the technologically based world that our students are currently living in, and more importantly to prepare them to be productive in this technology based society as they leave school to enter the “real world.” The plan outlines preparation and development programs for two different categories of teachers: new teachers, just entering the profession, and veteran teachers with years of experience. The plan for new teachers includes requirements that all teacher preparation programs model the appropriate use of technology and meet the Technology Applications standards. For veteran teachers, a program of ongoing, job-embedded professional development opportunities is suggested, to ensure that veteran teachers too can demonstrate mastery of the SBEC Technology Applications Standards.
Statewide, 74.2% of schools surveyed achieved “developing tech” rating (a 2 out of a possible 4), in the educator preparation section of the STaR Chart. This is also reflected in the local Star Chart for my campus. Characteristics of this rating include the use of technology for administrative tasks and classroom management, and the use of online resources by teachers. This rating also reflects the use of 6%-24% of the technology budget is allotted for professional development. My campus has remained fairly static in the development of this area, over the past three years, but most recently we have seen increases in our rating in the subcategories of “professional development experiences” and “access to professional development.” I believe this is a direct result of the hiring of a new principal and new curriculum specialist on our campus. These administrators have worked together, not only to encourage the use of technology, but to provide useful training on how to incorporate technology into the classroom. They have been very supportive in helping teachers to acquire hardware and software that will be of assistance in the classroom and have modeled their use of technology when administrating faculty meetings and staff development sessions. Their enthusiasm for technology has become contagious, and has started to bring about an increase in the use of technology on our campus.
As our campus starts to become more technologically advanced, we have been given greater access to different forms of technology. We have been given access and training on an evaluation program know as Eduphoria, which has revolutionized the way that we can compare student data and make better informed decisions about student achievement. We have also acquired a number of media carts which include LCD projectors, document cameras, and a laptop computer. Additionally, the school has invested in a number of mobile computer labs and updated the existing computer labs.
I believe that my campus is on the right track for becoming even more efficient in the use of technology to affect student achievement, but we still have a way to go. I believe that one of the greatest strides that we could make is to make the technology more accessible to every student. This could be done through extending the hours that the computer labs are open or, even better, following the lead of many other districts, and issuing every student a personal laptop computer. I also feel we need to expand the accessibility of internet access and the variety of software programs available to teachers and students at school and their homes. Although we have come a long way, the process has to be ongoing, and unfortunately, it is very slow. I am sure that in the future, we will continue to see strides toward a “target tech” rating in the “educator preparation” category of our campus STaR chart.