Shoot for the Stars With Technology

Schools are major stakeholders in making the internet a valuable learning tool for students in the 21st century. An action plan identifies the key stakeholders and personnel's responsibilities for achieving the desired goals. The action plan, created for my campus professional development, focuses on the desired goal of the integration of technology, and is aligned with the strategies incorporated in the district and campus improvement plan.

Key Personnel/Stakeholders Responsibilities

For technology to be integrated into a school system, it takes all personnel and stakeholders collaboratively working together to achieve this goal. The personnel and stakeholders involved at the district level include: the superintendent, the instructional coordinator/assistant superintendent, the director of instructional technology, and the district improvement committee. At the campus level, the campus administrator, the professional classroom teachers, the special program teachers, the campus technology director, and the campus improvement committee help to make technology a vital part of the school district. Figure 1 shows the organizational chart for the personnel and stakeholders responsible for integrating technology in the district.
The superintendent will assist the instructional coordinator/assistant superintendent and the district improvement committee to review the STaR Chart, and develop a plan so all personnel can reach the desired technology goals. The district improvement committee along with the superintendent and the instructional coordinator develops, reviews, and revises the district plan objectives and strategies for technology usage. The instructional coordinator/assistant supervisor and director of instructional technology will work together to get computers and other technology into the needed classrooms. They provide training for teachers, and teach the entire staff how to effectively use technology. Also, they will provide resources for teachers, programs for students to use, and help develop curriculum with integrated technology.
The campus level administrators work closely with the instructional coordinator and the director of instructional technology identifying the needs of the staff members and providing the needed resources to ensure that all teachers are working toward the goals listed in the Texas Long-Range Technology Plan. They will develop ongoing and sustained professional development programs for all educators-teachers, administrators, and special program teachers. The campus administrator will identify and promote curricula that integrate technology effectively into their instruction, based on a review of relevant research and leading to improvement in student academic achievement. The campus administrator will be actively engaged in the different classrooms monitoring the entire staff to ensure that technology is being integrated. The professional classroom teachers collaborate with the director of instructional technology and the campus administrator to develop and revise curricula that will promote technology into the classroom. The professional classroom teachers will integrate technology into curricula and teaching, and also explore ways to promote teaching methods that are based on scientific research. Special program teachers provide technology opportunities with instructional strategies based on the individual needs of gifted and talented students, at risk students, ESL students, ELL students, and special education students. The campus
technology director provides technical assistance for teachers and students, shares ideas for integrating technology into the curriculum, and provide technological resources for teachers. The campus improvement committee will examine the district goals and the needs assessment to develop objectives that will address technology deficiencies. All involved personnel and stakeholders are collaboratively working together to achieve the goals of the district. They want to integrate technology that will provide an environment for individual growth and development of the whole child and to prepare the students to make a positive influence in the dynamic changing world of the future.

Figure 1: Organizational chart identifying personnel/stakeholders responsible for integrating technology and instructional and organization leadership from the district office to the campus and classroom.

Professional Development Plan

A thriving learning community focuses on improving learning for all of its youth and adult members. In order for staff members to create powerful learning experiences for children, they themselves need to be engaged in powerful learning experiences. The professional development plan's goals is to improve learning and teaching with technology integration. The professional development goals will increase the educators technology ability, increase the teacher's use of technology that enhances instruction, and increase the student's technology skills to enhance their learning process. (1) Teachers will use AYP, AEIS, SCE Criteria, and TAKS benchmarks to develop instruction and curriculum, (2) teachers will integrate technology into their daily instruction, and (3) campus will improve STaR Chart ratings to the advanced level of technology by December 2015. The detailed plan in which the campus will achieve these goals is illustrated in Figure 2.


Action Plan Goal/Objectives:
1. To increase the educators technology ability, increase the teacher's use of technology that enhances instruction, and increase the student's technology skills to enhance their learning process.
a. Teachers will integrate technology into their daily instruction and curriculum
b. Teachers will use AYP, AEIS, SCE Criteria, and TAKS benchmarks to develop instruction and curriculum.
c. Campus will increase STaR chart ratings to the advanced level of technology by December 2015.


Objective #1: Teachers will integrate technology into their daily instruction and curriculum.

Each teacher will demonstrate proficient use of productivity tools and design students centered activities using websites, web searches and WebQuests. They will be able to share lesson plans and practices with other teachers.
Classroom teachers and Special program teachers will be the persons responsible for implementation.
The timeline scheduled is each day of the week beginning Jan. 5, 2010 - December 18, 2010. Computer labs, approved websites, educational software, TEKS, Technology Applications, and other classroom resources provided by the classroom teacher will be available resources. Classroom observations, computer lab observations, teacher and student interviews, weekly lesson plans,products created by students,and the scope and sequence will be the assessments.


Objective #2:

Teachers will use AYP, AEIS, SCE Criteria, and TAKS benchmarks to develop instruction and curriculum. Dissagregated data will be taken from AYP, AEIS, SCE Criteria, and TAKS benchmarks to develop instruction and curricula.

Campus administrator, Instructional coordinator/assistant superintendent, and Classroom teachers will be the persons responsible for implementation of the technology.

The timeline will be January 5, 2010 -August 18, 2010 (Begin with 2009 data and end with comparison of 2010 data to 2009 data)for implementation. Benchmarks, AEIS, AYP, and SCE reports,AEIS IT data source; SCE criteria; conferences amongst grade-level teachers, campus administrator, and instructional coordinator will be used for assessments and evaluations. AEIS, SCE, AYP reports are available at the beginning of each school year. TAKS benchmarks are given three times a year. The AEIS IT software program can provide information to teachers so that they can plan lessons and accelerate the needs for specific students.


Objective #3: Campus will increase STaR chart ratings to the advanced level of technology by December 2015.

The strategies are to review individual results of the STaR Chart and begin developing a plan to address the development deficiencies.

Director of Instructional Technology, Campus Administrator, Professional classroom teachers, and Special Program teachers will be the persons responsible for professional development.

The timeline set is January 5, 2010 -September 5, 2010, and the resources to be used are STaR Charts, Campus Improvement and District Improvement Plans, ISTE, NETS, AYB, SBEC Technology Applications,and Texas Long-Range Technology Plan. The Campus STaR Chart will determine what areas show growth. Campus administrators, director of instructional technology, instructional coordinator, and individual classroom teachers will compare each participants STaR chart from the previous year to the current year. Changes will be made based on the findings.

Figure 2: Action Plan for integrating technology with instructional and organizational leadership.

Lessons Learned

On my campus, we are in dire need of additional knowledge on how to apply the resources through the application of technology. My campus administrator stressed to me during her interview that our society is a robust digital culture, and our campus is currently behind that culture. There are many means of technology available on our campus, but the teachers are not utilizing what is available. With allotted funding, the district has provided abundant amount of technology sources that can be utilized, so technology integration does not have to be a continually costly process.
The teachers need to engage students in their instruction and allow, them to be decision makers in the process of learning. As we educators stick our heads up and get the lay of the 21st century land, we would be wise to remember this: If we don't stop and listen to the kids we serve, value their opinions, and make major changes on the basis of the valid suggestions they offer, we will be left in the 21st century with school buildings to administer—but with students who are physically or mentally somewhere else (Prensky, 2005/2006). Interviews with two different grade level students revealed the fact that their technology usage has been limited to science class. The students go to computer lab for 30 minutes every other week. According to the established standards, this is not enough allotted time to create technology proficiency in students. The interviews have confirmed what I have suspected about technology on my campus, and it demonstrates a need for a technology action plan to be implemented.

Data Analysis

The Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS) is used to look at the educational performance of the district, the individual campuses, and compares these scores with other schools in Texas. The AYP is compared yearly with the previous years results to determine any areas that need improvement. With these results, the instructional coordinator and director of instructional technology can work with the different campus administrators and employees to find the needed resources, and can provide strategies to achieve the desired student success. The SCE criteria provides special program teachers with strategies to enhance learning for a diverse community of learners. The campus improvement committee and the district improvement committee analyze results from the TAKS scores, the AEIS, and the STaR Chart to make recommendations for improvements throughout the district. The members of the campus and district improvement committees, the instructional coordinator, the director of instructional technology, and the superintendent are continually developing, reviewing, and revising the district plan objectives, strategies/activities, funding sources, and timelines to meet and exceed state expectations.

Decision Making

Collaboration amongst the director of instructional technology, the campus administrator, and the classroom teachers share the responsibility for making decisions based on technology integration; however, the final decision is up to the campus administrator. To reach campus decisions, the personnel will analyze and evaluate all data sources. From the data sources, decisions can be made that will help all students meet or exceed state standards and will replace any shortcomings in the current structure and replace them with strategies and models that work.

Evaluation Plan

The STaR chart is used to help set the vision for my campus. We will continually evaluate/assess technology advancement, as set forth by our goals, and we will
identify the areas where progress is being made, as well as, areas where more training is needed. The campus administrator will use walk-through data to analyze the progress of technology integration. The campus will look at the goals and objectives stated in the action plan and align the strategies and activities with that of the campus improvement plan. Analysis of the implementation procedures will be revised/modified as a result of the continuous evaluation. Unfortunately, many educators associate evaluation with its summative purposes only. Important information that could help guide planning, development, and implementation is often neglected, even though such information can be key in determining a program or activity's overall success. Summative evaluation, although necessary, often comes too late to be much help (Guskey, 1998). The greatest evaluation need is measuring technology success, and the Texas Long-Range Technology Plan provides recommendations to help our campus reach the desired success.

Assessing and monitoring professional development

Professional development is an ongoing process that enhances professional growth. Teachers are required to submit a Professional Development Plan at the beginning of each year. They are required to attend a minimum of two technology
courses offered by the district each summer. Teachers will be awarded two comp days for attending the courses in the summer. On each lesson plan, technology sources and strategies will be listed by each teacher. The campus administrator will review the lesson plans for technology integration, and monitor the classrooms to ensure that each teacher is involving the use of technology for curriculum enhancement.. Each teacher will keep a portfolio of each student's finished product rubric, so they measure the progress being made toward the specified objective. Copies of the rubrics will be sent home for parents to view the progress of their child's technology usage. The assessment is an on-going, measurable process that continually monitors the effectiveness of the strategies and activities toward the achievement of the objectives.

Conclusion

The action plan for my campus professional development program contains a goal to increase the educators technology ability, increase the teacher's use of technology that enhances instruction, and to increase the student's technology skills to enhance their learning process. It will be a gradual and on-going process, and the campus has set December 2015 as the date when the entire district will have every teacher's instruction and curricula being integrated with technology. With each stakeholder and personnel collaborating together, the district will achieve the desired outcome.