Summary Area: Educator Preparation and Development
Educator Preparation and Development is a vital area of preparing educators to effectively facilitate and manage the 21st century learning of technology of today's students. Such vital knowledge is necessary to comply with the new Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology of 2006-202o. Effective Educator Preparation and Development characteristics includes:
- provides necessary resources and tools to properly teach and educate the students to the best of their abilities
- continuous professional development refresher courses
Local Progress: My campus' local Educator Preparation and Development area progress has steadily been declining from year to year; rated its highest in 2006-2007 of being "Advanced Tech" with a score of 15, to a declining rating of "Developing Tech" with a score of 12 in 2007-2008 and since dropping to a score of 10 in 2008-2009, labeling us currently as "Developing Tech."
My belief to such decline is lack of focus on the technology concepts with more concentration placed on "core" curricular areas such as Reading and Math. Another reason for the downward spiraling trend could be lack of knowledge of the Texas STaR Chart assessment tool provided by administration. Most educators in the district have not been properly educated about the assessment and its importance. And our district overall has an older generation of educators who lack the technology experience and knowledge to effectively integrate technology into the curriculum.
State and National Progress: According to the Campus Statewide Summary by Key Area, our campus' Educators Preparation and Development level of progress falls in the "Developing Technology" range with a number of 5668 and a percent of 74.2%. Our campus uses technology for administrative tasks and classroom management. There is a use of online resources. 40% of our educators meet the SBEC standards. The Administration expects teachers to use technology using 6-24% of technology budget which is allocated for professional development.
Improvements of Area: I believe improvements are necessary in this key area of Educator Preparation and Development in order for all educators and all students to effectively and appropriately learn and master the Technology Application TEKS. Improvements include:
- highly qualified and skilled educators
- continuous professional development sessions focused on technology and its components
- time for educators to develop rich-technology based lessons to share with other educators
- appropriate technology tools and resources to effectively educate students
Robyn, I agree with you. I also have found that our campus educators are ill informed of what the STaR Chart represents as well as the Long Range Plan. I was not aware of it until I took this class. If feel that if the educators are informed on it's importance and equipped with more professional development and time to collaborate to integrate this material, we will be better on our way to meeting the goals and objectives by 2020. Good!
ReplyDeleteWow, for the Educator Preparationand Development area to be decling like that is scary, especially right now when it should be increasing more so than ever before. "Lack of knowledge" is a killer. You are problably right with your thoughts of why the scores are as low as they are. I hope they pick up, and should, when people like yourself recognize the delimma and work at getting others on board. I understand how the older generation are often times not our strengths when it comes to technology. I wish they could understand technology is their friend, and helps make things a lot easier. They need not fear technology. They need to have it as their new BFF
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