#2 Progress Report on the Long-Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020

It is amazing to discover all the resources and tools available for school districts to utilize in order to create a 21st Century classroom. With these tools, I learned that most of the school districts have improved in the Teaching and Learning areas. The indoctrination of technology in the classroom has grown immensely. I believe the recommendations provided for school districts targeting the Teaching and Learning areas provides many opportunities for instruction to be teacher-facilitated, students working with peers plus having access to all necessary technology resources to complete assignments. I realize this is just a start for improvement, but progression needs to start somewhere. The recommended resources that shines in my opinion are the Connections Grant, Rural Technology Pilot Program, Texas Virtual School Network (TxVSN), Online Tutor, and the K-12 Databases. For those schools who take advantage of these resource, bravo! I have great concerns about the Educator Preparation and Development areas. For my school, the progression level is developing. I am hopeful because we just started to participate in Project Share. This is a very impressive collection of Web 2.0 tools and applications that provides exceptional professional development. I look forward to participating fully. If all the teachers participate in Project Share appropriately our progress level will improve tremendously; therefore positively effecting our classroom instruction. As for the Leadership, Administration, and Instructional Support area being able to analyze the STaR Chart enables leaders to plan, budget, apply for grants, such as, E-Rate funding, and prepare for technology use in the future. It astonishes me to think one chart can provide all this assistance to the districts. Without infrastructure, there would be no productive technology in my opinion. I feel districts are on the correct path in building their infrastructure by taking advantage grant funding, providing broadband capabilities, and internet safety issues. I realize Texas has more goals to meet, but I feel we are on our way to the top!