2008 Biennial Report on the Vision 2020 Plan
The Progress Report given to the Texas Governor and Legislature discusses the contributions of Regional Service Centers and the Texas Education Agency whose mission is to improve education in Texas Public Schools.
The Texas Education Agency was tasked with supporting the implementation of Pre-K technology guidelines, the adoption of technolgy applications instructional materials, online learning tools for all learners incuding the disabled, and programs that encourage parent communication and involvement.
Progress by TEA reported includes advancement done on the legislatively mandated programs that were implemented through the 2006-2008 school years. The programs are the
Technology Immersion Pilot (TIP) and the Texas Virtual School Network (TxVSN). The TIP program’s purpose is to provide a wireless computer device to each student in a middle school and to monitor the benefits of the program (which was funded mainly through a federal grant). Benefits of the program included increased parental involvement; collaboration and communication among staff, students and parents; community support; engagement and enthusiasm; and decreased discipline problems.
In the Vision 2020 plan, regional education service centers (ESCs) were recommended to support the implementation of the Technology Applications TEKS, assist districts with the ability to monitor their progress in technology, provide distance learning for teachers and students, and to identify and support best practices of technology use in education.
Our ESC, Region 20, reports that educational resources provided include “Digital Knowledge Central, and Technology cooperatives Apple Education, Discovery Education, School Specialty Media, TeachingBooks.net, Facts on File, Netlibrary.com, netTrekker, ProQuest, Encyclopedia Britannica, EBSCO, Gale, NewsBank, HW Wilson, ThinkMap” and WorldBook. Almost 200 virtual field trips were taken and 18 Dual Credit courses were offered through the Alamo Community College District. A newsletter on distance learning keeps teachers and schools informed of new opportunities. And workshops were held to teach educators how to employ videoconferencing in the classroom.
Much has been accomplished!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment