Texas Long Range Plan for Technology

Educator Preparation and Development

The Texas Long Range Plan for Technology hopes that the future holds an educational setting where teachers can have 24/7 access to professional development opportunities, student data, and the digital resources to enhance their teaching in a way that meets the needs of diverse learners. The TLRP also has an educator goal of increased communication between parents, students and the community.

This key area of the Vision 2020 Plan is categorized into four levels of achievement. Early Tech which describes schools whose teachers match the SBEC criterions at 10%. In Developing Tech schools, 40% of the teachers meet the SBEC standards. The Advanced Tech rated schools have the integration of technology into teaching and knowledge, the internet used regularly as a resource, an increase to 25-29% of the technology budget for professional development, eighty percent of campus teachers meeting the SBEC standards and campus recognition of best practices with technology. Target Tech schools have 100% of the campus teachers meeting SBEC standards.

Small improvements have been made in this key area of Educator Preparation and Development. Most Texas schools (74% in 2008) rate their teachers’ technology use and professional development at the Developing Tech levels. The number of Early Tech rated schools in this area dropped to just 5%. Schools in Texas rated as Advanced Tech in 2008 increased 3% to a total of 20%. Target Tech schools remained at 1%.

At my local middle school, this key area has increased from Developing Tech in 2006 to Advanced Tech in 2009. This improvement has occurred by an increase in the Focus Areas of professional development experiences, models of professional development, capabilities of educators, and levels of understanding and patterns of use.

In my opinion, the best way for improvement in this area is 24/7 access to professional development. If teachers could sit down at home at their own leisure and participate in professional development, skills would be increased with the least amount of money spent. Savings in transportation, subs for teachers, and presenter’s fees would all be realized.