CLHS STaR Chart Update 2009

This PowerPoint presentation provides the backbone for the 2009 STaR Chart Update for Clear Lake High School. As you progress through the presentation, your questions regarding the Texas STaR Chart will be answered.

Key Area III: Leadership, Administration and Instructional Support

The purpose of the Texas School Technology and Readiness (STaR) Chart is to assess campus and district progress of meeting the standards established by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The Texas Campus STaR Chart can be used by campuses to aid in the evaluation of current practices regarding the use of technology. It will also show strengths and weaknesses in a campus's approach to integrating technology.

One area where Clear Lake High School is strong is in Key Area III: Leadership, Administration and Instructional Support. There are six different measurements that make up Key Area II are Leadership and Vision, Planning, Instructional Support, Communication and Collaboration, Budget, and Leadership and Support for Online Learning. This key area involves utilizing a visionary plan to implement technology usage into classrooms and requires skilled leadership, innovation, and commitment to technology integration. Leadership and support are absolutely crucial in this area. In order for campus leaders to guide the staff in the right direction, they must model the usage and integration of technology and set up the expectation that teachers will use it. This includes providing professional development opportunities for teachers to learn best practices relating to technology integration.

As a whole, the state has seen an increase in the number of school making increases in this Key Area. The increase in the schools moving from Developing Tech to Advanced Tech is evidence that schools across Texas are moving forward by using technology. CLHS has shown gains in this area as well. My recommendations for CLHS to continue to show improvement in this area is to offer time for teachers to learn new technology related skills. For teachers who are un-sure of themselves, they need time to practice using skills before they are in front of their classes full of students. On a district level, it would be beneficial for CCISD to offer more online professional development for teachers to attend. Also, teachers should have time to collaborate with others in their subject areas to find out what new technologies other teachers are using and being successful with. 

Tech Apps TEKS

The Tech Apps TEKS set up guidelines for what students should be expected to do and learn about at specific grade intervals. These intervals start at Pre-K and go all the way until students graduate from high school in grade 12. The Pre-K TEKS establish very basic computer skills such as opening programs and navigating computer-based software programs. The intention of these TEKS is to get students familiar with the computer and some of the tools that are used with it. Other skills included in the Pre-K TEKS are that the student can name and use input devices and practice using them. The student should learn to use recording devices and touch screen devices. The student will begin to use software to express himself via electronic format. The student will begin to learn about websites and the idea of accessing electronic information.

The mastery of these TEKS sets the student up for success in mastering the Tech Apps TEKS that follow. If a student never learns to use input devices such as a keyboard or a mouse, he will never be able to access new information via a website.

The Tech Apps TEKS are a scaffolding curriculum. At first, knowledge is introduced at its simplest. This simple knowledge continues to be built upon and becomes more and more involved. An example of a TEK that students have multiple opportunities to master is the Solving Problems area. Each interval has the same TEK starting in Grades 3-5 and continuing through Grades 9-12. The TEK that is repeated is “Participate with electronic communities as a learner, initiator, contributor, or mentor”. This gives students almost 10 years to master this objective. 

Long-Range Plan

Prior to this class, I was unaware that Texas had or was following a long-range plan for technology. Because our students are part of a technology savvy generation, the method of teaching them must shift from the tried-and-true methods with which we were educated. The integration of technology into the classroom is imperative for our students' success. In order to fully prepare teachers to use this technology, time must be set aside for professional development. Either during the professional development session or as a follow-up, teachers should be allowed time to put the new knowledge to use and to integrate it into their existing lesson plans. Teachers could do this in collaboration with other teachers in the same grade level or subject area. One point I learned from the long-range plan is that is is imperative that the administration in a school have a vision for technology and a plan for implementing the vision. This vision should be in alignment with the vision established for the school district. The plan addresses the reality that some districts have more resources than others. Some districts can purchase new equipment on an as needed basis, and other districts are forced to use broken or outdated equipment.

I think one of the most important things I learned about technology use and integration on campus is that the administration must set the example. You cannot tell teachers "Do as I say, not as I do"! As an administrator, I would use any and all technology to communicate and organize myself so that I could show teachers how wonderful it can be. If I were holdng a meeting, I would put the agenda up as a google document, so that we could all add and edit in real time. Education is a field where technology integration has been slow in coming, but when teachers begin to embrace it, I think we will see a shift in the exictement of both teachers and students.

Personal Technology Skills & Knowledge

I took both the Technology Applications Inventory and the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SEDTA) Teacher Survey to assess my technology skills and knowledge.

The Technology Applications Inventory is divided into four domains. These four domains are Foundations, Information Acquisition, Solving Problems with Technology Tools, and Communication. The domain where I am the strongest is the first, Foundations. Since this section asked questions about the basics of computers, using peripherals and networks, I answered yes to all questions. I would assume that the foundation area is the strongest for most, since the questions are general. The following three domains asked more specific questions about using technology. I was still very strong in the second domain, Information Acquisition. I also answered yes to each of these statements. Beginning in domain three, Solving Problems with Technology Tools, there were some statements which did not apply to me, but my lowest was domain four. Domain four, Communication, I only answered yes to 75% of the statements. When I first read the area titles, I assumed that I would be higher in the communication area and lower in the problem solving domain.

The SEDTA survey really opened my eyes to the use of technology in my school and classroom. Although I do use certain types of technology regularly with my students, the SEDTA survey showed me how much I am technology I am essentially ignoring. One point that stuck out to me is the frequency with which my students are actually required to use various kinds of technology in my classes. While I make a PowerPoint for each day of the week, I only require my students to make two in an entire school year. Something else that the SEDTA survey brought to my attention is the lack of requirements that the school imposes on teachers. Using technology certainly is encouraged and supported, but if a teacher chooses not to initiate the use on her own, no one will ever ask more of her. As for the equipment available at our campus, this is an area where we have a huge gap to overcome. Most of the hardware that we have is old and out of date. Teacher computers and student laptops are referred to as "dinosaurs" because they are ancient in terms of the life of a computer. We have great software to use, but due to the lack of processing speed and memory space, sometimes these programs are difficult, if not impossible, to use.

I feel that I have suffiicent technology knowledge and skills. I am always called on to help in the presentation of technology-based professional development, and other teachers come ask me questions when they need help trouble-shooting some form of technology. Most of my knowledge does not come from trainings provided by the school or district, but instead was learned on personal time. Because I never want to stop learning about new techonologies, I would like to focus on learning more about technology that can be integrated into the classroom. Students today are so driven by technology, that I would like to learn more about communication. This was my weakest of all four domains on the Technology Applications Inventory, so that shows that I am deficient in that area.