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.