Opinion on the Long Range Plan and STaR Charts.

The STaR Chart is basically a snapshot of the preparedness of teachers, campuses and districts and shows the progress they are making towards the goals laid out in the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology. According to the STaR chart results for my campus we are not doing very well in the area of Educator Preparation and Development as this was our lowest scoring area for the past three years.

Description:
The area of Educator Preparation and Development refers to the progress that educators are making with regards to their own personal preparation to use and integrate technology into their classrooms. If teachers feel they are adequately trained then they will be more likely to use technology and be comfortable with it in their lessons. According to the Campus Star Chart , "Securing time, resources, and effective models for educator professional development presents a tremendous challenge to our state and to the entire nation". I have personally seen this because the technology department is currently swamped with fixing bugs and making upgrades to the point that there is hardly any time for training staff on how to properly use technology. As a result, many staff members feel they are not well prepared and so they chose to opt out of using technology as much as they can get away with.

Progress:
My campus has only made slight progress towards the state goals for educator preparation. We currently have a ranking of Developing, which shows that we still have a long way to go. In my short time in the district this is the first time that I am being made aware that there is actual training for technology use for teachers. Most of my training has been rushed and usually consisted of someone who was told at the last minute that they needed to show me how to use software. Some of the programs that we use like email were things that I learned on my own and only had to adjust to the district's way of doing things. Now that there is technology training available there are still very few people who show up because the sessions are at the end of the day. There is no monetary incentive for attending the training but you can earn hours towards getting a digital camera and some other hardware. Even with these incentives the training sessions have been very sparse, with only about four people on average attending the meetings.

Trends:
The trend in the last few years shows that technology use is on the rise, even though it is very slow, as the majority of teachers statewide are still at developing technology. When compared to the other areas of the STaR chart this is a great cause for concern because the teachers are the ones who are supposed to show students the benefits of technology, yet teachers are the ones who are the least developed.

Recommendations for Improvement:
I think more time needs to be spent on training teachers in the proper use of technology and the benefits that is has for them. The technology department has already started this by offering the training but I think it is up to the principals to motivate staff to attend the training so that they can learn the technology. Another way to improve educator preparation is to actually make staff aware of the purpose of the STaR Chart. In my first year of teaching I was sent an email that said to fill out the chart and did not get any assistance on how to do so. I was also not told the rationale behind filling in the chart. Then in my second year (last year) I moved to the alternative school and was told that I did not need to fill out the chart.

I was not aware of the Long Range plan for technology until I started to take this class and I am sure that many teachers have no idea what the plan is or where we rank on the STaR charts. If teachers are not aware of what progress we still have to make on the plan then there is nothing to light a fire under them to make them want to learn more. Teachers know about TAKS results and therefore they work to improve those scores. If they know their STaR scores I think they would be more willing to work so as not to have a failing grade.