Opinions vary on the following key areas: Teaching and Learning, Educator Preparation and Development, Leadership, Administration, and Support, carry the most weight. The arguments are reminiscent of which came first “the chicken or the egg.” Everybody will have their own ideas but I believe that if we build the infrastructure the rest will be achievable. Infrastructure for Technology is the backbone of the educational system for the 21st century. The shift into technological world without the infrastructure to support this initiative would be futile. Districts must have reliable computers for student use, access to the internet with high capacity servers, the proper technical support, and the ability to do distance learning.
The survey of districts across the state of Texas illustrate my point because 57.2% of them in 2007-2008 fell into the category of Infrastructure for Technology and received a rating Advanced Technology. Little Elm ISD is on par with rest of the state. We have been in the Advanced Technology rating for last three years. The STaR Chart summaries area average points for years 2006-2009 totaled 15.67. The STaR Chart summary statewide revealed that 1.2% of the schools are early tech, 34.9% were developing tech, 57.2% were advanced tech, and 6.7% were target tech. The district I believe is charting a path toward that target of technology implementation.
On the national screen … “We are a nation on the move. There is a new fervor in American education, a new creativity – driven in part by this generation of tech-savvy students – that bodes well for the future of our country. We must listen to our students.” (Secretary of Education Rod Paige).
Little Elm ISD has followed the trend both at the national and state level. I have been in Little Elm for the past 12 years and I have witnessed a lot of changes. The school district grew form 354 students in 1998 to 1400 today. The growth we experienced was mind boggling. The district had to build a new high school along with several new elementary schools, and was able to really upgrade the infrastructure at all the campuses. The high school recently added two additional computer labs to go along with four they already have in place. Students are get access to Study Island, Rosetta Stone, and Reading Plus in all of these labs. The servers handle the traffic both in LAN and WAN due to fact they are new. Every class room has in focus machines mounted overhead, student to computer ratios have improved, staff integration of technology has increased; yet, there is still room for improvement. Looking forward, I believe Little Elm ISD is on the right path and may even be slightly ahead of the curve.
The goal of every district should be the improvement of student performance in every endeavor. I am concerned that as the economy strains, school districts including mine will not be able to keep up with changes in technology. However, I believe if districts will plan how to maintain, service, replace and reuse as must of the technological gizmos as possible it may be able to help vault students into the 21st century. I would also encourage administration to recruit great technology personal. I would offer to pay teachers stipends for the tech savvy to give staff developments to other teachers and get the community involved chances are there are a lot of gifted people in the area. 
Todd, great article. I'm in agreement with you that infrastructure must come first. As they say 'Build it, they will come'.
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed (and jealous) with the technology you all have in your rooms. My school is far, far behind. I love having technology in my classroom... we just need much more equipment, training, and tech support. It all starts with the infrastructure.
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