Texas STaR Chart and Vision 2020 - An Introduction

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This is the professional development presentation created to introduce the staff at VHS to the STaR Chart and the correlations to the Vision 2020 Program for the State of Texas.

Texas STaR Chart

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For this week's assignment, I was very interested to read about the Vision 2020 plan for technology as well as seeing the STaR chart rankings for my campus. The area that most interests me in both of these publications is the are relating to Infrastructure for Technology.

In the Long Range Plan, the state of Texas indicates that the 21st Century infrastructure necessary for educational incorporation of technology should offer real time 24/7 connectivity between the schools, businesses, Higher Education Institutions, as well as nationwide and worldwide resources for information. The equitable access of ALL students to technology is paramount as is an infrastructure that is safe, secure, and flexible in order to meet the needs of the tech savvy student. Technical assistance, when necessary, should also be offered as part of the infrastructure, and cross platform and collaborative programs and products must be provided. Each of these items will be the support for the technology initiatives set forth by the state.

Progress is definitely coming along, especially for those areas that are easiest to incorporate immediately. Nearly 95% of school is the state have real time Internet access, and the remaining 5% are well on their way. Many schools are creating situations of 3:1 2:1 and1:1 access to computers, with a number (Irving ISD in particular) having a 1:1 laptop program for their High School students. Safety and security is becoming a concern, and many schools are maintaining flexible and secure file systems.

All of these areas play directly into the STaR chart analysis for VISD. The infrastructure is the lowest, and will continue to be the lowest for us, as we struggle to maintain the integrity of the IT system and strive to keep current with technology. Bandwidth continues to be an issue for us in VISD (and when we fix that, we should be easily in the Target Tech area for our STaR chart). All in all, however, the infrastructure in place does provide the framework for teachers to integrate technology into the classroom.

One major area that is not address by anything either in the STaR chart, or Vision 2020 is the lack of Internet for the students households. Clouding of neighborhoods is the norm for areas outside of Texas, yet the lack of clouded cities is blatantly obvious in Texas. Clouding (or the blanketing of wireless access for an entire community) is a very cost feasible, and easy way to establish Internet connections for an entire community (private homes, businesses, schools, government entities, etc.) and would allow students and teachers the freedom to work "no strings attached." I would highly recommend each district and community surrounding the district look at establishing a cloud Internet access system in order for us to vault our technology use into the next phase.

The TEKS for technology from Pre-K to 12th grade are comprehensive, and complete. They outline a very specific, and appropriate program for mastery of technology as it relates to current technology. Many of the skills that students MUST master are very removed from even when I was in high school (1990-1994). Having specific TEKS for technology will allow Texas educators to produce not only tech-savvy students, but students that will enter the work force with the proper skills to succeed in a constantly changing world. The Pre-K standards enable the teachers of Pre-K kids to encourage the development of social, motor, and problem solving skills necessary to effectively use the technology that is ever changing.

A spiraling curriculum is a curricular system that allows the student to re-establish learning of a particular content area at various stages of learning development across years in school. This concept, as applied to technology, will allow the initial (and fundamental) skills learned early, such as keyboarding, mouse use, computer hardware use, etc, to be used in higher-level thinking applications. As it pertains to the TEKS, the foundational skills mentioned above will be used throughout the tech-ed process, through continual application in each successive grade. For example, the skills of keyboard use, as taught in the early application of computer science including keyboarding, will evolve from the basics if the home row, to typing, coding, and keyboard applications that allow a higher level of program use later on. This type of revisiting of skills will allow the student to constantly be evaluated and learning adapted to meet the growing needs of the changing technology.

In analyzing the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology, I was surprised to see the amount of support that should be present from state and local entities. The fact that SBEC, TEA, as well as the regional ESC's should be designing and implementing much of the infrastructure as well as the plans to use that infrastructure is all news to me. I haven't witnessed much of any of that implementation thus far, and I don't expect to see much in the future as well. It may be that I am "out of the loop" so to speak, but much of the technology integration that I have ever witnessed has only been at the local level, with very little, if any, support from regional or state sources (excluding funding...I am very aware that much of our funding does come from state resources). That being said, I am giddy with excitement at the possibilities that are present in the plan (supposing it comes to fruition). The possibility of a 1:1 ratio of computers to students is palpable, as well as the 24/7 access to information on a global scale. Combine that with the possibilities of technology integration into the classroom, it makes the thoughts of education through the 21st century exciting, to say the least.

As an administrator, the access to the resources that are outlined in the Vision 2020 plan will allow me to incorporate that technology into our educational system at a local level. The funding access will allow us to provide for the students (in terms of technology) where their home lives cannot, and provide for them the access to information that they would not otherwise be privy to. The standards of technology integration will allow me to hire, and train, a new generation of teachers who are proficient at incorporating technology into the classroom, and use that technology to move beyond the traditional classroom structure.

After taking the assessments that were assigned, I found myself feeling very confident...actually, more than confident...downright cocky. Due to the nature of my position as a band director, it has been left primarily to our own devices to research, purchase, learn, master, and teach the various bits and pieces of technology for our students. As a result, many of the directors that I work with are more than proficient when it comes to technology. We, on a daily basis, use word processors, publishers, spreadsheets, databases, display software (Power Point), as well as proprietary software programs such as Finale, Smart Music, Smart Score, Sibelius, Audacity, and other music programs. In addition, hardware such as Midi compatible keyboards, sound interfaces, photo and video interfaces, as well as music specific peripherals such as Music Pad and Marching Pad Pro are also needed, and used. This has created a very technology savvy sect of music education...much more so in music than the traditional classroom teachers.

As a principal, I would feel very confident in facilitating the increased use of technology on my campus, and, in addition, I would even feel confident (depending on the program) leading staff developments on that technology. The assessments that were done for this class very accurately depict my knowledge and understanding of technology, and I am excited to expand my knowledge during this course.

Having said that, some of the areas that I will be focusing on increasing my knowledge in include the copyright laws regarding fair use, ways to determine accuracy of information (both in the collecting as well as to combat plagiarism), and classroom specific integration of technology in order to meet the goals of the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology.