Texas Campus STaR Chart

According to the Texas Campus STaR Chart, my campus rated highest in Infrastructure for Technology and lowest in Teaching and Learning and Educator Preparation and Development. Infrastructure for Technology includes number of students per computer, Internet access and connectivity speed, other classroom technology, technical support, local area network wide area network, and distance learning capacity.

The campus ratings on the Texas Campus STar Chart were exactly the same for all areas in 2006-2007 and 2007-2208. There was no data available for 2008-2009. I was surprised to find that there had been no changes at all in the two year span. It might be in part due to teacher turnover. There have been new teachers added each year due to teacher resignations, retirements, and transfers. The campus was rated Advanced Tech in Infrastructure for Technology, which is in alignment with the district and the state. Within the state in 2007-2008, 57.2% of schools were rated Advanced Tech in this area. The Long Range Plan for Technology (Texas) is aligned with the federal NCLB requirements.

Although Infrastructure for Technology was our highest area according to STaR Chart data from 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 (2008-2009 was not available), network and infrastructure have been a problem since mid year 2008-2009. While the district allocates adequate funding for infrastructure and has several wireless access points in every school and throughout the district, there have been connectivity issues since the implementation of the teacher laptop initiative. This has been frustrating for teachers because they cannot always access the district Intranet and other resources on demand. The district and has allocated a portion of the ARRA (stimulus) funds to upgrade the infrastructure and connectivity.

The district has taken an important step in improving the Infrastructure for Technology. Additionally, more servers are needed to run district wide instructional and data management programs.