Instructional Leadership Technology Link

Organizational Chart

The organizational chart posted on the previous page shows the title of all personnel responsible for integrating technology and instructional and organizational leadership from the district Superintendent and central office staff to the campus administrators and classroom teachers.
My district has made technology a big focus this year, per the Superintendent. He has a vision and long term mission for technology integration and development within the school district. Technology in my district is separated into two divisions at the central office level-the Division of Accounting and Finance and the Division of Instruction. The Division of Accounting and Finance is responsible for purc hasing, upgrading and maintaining technology. The Division of Instruction is responsible for integrating technology into the curriculum areas and instruction. During an interview with the Director of Educational Technology (T.Johnson, personal communication, December 3, 2009), he clarified that his department handles integration of technology within the classroom, while Computer Services under the Division of Accounting and Finance handles purchasing and repairing the technology.

In both the Division of Instruction and the Division of Accounting and Finance, the Superintendent, Associate Superintendents, Executive Directors, Senior Director, Director, and Assistant Directors work together to develop the vision for technology in the district. Together they analyze data to evaluate use of technology within the district, and maintain and plan for use of technology. The Engineers and System Adminstrator work to make sure that the systems are compatible. The Coordinators and Specialists from the Educational Technology Department supervise teams of district and campus level specialists who support technology maintenance and use on the campuses. They help solve problems and make mino repairs. They also provide campus and district level professional development to support technology integration. In the Division of Computer Services, Managers serve a similar capacity to Coordinators and Specialists from Educational Technology . Managers supervise teams of people who maintain and repair technology. The Help Desk Clerk provides clerical support and maintains work order requests for technology throughout the district. The work orders generate “tickets”, which are distributed to technicians by the Dispatcher. The Dispatcher’s role is to maintain communication with the technicians to ensure that campuses and district departments receive assistance in a reasonable amount of time.

At the campus, the principal knows the role of the two divisions who support technology within the district. He or she has a good understanding of the procedure to follow when support is needed for technology. The Director of Educational Technology indicated (T.Johnson, personal communication, December 3, 2009) that when principals have difficulties with technology on campus, they first seek assistance from their Instructional Technology Specialist, and if it not resolved then a work order is generated. The principal communicates this with teachers and staff members. The Week 3 interviews that we watched emphasized the importance of the principal being knowledgeable of technology, and modeling technology use with staff members in faculty meetings or training sessions. The principal needs to stay abreast of research in the area of technology, so that he or she can advice the Campus Improvement Committee regarding technology purchases and priorities. The principal is responsible for making sure the students are using technology safely as well.

Professional Development Planning

When I analyzed the data from the Texas Campus STaR Chart from 2006-2008, I found that my campus was lowest in the areas of Teaching and Learning and Educator Preparation and Development. Both areas had a total of eleven points. I attribute part of the reason for low score in Educator Preparation and Development to turnover at the campus, but it still is an area of concern. In a previous course, I analyzed AEIS data along with the Campus Improvement Plan to determine professional development needs, and examine differences in the performance of subgroups within the school. Data indicate that Hispanic students are scoring lower than White and African American for the most part, and that Science and Reading Fluency were areas of concern across the board.

Using the STaR Chart data, the AEIS report, Campus Improvement Plan, District Instructional Impovement Plan, and the District Technology Plan 2008-2011, along with results from Technology Excellence Indicator Systems Surveys and results of teacher tehnology proficiency assessments, it was determined that the main need is Teaching and Learning, focused on Technology Applications TEKS implementation and Content Area Connections. These areas will be addressed through district and campus –based professional development, modeling of technology integration lessons, and increasing student exposure to technology devices for school and home use. Student and teacher feedback is important in this process and will be used to create the professional development plan and make adjustments to it.

The district Literacy, Math, and Science specialists will model content area lessons for grade level teachers integrating technology into the teaching so that teachers can see real world examples of how to use technology as a teaching tool. For example, in literacy, teachers will observe and implement use of software programs to create graphic organizers for reading and writing. Teachers will explore the use of document cameras enhance read aloud lessons and model correctly completed work for their students. In math and science, teachers will be introduced to web sites to extend their lessons and use for students to complete in centers or at home. The above mentioend are just a few ways that technology will be modeled and used by teachers.

Since Reading Fluency is an area where improvement is needed, the Educational Technology Special Projects Coordinator will collaborate with the Bilingual/ESL Specialist and Dyslexia Coordinator to implement a home reading program to promote fluency building using Ipods. Students will check the Ipods out through the library and record themselves reading their leveled readers at home. Students will chart their own progress using Excel software on the classroom computer. This home reading program will begin with Bilingual/ESL students and students at risk for reading failure. Special Education students with moderate to severe disabilities will check out the Ipod devices to take home and listen and respond to literature, poetry, and rhymes. Students and parents will be encouraged to participate in the Campus Reading Wiki to provide feedback on the books they have read.

Evaluation for Action Plan

In order to evaluate the effectiveness of implementation of the action plan, data will gathered from the Texas Campus STaR Chart, teacher technology proficiency test results, campus and district improvement plans, TPRI/Tejas LEE results, AEIS reports and data from the district’s data program COMPASS. Student reading fluency charts will also be reviewed. The Campus Improvement Team will review the data to determine whether additional goals need to be added or existing goals modified to reflect updated needs assessment.
The campus principal is required to gather and analyze data from various sources. Results from formal and informal assessments along with data gathered from classroom walk throughs, teacher technology proficiency assessments, and Campus STaR Chart results to determine technology integration has increased. Progress monitoring assessments such as running records and reading inventories will be administered every two to three weeks to assess growth in reading fluency.

Students, parents, teachers and administrators will be asked to take Project Tomorrow Speak Up Surveys annually to provide feedback regarding technology use in the school and at home. Surveys can be found at the Project Tomorrow Speak Up website at http://www.speakup4schools.org/speakup2009/ . There is a survey for K-2 students, grades 3-5 students, teachers/adminsitrators, and parents. Data from the survey results will be analyzed along with the above mentioned data to help the Campus Improvement Committee determine needs in the area of technology, including staff development, purchasing, maintenance and integration within the content areas. It is essential to have the feedback of the stakeholders when making these decisions.