E rate and tech plan

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National Education Technology Plan

The National Education Technology plan has two major goals.  Increase the number of college graduates with either an associates or bachelors degree, and prepare students to succeed in college and/or careers.  In order to achieve these goals we must motivate and encourage students to want to continuously learn.  An educator needs to encourage and teach to each individual student and his or her specific needs.  New ways to assess strengths and weaknesses while there is time for improvement need to be implemented.  Learners should feel empowered in their leaning in order to become productive, ethical and active members of the 21^st century society.  The Educational Technology Plan wants to create a technology based connected learning environment in and out of schools for the educational needs of all school stakeholders.  In order for technology to be effectively incorporated there must be a comprehensive infrastructure that all parties have access to.

Much of the professional development and training will be geared towards teaching to each students needs, and the use of technology to motivate them to succeed.  Online learning will be accessed not just by the students but also by educators to develop their technological competencies and abilities. Training will not just be comprised of workshops and in-services, but will also use online social networks and distance learning to help include technology in an effective and interesting manner.

My main concern is with individualizing instruction for each student.  Part of the plan suggests that we need to move away from structured curriculum pacing to address the needs of each individual.  There are standardized tests the students need to take, we need to prepare them the best we can.  But how are we supposed to do that when we have more curriculum to teach than we do time to cover it?

School District Technology Plan

The goals of the technology plan for 2010-2013 in Wayne are broken down into 4 clusters.  The first includes the requirement of teacher integration of technology into the curriculum and to provide equal and appropriate access to technological tools for students and teachers.  The second cluster includes that the staff should have technology learning opportunities in their professional improvement plans, and that the staff should take the LoTi survey to assess their abilities.  It also recommends that there should be coordination of technology resources and support at each school.  There should be technology training and workshops to encourage staff development and to address the needs of the staff.  The third goal requires that the district maintains its technology infrastructure.  The fourth is to find and provide funding for the purchase of new technology in addition to the use, maintenance, and professional training necessary to keep the district moving forward into the 21^st century.

To implement these goals, the district provides the professional development, resources and materials.  The district and administrators coordinate professional development based on needs expressed by the staff.  The staff is allotted 3 professional development days each year to use towards furthering education in technology or curriculum.  The funding is sufficient and is from the school budget and grants.  

The school district monitors the teachers through classroom observations performed by the administration.  There is a technology component on the observation report.  The students technological learning is evaluated two ways.  It is evaluated by educators who embed technology into their lessons.  The skills may be accessed through the requirements of an assessment, or through teacher observations.  In addition there is an 8^thgrade Technology Learning Assessment, or TLA that all of the students are required to take, which measures their technology skills.

Technology Assessments

By assessing the technology leadership knowledge of educators, it allows for the data necessary to comprise a plan to continue moving forward into the 21^st century.  The professional development needs in technology are not the same for each educator.  For instance, I do not have any problems using the actual technology unlike some of my colleagues.  I do however find it difficult to effectively incorporate it into my classroom.  It would benefit me more to learn how to use technology in my subject area, while others may benefit more by learning how to use the technology itself.   Having the knowledge of the skill level of an educator allows for more productive professional development and improvements to be possible.  

In order for an educator to incorporate the use of technology, the students must have certain skills in order to be actively engaged and comprehend the lesson.Educators need to know and comprehend the needs of their students in order to address those needs.In my classes, we are working with the graphing calculators, I always take a poll on which students have had experience with them, this way I know which students I will need to give more attention to because their skill levels may be lower.

However, just because there may be data, it does not mean that it is as comprehensive as what may be needed to make the appropriate changes or improvements.  As teachers we will be held accountable for our skills as well as the students.  We need to make sure that these assessments will be constructive for our development as well as the development of the learners.