Week 2 Texas STaR Chart

Leadership, Administration, & Instructional Support appears to be the area of greatest weakness on our campus. The STaR Chart indicates that our campus remained at the Developing classification for two of the last three years surveyed. I do agree that the assessment was accurate; however, I believe teacher perceptions responsible for the lack of progress in this area were skewed by circumstances. In 2007-2008, we moved to a new building. The Technology District Department located in the former campus building remained. Moving equipment, setting up new equipment for three new computer labs, changing from WinSchool to RCCCS and updating PEIMS, along with preparing for the first year of online TELPAS contributed to a lack of time for communication and collaboration about many issues, including technology and hindered progress. The trends in this area mirrored those that occurred at the state and district levels and, in my opinion, for some of the same reasons. The revised Long-Range Technology Plan and Progress Report submitted to TEA and SBEC in December, 2008, revealed that 47% of campuses rated at Developing while only 42% rated at Advanced in the L1 Area of Leadership and Vision. In Area L2, Planning, only 31% are rated at Advanced Tech while 59% are rated Developing Tech. Sixty-seven percent of campuses are rated Developing Tech in the L3 Area Instructional Support. My guess is that the first year, 2006-2007, for submitting the online Texas Teacher STaR Chart, teachers received training and information about the survey and the Long-Range plan. For the next two years, teachers were informed to take the survey, but little or no information was reviewed, so teachers “forgot” or did not realize the connections or nuances of the survey questions. My recommendation is for leaders to make a deliberate effort to inform teachers about the Long-Range Technology Plan, the progress that the campus has made and areas of concern, and review the Campus Improvement Plan goals regarding technology. The CIP committee could collaborate to provide strategies and “best practices” for implementing and supporting instructional and online learning.

References
Lanclos, P. (n.d.). Texas StarChart. In Technology Application Inventory. Retrieved from Technology, Texas Education Agency website: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/technology/techapp/assess/teksurv.pdf

“Long-Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020”. Texas Education Agency.
http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/technology/lrpt/LRPTCompleteDec06.pdf