Texas STaR Chart

When reviewing the Texas Star Chart information, I found the section entitled The Texas Challenge most informative. Challenges in Preparation and Development of Educators seems to be what needs to be addresssed with a great sense of urgency. With student growth on the rise and large numbers of experienced educators expecting to retire with in the next ten years, it seems that Texas must find a way to prepare educators with an updated arsenal of technology tools. Before these tools can be passed on to students, educators must come to the realization the importance of such tools.

Using the most current data available, 2007-2008, 74.2% of the state campuses describe their educator preparation as in the developing stage. This means that most teachers have completed some professional development on the integration of technology in their content area. Most teachers adapt technology knowlege on some level for instruction and most teachers have participated in some professional development online relating to their content subject area. My district data varries from developing to advanced in the area of Educator Preparation and Development. The advanced campuses are very small in number, only five out of 76 schools. These advanced campuses include two high schools, two middle schools, and only one elementary school.

When comparing my elementary school to the state and district regarding educator preparation, we are right there where the majority seems to be, in the developing stage. We may actually be a little behind the majority as we fall more at the bottom end of that scale. I don't see this changing much anytime soon however it may change some in the next decade as more baby boomer aged teachers retire and are replaced with younger, more technology savy teachers. State testing critea must also change. Measuring students' knowledge in a specific content area has not seemed to lend itself to increasing their knowledge of technology. I do however see technology being used as a tool to administer testing. That would not qualify as an advanced use of technology. Most teachers in Texas have a long way to go to reach the Target Tech level. With funding sources shrinking and teachers time being more and more monopolized, technology development is a huge challenge for the state, school districts and individual campuses alike.