District Technology Plan

Since the Texas Youth Commission is in the process of developing its technology plan, I am instead going to discuss and reflect on Giddings ISD's Technology Plan from.

Giddings ISD's Technology Plan includes five goals: integrating technology into the curriculum to enhance student performance, provide professional development to reach goal one, provide the infrastructure necessary to equip both staff and students with the tools to integrate technology into the curriculum, provide the administrative support for the technology curriculum and assessment, and to collaborate with the community and parents of the children of the district. These goals are based on correlates/categories from the Long Range Technology Plan (LRTP), NCLB, and e-Rate. They are listed here in this order on the plan.

When these goals were established for the years 2009-2012, the district was in much better financial shape than it is now. There was a different superintendent than now. As such, the goals were different than they may be in the near future. The goals as they are written however, do provide for ongoing professional development. The people responsible for implementation are the assistant superintendent, principals, assistant principals, and district instructional technology director. Funds are made available for professional development, such as $139,000 for educator development of the total budget of $2.4 million. An additional $534,000 has been appropriated for teaching and learning initiatives to use for teacher learning as well as curricular learning for students. Of that $534,000, a portion of that is used for infrastructure to equip both students and staff with the tools necessary to integrate technology tools for education. In each of the goals listed there is an element of administrative support listed as those responsible for implementation. Each goals has either an assistant superintendent and/or an assistant principal along with the instructional technologist as people responsible for ensuring that these goals are implemented.

The technology infrastructure includes hardware, software, telecommunications equipment and technology professionals to ensure that they all work as intended. GISD has contracted some of its infrastructure that it cannot maintain efficiently itself, specifically the telecommunications. The district has established a plan that includes updating general computer labs, educational multimedia equipment, and staff and student used computer stations on an annual basis and to maintain them as necessary. They also have a plan to re-evaluate the filters and security tools and software as needed to ensure a safe learning environment for students as well as staff. The budgeted amount of money for telecommunications equipment is $166,000 of which $48,000 is funded via e-Rate. For the district this represents only a small portion of the total telecommunications expenditures. It seems as though the district has budgeted well for its telecommunications equipment and support.

The district's technology evaluation process utilizes various committees, district wide surveys for data purposes, technology resource and maintenance schedules, and it has provided several key questions to answer to evaluate the plan. The various committees include the District Improvement Committee, the Campus Improvement Committees, and the administrative staff identified as responsible for ensuring implementation. The surveys include using StaR Charts survey given at the end of each school year and lesson plan surveys to measure how well technology is being implemented into classroom lessons. The district calendar provides a look at the number and frequency of staff development days and how many of them are used for technology trainings can and are offered throughout the school year.

These goals represent the district's attempt to implement the directives established by NCLB, LRTP, and to secure funding through e-Rate which brings us to the discussion of budget. With the country and many states, including Texas, experiencing heavy pressure to do more with less, goals such as this one set by the district have become much more difficult. Much of the money that was expected to be available in 2008-2009 when this plan was originally written may not be available for the next fiscal year. In addition, the previous superintendent has left the district and someone else has taken that position who appears to have a different vision for the district and his own method for seeing that vision through. The district will continue to place a high value on technology applications TEKS implementation in the curriculum as required by the LRTP. To that end, teachers will be expected to increasingly use technology in their lessons to their students.