1. Organizational Chart Superintendent Associate Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Montgomery Jr. High Principal Executive Director Technology Services Assistant Principal Assistant Principal Infrastructure Services Network Services Coordinator Executive Director of Instructional Technology Technology Trainer MJH Technology Liaison
2. Roles and Responsibilities Superintendent - sets forth the vision for the district and provides funding and supports funding initiatives to infuse technology into our campuses and classrooms. Associate Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction – develops district plan for curriculum. She supports initiatives and helps campuses meet their curriculum objectives while integrating technology. Executive Director Technology Services- ensures that all technology guidelines from the state and district are being implemented across the district. This includes Administrative areas as well as classrooms. Infrastructure Services – creates the infrastructure that provides safety and an atmosphere that is conducive for technology across the district. Network Services Coordinator – helps maintain the efficiency of the network while assisting campuses with software decisions and application capabilities and how these programs affect their campus network as well as the district’s network. Executive Director of Instructional Technology – assist the district in selecting, pricing, and purchasing software for instructional use in the classroom. He also helps ensure that the software assist students in meeting academic objectives. Technology Trainer - provides training for the staff either via the district or On-campus to assist teachers in integrating technology into their classrooms. Principal – supports the efforts to integrate technology by implementing district plan and allocating funds to assist with purchasing and staff development. Assistant Principal – assist principal in ensuring that technology standards are being implemented on the campus. Also helps to create the budget and find funding to support technology initiatives. Assistant Principal – assist principal in ensuring that technology standards are being implemented on the campus. Also helps to create the budget and find funding to support technology initiatives. Campus Technology Liaison – assist our campus in solving technology issues and host on-campus training for teachers to learn how to integrate technology into their lessons.
3. Professional Development Teaching and Learning We must assist teachers in creating lessons with technology that enhances what they already know. We must do this by hosting trainings that allow teachers to play with the technology they are expected to use. It was stated that we must provide a safe environment to work with technology because things do not always go right the first time. This will allow teachers to try technology and explore all of its areas in order to truly learn how to use and apply it to the classroom. Burns suggested in her article, From Compliance to Commitment, that trainings should have activities that focus on the cultivation of certain skills and learning skills. If you focus on one content area, but the audience includes a variety of areas you might “lose” some teachers. We cannot afford to “lose” anyone. Our trainings must focus on giving teachers what they need, a firm foundation to be innovative in their classrooms. Assessment/Data Our teachers have a variety of tools on hand to help them manage and track student data. Our main district system, AWARE, allows you to input test data and disaggregate with a few clicks. Unfortunately, many of our teachers still do not utilize this system effectively. This is causing them to miss out on the many capabilities it holds to make their jobs a little simpler. As we are on a continued push to have data drive instruction, it is imperative that our teachers receive ongoing training on the capabilities of this system (Bone, 2011). Applications Our teachers also need some back to the basics trainings to assist them with their everyday task in the classroom. As all of these systems get updated (i.e. Windows), teachers need to be constantly trained on the capabilities of moving through these programs and trained on how to utilize them to the fullest (Schurr, 2011). Many of these programs, such as PowerPoint, Excel, and Publisher can be utilized by students in various ways in the classroom. Our state technology guidelines expect for all students to be proficient by eighth grade, but if the teacher is not proficient how are we going to lead students there.
4. Evaluations Campus Technology Team I feel that a campus technology team would be an excellent way to evaluate how well we are doing as a campus to integrate technology and prepare students to be 21 st century learners. The team would be made up of teachers from each grade level and specialized area, administration, parents, and students. They will work together to create a parent, teacher, and student survey that will be administered at the beginning and end of the school year. This will allow us to track our progress over the course of a school year. They will also hold monthly meetings to discuss technology needs or concerns from the various groups they represent and how those needs can be addressed. Their findings will be presented to the SBDM to assist with planning and implementing the Campus Improvement Plan. Teacher Technology Log This will be a general yet outlined log that will allow teachers to track what type and how often they are integrating technology into their lessons. Students will also have their own tracking system using simple icons that will allow them to assess how much the technology assisted them in being engaged or focused on the lesson and how much the technology assisted them in understanding the information the teacher was giving them. These two systems will allow us to collect clear data on how well we are doing in meeting the technology goals for the district and the state. STaR Chart Data This evaluation system is a state standard and the information that it gives to the district and our campus can be used to assess the types of trainings that need to be offered to our staff to continue to move forward in meeting the goals of the Texas Long Range Plan.
5. Works Cited Bone, D. (2011). Interview with Assistant Principal: Montgomery Jr. High. Montgomery ISD Schurr, F. (2011). Interview with SBDM Member . Montgomery ISD Texas Education Agency. (2009). Texas Campus STaR Chart. Austin: TEA.