S Ta R Chart
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Monday, January 25, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
Week 2 - Texas STaR Chart
"Infrastructure capacity must support promising practices in teaching and learning, professional development, school leadership, instructional management, and 0perations. School infrastructure is aging and requires regular refresh cycles and incorporation of new and emerging technologies to increase effectiveness and efficiency...The infrastructure of a school is the critical element of support for all areas..."
In regards to technology, the State of Texas has set up four target areas in which to 'score' our schools on based on the various criteria for all schools. This is all contained underneath the umbrella of the Texas School Technology and Readiness (STaR) Chart, following the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Following my own research into all areas, I concur that the area of Infrastructure is the most critical to the development and sucess of the entire process.
At first glace, it seems as though my school falls within the same category as 57.2% of all Texas schools in the Advanced category of scoring; however, after closer review of what exactly each category consists of, it is my belief that we do not actually fall within this category. Upon closer review, one can see from the Statewide Summary Report that to be true to this category, a school must have: "4 or less students per computer, direct connectivity to the Internet in 75% of classrooms and library, web-based learning, all rooms on LAN/WAN, one educator per computer, and shared use of other resources." In no way do we meet these criteria. No classroom has WAN connecting capabilities and very few have LAN access, except in regards to teacher computers, which are mainly used for campus emails, grades, and attendance. Other than 3 poorly accessible labs for each of the three campuses to share between all students, and extremely minimal web-based learning, I think it is fair to say that those completing the data did not have a good understanding of what exactly the criteria detailed.
While our district is in a socio-economically disadvantaged area, with few instances of internet access, much less owning a computer as part of the students' homes, I think it is the responsibility of our district to take full advantage of all resources we have in order to get our infrastructure up to par and ready for advances in the other three areas of this long-range plan. It is our duty as educators to prepare these students for the 21st Century and we cannot accomplish this with outdated, or worse yet, nonexistent technology.
In regards to technology, the State of Texas has set up four target areas in which to 'score' our schools on based on the various criteria for all schools. This is all contained underneath the umbrella of the Texas School Technology and Readiness (STaR) Chart, following the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Following my own research into all areas, I concur that the area of Infrastructure is the most critical to the development and sucess of the entire process.
At first glace, it seems as though my school falls within the same category as 57.2% of all Texas schools in the Advanced category of scoring; however, after closer review of what exactly each category consists of, it is my belief that we do not actually fall within this category. Upon closer review, one can see from the Statewide Summary Report that to be true to this category, a school must have: "4 or less students per computer, direct connectivity to the Internet in 75% of classrooms and library, web-based learning, all rooms on LAN/WAN, one educator per computer, and shared use of other resources." In no way do we meet these criteria. No classroom has WAN connecting capabilities and very few have LAN access, except in regards to teacher computers, which are mainly used for campus emails, grades, and attendance. Other than 3 poorly accessible labs for each of the three campuses to share between all students, and extremely minimal web-based learning, I think it is fair to say that those completing the data did not have a good understanding of what exactly the criteria detailed.
While our district is in a socio-economically disadvantaged area, with few instances of internet access, much less owning a computer as part of the students' homes, I think it is the responsibility of our district to take full advantage of all resources we have in order to get our infrastructure up to par and ready for advances in the other three areas of this long-range plan. It is our duty as educators to prepare these students for the 21st Century and we cannot accomplish this with outdated, or worse yet, nonexistent technology.
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