Week 4 Assignment

Part I
Title Responsibility
Board of Trustees The School Board, or Board of Trustees, is the school district's policy-making body and also the official representative of the people for all public education within the district. As such, all policies and decisions must be brought before them for approval before they can be implemented. They review the recommendations of the Superintendent with regard to staffing, budget expenditures, and planning. With regard to technology, they have approved the district’s long range plan for technology and accepted the recommendations of the Superintendent and the Technology Review Committee to implement wide-ranging changes with regard to technology so that the school district will meet the goals laid out in the district’s Long-Range Plan for Technology.

Superintendent The Superintendent works closely with school board, the Technology Review Committee and other district personnel to identify district needs and develop plans and budgets to meet the identified needs. He also oversees the development of the District Improvement Plan and the Campus Improvement Plans to ensure that goals are aligned with district policy. He presents these plans to the Board of Trustees for approval.

Chief Information Officer The Chief Information Officer oversees the various departments related to technology (including Instructional Technology) to implement policies and plans developed by the Technology Review Committee and approved by the Board of Trustees. Works closely with the Superintendent and other district personnel to identify technology needs and develop solutions for consideration by the Technology Review Committee. Reports directly to the Superintendent.
Area Assistant Superintendents The three Area Assistant Superintendents are responsible for 2 high schools each and all of their respective feeder schools. These interface between the Superintendent and the principals and are involved in all decisions that will affect the running of the campuses. Report directly to the Superintendent. Oversee the implementation of technology at the campus level.

Technology Review Committee District committee that meets regularly to develop, review and improve plans for the implementation of technology in the district. Makes recommendations for implementation and improvement of district services related to technology. Responsible for compiling the district’s Long-Range Plan for Technology. This committee includes personnel form the Technology department, principals, teachers, and community members.

Director of Technical Operations Responsible for all district hardware, maintenance of the servers and online security within the district. Reports to the Chief Information Officer.

Director of Instructional Technology Responsible for the integration of technology into instruction. Works closely with the Executive Director of teaching and Learning and the district Specialists and Officers to integrate instructional software and other technology into the curriculum. Reports to the Chief Information Officer.

Executive Director of Teaching & Learning Works closely with the Superintendent, Area Assistant Superintendents, Director of Instructional Technology, Director of Professional Learning, Specialists and Officers to develop best practices and update curriculum, including the implementation of technology. Reports directly to the Superintendent.

Director of Professional Learning Responsible for providing quality professional development opportunities to support the district goal of integrating technology into instruction. Works closely with Teaching and Learning and other district personnel to identify needs and plan for improvement. Reports to the Executive Director of Teaching & Learning.
Instructional Core Teams All specialists and district officers sit on an Instructional Core Team and work with the Technology Integration Specialists on identifying needs in core areas and developing plans to meet these needs by identifying technology applications and developing best practices for the integration of technology into instruction. Teams meet weekly and also undergo weekly technology trainings in Web 2.0 tools.

District Curriculum Specialists Responsible for integrating technology into the district curriculum and working with teachers to develop model lessons and best practices for the integration of technology into classroom instruction. Report to the Executive Director for Teaching and Learning.

Technology Integration Specialists Responsible for assisting campus personnel with the integration of instructional technology. Provide training as required for teachers and students on the use of Web 2.0 tools and the integration of technology applications into classroom instruction. Report to Director of Instructional Technology.

Campus Principals Responsible for creating a campus vision with regard to the integration of technology. Oversees the SBDM committee and works with them to develop and implement the Campus Improvement Plan. Evaluates instruction and implementation of technology at the instructional level, and works with faculty and staff to ensure and monitor best practices, integration and effective use of technology. The principal also identifies campus needs for professional development and schedules campus professional development opportunities as required. Works closely with Area Assistant Superintendents to implement district directives and plans to meet the goals of the district’s Long-Range Plan for Technology, including reviewing data from the Campus STaR Chart and planning for improvement.

Campus SBDM Committee Collaborates with the Principal to develop the Campus Improvement Plan and monitor implementation of the plan. Assess progress in achieving district and campus goals.

Department Chairs Work closely with campus administration to implement campus goals and communicate with teachers and staff. Model best practices and assist teachers with the implementation of Web 2.0 tools and the integration of technology into classroom instruction.

Teachers Attend professional development on the integration of technology into classroom instruction and the use of web 2.0 tools. Integrate technology into classroom instruction on a regular basis with the assistance of district Technology Integration Specialists. Complete annual STaR chart and identify own professional development needs.

Part II
My school district has recently embarked on a new era of technology integration. Previously blocked sites and applications have been opened up for student use and all specialists and officers at the district level are required to serve on one of four Instructional Core Teams established with the purpose of reviewing current technology use and applications in each of the four core subject areas (Math, Science, English Language Arts and Social Studies) and collaborating on the promotion and integration of new technology applications into the curriculum and instruction in all areas of the district’s curriculum. These goals are reflected in the district’s Long Range Technology Plan 2009-2012, the District Improvement Plan, and the Campus Improvement Plan at each of the district’s 52 campuses. There is a strong emphasis within the district on working to integrate technology applications into classroom instruction in order to meet the needs of the 56,800 students within the district, and therefore the goals of the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology. The goals and objectives laid out in the district’s Long Range Technology Plan (and echoed in the District Improvement Plan and the Campus Improvement Plans) are aligned with “the Katy ISD District Improvement Plan, the District facility plan, the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology, the National Education Technology Plan, the No Child Left Behind, and Erate strategies and objectives respectively” (page 3 of the Katy ISD Long Range Plan for Technology). The ultimate goal of technology integration in the district is to “support the teaching and learning for all children and to increase technology's impact on student achievement” (page 3). In order to achieve this, the district has developed an intensive program of professional development in order to prepare teachers to meet these goals.
Within the district, professional development focuses on the development of the skills necessary to use Web 2.0 tools and the subsequent integration of these tools and other technology applications in order to enhance learning and instruction in all district classrooms. Technology Integration Specialists work to assist teachers with integration in the classroom once they have undergone training on the use of the Web 2.0 tools.

The district’s Long-Range Technology Plan, the District Improvement Plan and the Campus Improvement Plan all address the need to improving the level of technology integration into classroom instruction in order to improve ratings on the campus STaR chart. information, the Texas Long Range Plan and to develop a survey for teachers to determine specific needs, concerns and professional development avenues on campus. Once the survey is completed by the staff we will review the data and develop specific plans to move forward with just in time learning needs for our staff and a support system for staff to share information and support one another in their areas of expertise. For instance one teacher on staff has worked closely with Microsoft in the development of their products. Another staff member is associated with another the makers of Compass Learning. We also have the benefit of having an Instructional Technology Facilitator to assist with students and technology. We also have an Instructional Coach to provide support for teachers. Many other staff members have expertise, or have great integrated lessons that may be shared. Determining this specific information will be one goal of the committee.

The district’s Long Range Technology Plan was developed in consultation with the 44 strong Technology Planning Committee following intensive examination of the data provided by AEIS, AYP, the Texas STaR chart, and other data gathering software including the ADM and TIA databases. To inform decision-making, data is gathered and disaggregated at both the district and the campus level to inform decisions regarding technology, professional development and the development of the District Improvement Plan and each Campus Improvement plan. The data from AEIS, AYP, ADM and TIA is also reviewed by personnel trained to recognize gaps in student achievement and this is used to identify specific objectives which will be targeted for improvement. All campus data is distributed to the SBDM team members at each campus and so that specific campus goals can be identified in consultation with the campus principal and included in the Campus Improvement Plan. Each campus also uses the results from the Texas Teacher STaR Chart to identify specific needs at their campus, looking always at the current data in comparison to the previous three years Texas Campus STaR Chart data so that trends and areas of concern can be identified and also so that evidence for success can be found.

Major areas of professional development for teachers and district personnel focus on:

• the use of SMARTBoards in class to improve and enhance instruction

• training in the use of SMART software to develop instructional units

• the use of wikis for communication and to create products, turn in, and comment on assignments
• the use of Glogster (a digital poster) to present information
• the use of eInstruction Response Pads to review material and/or assess learning
• the use of Xtranormal, Edublog, VoiceThread, myWebspiration, Voki, Wordle, Podcasting, and other tools to present, learn, or assess material in various ways that reach the digital learner
• introduction of Web 2.0 tools for instruction

• Consolidation of previous technology applications such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel.

Professional development opportunities have always been freely available for all district personnel on Microsoft Office applications, such as Word, Excel, and Power Point, as well as Adobe applications and the student management software that is used in the district, but this year teachers, campus, and district personnel are able to request training on technology tools ‘on demand’. This has made a big difference to the teachers as they are able to get help when they need it most and the training is tailored to meet the needs of the teacher and if necessary, his or her students.

Part III
Evaluation and monitoring of this is achieved through the weekly meetings of the Instructional Core Teams, feedback from the Technology Integration Specialists based on data they are compiling, data from the Campus STaR charts and evidence collected by the principals and assistant principals at each campus who are responsible for monitoring instruction. Success of the professional development sessions will be assessed through evaluation forms and data on the subsequent implementation of technology applications and Web 2.0 tools into classroom instruction by attendees. Once data has been reviewed, recommendations will be made to each campus’s SBDM team and also the Technology Review Committee so that campus and district goals can be adjusted to meet the identified needs so that progress can be made towards the goals of the Campus Improvement Plans, District Improvement Plan, and the district’s Long Range Plan for Technology.