Long Range Plan for Technology Progress Report

The Progress Report on the Long-Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020 shows that Texas schools are progressing towards the goals set forth in the long range plan. Not surprisingly the biggest advancements have happened in the area of Infrastructure for Technology. As would be expected, many school districts have placed an emphasis on this area due to the fact that you have to have a solid infrastructure before you can really apply the other three areas to your classroom. Leadership, Administration and Instructional support is also an area that is moving ahead. Its progress, like Infrastructure, can also be expected because of the fact that leadership roles would be the first to promote technological progress throughout the districts.
As Infrastructure and leadership are expected to advance quicker, Teaching and Learning should be expected to advance much more slowly. The state is seeing a gain in the development of the area of teaching and learning, but due to the fact that it requires more training of teachers and more time to implement good technological teaching and learning practices, these gains cannot be expected to happen rapidly. It can also be said that Teaching and Learning goes hand in hand with Educator Preparation and Development. For teaching and learning to progress you also have to develop a technology foundation in your teachers. Many educators that have been teaching for years seem to want to resist the need to change their teaching style to adapt to today’s learner. Many districts also fail to promote the use of technology to their teachers and many others fail to provide necessary training to teachers who are not proficient in the use of modern technology.
For the plan to continue to be successful, leadership at the state and district level need to continue to promote Infrastructure and Instructional support, while shifting their main focus to promoting preparedness among educators and students.