Goals
Goals are not necessarily measurable. Instead, these are an indication of a large scope that includes increasing student achievement through the use of technology. Include expectations for student and teach use of technologies, correlated to the curriculum Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) that address the four areas of the Long-Range Plan for Technology, 2006 – 2020:
- Teaching and Learning
- Educator Preparation and Development
- Leadership, Administration and Instructional Support Services
- Infrastructure for Technology
Objectives
Objectives are specific, measurable statements of what is to be accomplished to meet the goals by the end of the plan. Objectives must be correlated to NCLB and E-Rate.
A budget amount must be allocated for each objective and correlated to one of the four Long-Range Plan for Technology categories:
- Teaching and Learning
- Educator Preparation and Development
- Administration and Support Services
- Infrastructure for Technology
The budget for each objective in the plan should include the combined costs for all years of the plan. These costs must be broken out into separate amounts by year in the Budget Detail Section.
Strategies
Strategies are the specific activities that will be conducted to achieve your objectives. All strategies must include a strategy statement, person responsible, timeline for completion, and evidence that will be used to measure success. Strategies must be correlated to the Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology Recommendations. While the plan does not have to include every LRPT recommendation, Regional ESC's and LEAs will want to include as many of those recommendations as possible.
Alignments/Correlations
All NCLB requirements (12) and all E-rate criteria (5) must be addressed in the plan or the plan will not be approved. Use the E-rate Alignment and the NCLB Alignment reports on the Report Options screen of the e-Plan system to double-check your correlations before submitting your plan.
Required Details for Staff Development
Professional development is an important component of the technology plan to meet both E-Rate and NCLB requirements. NCLB requires ongoing, sustained, and intensive, high-quality professional development delivered face-to-face, online, via distance learning or a combination of delivery methods. One-day or short-term workshops or conferences that are not a part of a comprehensive staff development plan would not qualify. The technology plan must have enough detail to clearly demonstrate that the district's professional development is ongoing, high-quality, and sustained and does prepare teachers to integrate technology into instruction.
For most effective results, districts will want to design and implement a Staff Development program that defines:
- what will be taught (content)
- how it will be taught (methodology)
- who will be taught (# of participants impacted),
- how the classes will be structured (length of classes and how often),
- who will teach the sessions (provider), and
- how the impact of the training will be measured.
While failure to incorporate all of these details in your technology plan will not prevent it from being recommended for approval during this review cycle, districts should document this information for accountability purposes. |
