Mid Level School

My school, King Lab, came out to be a Mid-Tech level school. I believe it actually falls between Mid- Tech and High-Tech. There are several essential conditions that I feel need to be worked on in order for us to move up to the High-Tech level, the conditions are: Shared Vision, Implementation Planning, Equitable Access, Curriculum Framework and Assessment and Evaluation.
Many of these issues go hand in hand and so I will be addresses them together. For instance, the problem I see with my district in the areas of Shared Vision and Equitable Access are interrelated. In District 65 the vision is created by personal that are not in the classroom and therefore do not address what teachers may need in order to be completely effective. These decisions include web and computer access to teachers. Teachers are locked out of websites that could be beneficial to their curriculum. It may take several days to a week to have these websites opened. This frustrates the teacher resulting in the teacher not wanting to use technology on a regular basis. In addition, teacher computers are locked down giving teacher limited access to their computers regardless of their level of expertise. There are many good applications that are a part of “Leopard” which teachers do not have access to, as an example: they can not add printers to their computer, locking them out of their personal printers at home. Teachers feel as though they are not being treated as professionals. I would like to see my department give teachers knowledge that allows them to know how to use many parts of their computers, if they abuse these privileges then take them away – don’t assume they will misuse the equipment.
Implementation Planning is the next condition I would like to see tweaked in my school district. We are great and getting equipment but the implementation of getting it out to the teachers and getting them proper professional development is lacking. This is mostly due to bad communication between the IT department and the teachers. Most installation is done over the summer and then in-services are not given to teachers at the school level where it can be done during planning periods are before/after school. Again, the IT department would have better results, I believe, if they would consult with the lab managers, who are not just computer literate but also have the teacher perceptive.
Curriculum Framework and Assessment/Evaluation in my school again goes hand in hand. We have started to have a framework of technology curriculum and have teachers who do a good job of integrating their curriculum and technology standards, however they do not do it purposely. In many cases when teacher work with me to team-teach a project, it is not their goal to use the technology standards that is my role. I believe, if technology were part of the teacher assessment and evaluation, the classroom teacher would work harder to integrate technology standards and their curriculum, using me as a resource.
In my opinion, my school is on the right track; I have a great staff that is willing to try to become a High-Level technology-based school. We have the equipment and many of my teachers are knowledgeable, however the district needs to work on their vision and work on seeing the teacher’s side of what is needed.