Superintendent

Leader of School. His responsibility is to direct the district in the proper direction. He has the ultimate decisive skills. He must communicate the vision and direction for the entire school.

Director of Technology

His responsibility is to provide support and knowledge for all involved within the school. He must provide necessary support in terms of the technology being implemented. He must be able to troubleshoot and diagnose hardware and software issues as well as direct the purchase of proper equipment.

Principal

The principal is responsible for implementing technology at the campus level. As a leader, the principal has to communicate the vision and make sure that everyone is educated as to how to implement that vision. The greatest responsibility falls on the principal as far as I can see. They take the vision that the superintendent and director of technology have and put it into practice as the campus level. They have to have a good working relationship with the central administration and the campus personnel.

Teachers/Staff

The responsibilities of the teachers and staff include the classroom implementation of the district vision. This can be challenging because they are so far removed from the primary decision making process. They have to take the information they are given and put it into practice in a way that helps the students the most.

Professional development planning is critical to being able to integrate technology into the classroom. Teachers are notorious for resisting change. The only way to effectively change what is happening in the classroom is to make sure that there is the training and support for them to feel comfortable with what they are doing.

The technology use detailed within the STAR report for our school showed a gap in the confidence level within many of the teachers. Our campus is working to improve professional development in this area. We are constantly seeking out new ways to teach our teachers. Some of the personnel on campus are very familiar with the new technologies that are being implemented. Whenever possible, those people are encouraged to lead the other teachers in the learning about these technologies. Many times teachers take instruction from people they are familiar with more quickly than they do with strangers. Other ways we educate our teachers is by bringing in trained personnel so that they can use the equipment on our campus to instruct the teachers on its use.

Our leadership is always looking for ways to make the process of modernization more comfortable. They understand that if teachers are uncomfortable they will not be effective. The principal and superintendent gather feedback about the staff developments and use it to identify whether resources are being used effectively to train everyone. They realize that training is useless if it does not address expressed needs.

 

Evaluation of the action plan is a multi-step process. One of the key components to making sure that the action plan is effective is to identify checkpoints for success. The first stage is determining the current level of implementation. This is most effectively done by analyzing results from the Star Report. It provides a benchmark for a clear picture of what is going on. The next stage is to evaluate the state plan compared to the districts technology plan. To make sure that the district is achieving the proper progress, it has to make sure that keep track of how it compares with the state plan. The third step in evaluating the action plan is making sure that the staff development priorities fit with the needs that the staff has. By evaluating the staff development plan, we can tailor the trainings so that they provide the proper skills to enable teachers to best reach the students.