Current State Of Broadband Access For Arkansas School Districts

In 2013 the Illinois State Board of Education raised student performance scores on state assessments to more closely align to demanding Common Core expectations (Illinois Report Card, 2014). As a result, more students fell into the category of not meeting expectations under the new system. The state did not intend on just stopping here; in 2015, students will be taking the new state assessment called PARCC. PARCC is an online based student assessment which will be more closely aligned to the new Illinois student learning standards.

As part of the community’s growth, large technology firms moved into the community and while they were willing to assist local schools, they also expected high school graduates to be skilled technology workers (MacDonald, 2006). To meet this need, the school board adopted a goal of providing a technology resource teacher in every school within the next three years. In addition, the school board had a five-year plan to increase and support instruction and instructional leadership in schools and improve student assessment scores on state exams in mathematics. In two years they planned to reduce language

In contrast, the only barrier that teachers and students face when it comes to technology is accessibility. In certain areas and social classes, students do not have access to technology, mainly internet access, at home. Which may limit the use of technological devices to a school setting. There are many programs in place to give students access to internet outside the classroom, and hopefully allow students access to educational tools to allow them a better education.

Since 1997, the primary tool for teacher evaluation was the Professional Development and Appraisal System better known as PDAS. Due to significant efforts to enhance both teacher effectiveness and “student learning and growth,” the Texas Teacher Evaluation and Support System (T-TESS) was elaborated (TEA, 2016, p. 3). The T-TESS was designed by educators to support continuous improvement by focusing on “feedback and support,” “moving the mindset away from compliance” (TEA, 2016, p. 3).

I review the Blue Valley School District Acceptable use policy for student’s K-12. Technology use is important for all students, teacher, parents and school districts in order to provide a safe digital learning environment. Technology gives way to valuable educational experience that all students are entitled to. School districts have the responsibility to provide acceptable use policies for the digital devices, and the Internet provided to students, which is owned by the district. Whenever technologies are brought upon school grounds, or to school activities, even when the technologies are not owned by the school the technologies are still subject to adhere to the acceptable use policies. The intended use of technology in education is to open new learning experiences, benefit the student’s education experience, and create skills for future academic endeavors.

This year my district is required to submit a new technology plan. The final draft of this plan has been completed and this needs analysis focuses specifically on “Objective 3.4: Increase the number of teachers with updated websites meeting district standards as recommended by ISTE-T”.

This paper is a personal technology plan that includes my personal philosophy on integrating technology in the classroom as well as my professional goals concerning technology in the classroom. My Mission and Vision Statement are included as well as a plan for communications, integrating technology, software to support assessment, and technology ethics for a strong guideline in the classroom. Although this plan will need to be revised as advances in technology are made this is strong ground work that I can build on as a professional educator. Using this plan I can ensure that my students are using the latest

Our parish has seen a drop in the math scores with the new PARCC test. With this weakness being of the utmost importance, a responsible district leader, should engage in professional practice by ensuring that their administrators and teachers are working as a team to improve student achievement. Everyone should work together in order to promote positive change concerning this districts math scores. Observations should be conducted by the administrators and by district level supervisors in order to find any strength and weaknesses that may need to be addressed. ISLLC standard 2, states that the school administrator should sustain an instructional program conducive to student learning and staff professional growth. In order to do this, everyone on the team must be open to diversity and innovation, which includes the constructive criticism from the Danielson Rubric used during observations, and adoption of new curriculums. The district level supervisors have to provide professional development for all teachers in order to implement a new curriculum

Rural schools find it hard to recruit and retain -quality teachers and principals. The struggle that goes with the finding and hiring of employees who are okay with moving to geographic seclusion in impoverished towns are only multiplied by deficiencies in the infrastructure. For example, significant portions of rural America lack access to broadband internet. The FCC published a Broadcast Progress Report in 2016 that stated that rural areas have indignantly slower internet access, with 39% of people lacking access to broadband of 25/4 Mbps. There were only 4% of urban areas with the comparable slow speed. The result of lack of working, efficient, internet options has severely restricted rural populations from taking advantage of critical facets of modern-day life. It has also significantly limited rural students access to vital learning resources (Hudley, 2013). Transportation is another common hurdle for many students attending rural schools. The day-after-day commute, is so. lengthy, that it cuts a significant time out that would have been spent learning in the classrooms on homework. This makes teaching the material (Stroud,

The issue of creating national standards has been debated for years long before the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers met to develop a plan for creating Common Core standards in 2009 (“Common Core”). The initiative gives states a uniform set of goals for student academic achievement and ‘College and Career readiness’ (Boychuk, Mathis). The Common Core initiative would change the way students take standardize tests in hopes to make them more competitive both globally, and in their higher education. The development to design a new test that the Common Core requires will take time. The two main groups that use federal money to design common-core tests are the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), have worked for nearly four years on their tests (Gewertz). PARCC spokesman David Connerty-Marin states, “There’s a significant difference between this test and tests states typically purchase, “because the PARCC’s test is “Built from scratch” for the common core (qtd. In Gewertz). The question of how the tests are aligned with the common core will not be determined until the study is

XYZ Charter academy’s mission is to see that no child is left behind and has the same opportunity no matter income bracket(Dr.Harris,2017). XYZ Charter Academy is seeking a technology grant to provide early childhood students with access to their own students at school. This will increase student engagement and teacher student connection. An overview is that student academic performance will increase using technology. There are always two sides to every story. There is some good of using technology in the classroom as well as negative reasons. Our organization has looked into all the objectives and realizes that the students may not always do what they are supposed to do with accessing other websites.

The Board of Education for the Rowan Salisbury Schools are fully aware of how twenty-first century technologies can affect the manner in which our teachers teach and our students learn. It is the goal of the district to provide a safe and nurturing atmosphere that is technologically rich. Providing every student and employee with access to these tools is meant to enhance and improve the learning experience that will ultimately improve the academic achievements of all of our students. The use of the District’s resources are not a right, but come with responsibilities for proper care and use of all district owned technology. The Board also reserves the right to place restrictions on the proper care and use of its devices.

It is no secret that technology plays a critical role in our society. In fact, it has become one of the most used items in the world, starting from personal computers and ending in smartphones, thus it was only a matter of time when educational institutions would start to utilize these gadgets in order to improve the overall state of current education. According to a U.S Department of Education (UDE, n.d) report, all 48 states, including the District of Columbia are now offering online education. Additionally, the report states that these schools operate on all kinds of scales, including state scale, district scale and charter scale, thus it would safe to assume that the whole state of current education in the United States is large and the whole approach is clearly technology based. However, despite the

current technology than the school’s staff. Teachers in turn are placing emphasis on the schools to

The education world has been greatly influenced by rapidly changing technology and the increasing availability of information. Schools have advanced by leaps and bounds when it comes to incorporating technology into the learning environment, however, many more advances need to be made. In all areas of the country, educators are trying to help students keep up with technology, but there are more changes that are essential for preparing the next generation for the future.