Technology Professional Development Action Plan

Technology Action Plan Organizational chart:
Assistant Superintendent:
In charge of all staff development for the district.
Responsible for providing staff development opportunities or assisting in finding professional development opportunities for campus administrators and teachers

District Technology Director:
Responsible for ensuring all staff has adequate access to the necessary technology and that all technology tools are functioning properly
Responsible for the placement and training of campus technology help personell

Campus Principal:
Ensure that the technology department us up to date on technology needs or problems for the campus
Provide feedback to the Asst. Superintendent on progress and success of professional development opportunities.
Consistently encourage staff to take advantage of professional development opportunities in an ongoing manner

Campus Assistant Principal:
Inform all staff of professional development requirements
Encourage staff to continuously seek professional development opportunities
Provide for the necessary substitute teachers if and when staff must be out of class for professional development sessions

Classroom teachers:
Seek professional development opportunities within their subject area that will help them integrate technology into their lessons on an everyday basis
Fulfill professional development requirements in a timely manner
Report all professional development activities to campus principal / assistant principal


The campus principal will be crucial in this process as teachers undergo a paradigm shift in professional development activities. They must be encouraging to all staff in seeking out new professional development and at the same time enforce the time and amount requirements. They must help to create the mindset that professional development is continuous and never ending, but in this new environment will also be more fulfilling because of its direct relationship to the teachers own classroom. The principal must continuously monitor for successes and share them with the faculty and administration. It is also their responsibility to determine where more development is needed and ensure that it is received.


Professional Development Action Plan:
It is becoming increasingly evident that MISD is falling behind the technology curve. The needs of the students have been marginally addressed by Campus Improvement Plans (installing smartboard systems in math classrooms and the computer lab at the high school) but much more must be done to get our students on pace to become 21st century learners.
To begin, more data needs to be accumulated both for students and teachers: The STaR chart should be utilized more effectively to address current levels for both. Surveys should be given to randomly selected students and all staff on a yearly basis to gauge interest levels, wants and needs regarding the integration of technology into the everyday learning of the classroom. Results from the STaR chart, the surveys and additionally, the AEIS report should be reported to the staff, discussed, explained and analyzed with a focus towards prioritizing needs to move forward.
As the needs assessment process is completed, professional development activities must be discussed. This discussion should include content, delivery style and timing. To this end, I propose a complete realignment of the professional development structure. Currently all staff development is conducted at the beginning of the year for the entire district, either together or per campus, or conducted at periodic, randomly scheduled afternoon sessions, unless teachers actively seek out their own opportunities. This process is marginally effective as motivation and minimally effective as to what is actually put into practice in the classroom. The new structure would be as follows:
All teachers and staff would be under the same time requirements mandated by the state and / or district, however the actual participation in staff development activities will be left up to each staff member. Led by the Assistant superintendent, each campus will research and provide staff development opportunities specific to each subject area and focusing on the integration of technology into the classroom, via email alert or postings on the campus website. These will be a suggested list, not mandatory. Teachers are encouraged to actively seek out opportunities that are specific to their subject and interesting to them. Teachers will be required to provide evidence of participation, use of the content in the classroom if the session was succesful, or explanations as to why it was not helpful if the session is not effective. Participation in these development activities is at the teachers discretion so long as the minimum required number of hours is met by the end of the year. Teachers are also encouraged to participate in development sessions on a continuing basis. If the requirements are not met, teachers must participate in district established sessions during the set aside days before the start of school. Teachers that have met the requirements will not be required to attend these sessions and may use them as classroom work days.

Evaluation of this plan will be conducted through the yearly surveys, analysis of the number of teachers completing the requirements versus those required to participate in standard district established development activities and administrator walk-throughs.