2010 Progress Report on the Long-Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020

The 2010 Progress Report on the Long-Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020 by the Texas Education Agency summarizes infrormation regarding to the state's movement along the development continuuum in its four key areas, Teaching and Learning; Educator Preparation and Development; Leadership, Administration, and Instructional Support; and Infrastructure. Additionally the plan goes on to discuss the technology services offered by Texas' 20 regional education service centers. The plan uses STaR Chart data from schools and districts across the state in its Progress Report.
The report focuses on many positive areas such as increases in the use of the Texas Virtual Schools Network (TxVSN) as a means of meeting the individual needs of diverse students in an increasingly difficult economic situation. New course options, new digital sharing systems for professional development and a myriad of other new technology applications are touted in the plan as being beneficial to the overall progress of the schools in the state. There is, however, little to no discussion of areas that may be lagging behind.
Texas STaR Chart data shows that of all four categories, the Educator Preparation and Development key area is lagging behind the other three. It has the highest percentage of schools falling in the developing or early tech zone, with 72.4%. The next closest area of weakness is Teaching and Learning with 61.4% falling in the bottom two levels.(2010) The progress report does not mention reasoning for the Professional Development aspect lagging so far behind the others. While there are certain reasons that would immediately jump to mind such as it being more difficult to gain progress in the broader areas of educator preparation and teaching and learning, it would seem that if these two areas are the least developed, notice should be taken and attention paid as to why there are struggles to begin with. Spending energy and paying attention to why these areas are seeing difficulty seems one of the best ways to get more minds focused on finding solutions. While progress is certainly being made across the state the areas directly related to students and teachers are most in need of work.

Texas Education Agency (2010)2010 Progress Report on the Long Range Plan for
Technology 2006-2020: A Report to the 82nd Texas Legislature.
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=5082&menu_id=2147483665

Texas Education Agency (2010) STaR Chart Campus Statistics Statewide Summary 2009-2010. http://starchart.esc12.net/statistics.html