January 2004 — Features
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The Impact of Standards-Based Technology Professional Development
End-of-project data indicated that focused professional development efforts resulted in increased usage and implementation of NETS by district teachers in the classroom. The MyTarget assessment results indicated all buildings showed improvement in the skill areas of basic concepts, personal and professional productivity, classroom instruction, and educational leadership. Minute corporation growth was reflected in assessment and evaluation, as well as in ethical use of intellectual property.
Upon in-depth analyses of the teacher and student survey data, we discovered some interesting trends. Although the secondary teachers responded positively to the questions about integrating the NETS standards in the learning environment, the secondary student perception was much different. In fact, secondary students indicated they would like to see more technology experiences included in the daily classroom learning environment. Interestingly, elementary students indicated a perception of a balanced use of technology between creative writing, report writing and skill-based practice. Also noteworthy was the fact that third-graders perceived that most technology usage was in the area of skill-based practice (i.e., math drills, grammar usage, etc.). But as the grade level increased, students stated that they were using technology for research-based activities.
Conclusions
We cannot discount the impact that district leadership had upon this project. Recognition of the project's value and connection to school-improvement initiatives communicated a level of commitment and high-performance expectations from district leaders to all staff. School leaders received the data and are reviewing the study to identify future plans for the district. We contend that a combination of focused professional development supported by the strength of visionary district leadership is crucial to sustain current — and modify future — systemic growth in the area of technology integration. Data is a critical component for trend identification, focused budgetary allocations and purposeful reporting for delivering school improvement information to stakeholders. The findings of the study supported the supposition that dollars spent on technology professional development increased a teacher's integration of technology into the classroom.
Reference
Crystal, J. 2001. "Building from Within: Two Professional Development Models That Work." Technology & Learning 22 (2).
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