The need for Educator Preparation

The Texas Star Chart is used to organize and analyze school data in the area of technology. Current statewide data shows that one of the biggest needs in the schools is more educator preparation. This is a huge challenge for public schools. The kinds of advancements that have been made in technology over the past decade have been quick and drastic. In ten years schools have gone from community computer access to classroom computers that manage everything from curriculum to attendance and grades. The internet in the classroom has drastically changed the way teachers communicate to colleagues, parents and students. But what does the future look like? The tricky thing is that we need to be preparing now for a future with technology we know nothing about.
These changes in technology have improved the schools ability to operate, however many schools are still listed in the Developing Stage of technology progress. This is in part to a large number of veteran teachers who simply don’t feel comfortable using new software and operating systems. Many teachers learn just enough about new systems to get by and never feel like they can dig deeper into programs. Many teachers get frustrated when working with new programs and simply give up and do things the old fashioned way. I myself have experienced this frustration working on this week’s assignments, and I consider myself strong in the area of technology.
The key is for schools to provide in depth technology training and to constantly check up on teachers and revisit areas of training that need improvement. Simply putting software on a teacher computer with no instruction as to how it will improve classroom activities is fruitless. Schools should refer to the 5 standards as stated in the SBEC and gear teacher training to these standards. Teachers need to have help to move from being technology competent to technology comfortable.