New NCLB Requirements for Texas Schools

May 15, 2008 admin Education, MGuhlin.net, Texas, Transparency

The following is adapted from a blog entry I wrote for my school
district blog, A Flowing River.

The Texas Education Agency presented the new reporting requirement of
November, 2008 for the first time in Austin on Friday, May 9, 2008.
Three requirements outlined by No Child Left Behind (NCLB) will be
reported on in November, 2008. These three requirements include
conducting an assessment of…

Technology literacy for eighth grade students
Technology literacy for teachers, librarians and administrators; and
The number of computers available to students for instruction by
Internet access type.

Since December, 2006, eighth
graders have had to meet Technology Applications:TEKS graduation
requirements. Data is required, auditable, must have supporting
documentation and failure to provide it may negatively impact future
funding per the Texas Education Agency and No Child Left Behind.

Many Texas schools–as they focus on increasing reading and math TAKS
scores by hiring Reading/Math resource teachers with limited funding
available to them–are hard-pressed to find funding for a Technology
Applications:TEKS Teacher, budget for the cost of an up to date computer
lab, and make it happen. Schools that can may avail themselves of local
district Instructional Technology Departments (if they those haven’t
been liquidated already) as well as state resources like the Technology
Applications Network.

Were school districts–or, rather, 3rd party evaluators–to audit
technology literacy in schools today, I have no doubt that most would
reflect a lack of technology applications integration into core content
instructions, even though it is required and the electronic
textbook has been long available. This highlights a profound need
for Texas schools, students and teachers to ratchet up their technology
literacy infrastructure and support.

For schools, this means increased technology access. For students, it
means more learning opportunities that require technology as an integral
part of success. For teachers, it means meeting the SBEC Technology
Standards for All Educators.

8TH GRADE ASSESSMENT
It is urgent that we collect data for
Requirement #1–the 8th grade assessment of technology literacy–prior
to the end of the 2007–2008 school year. In one word, NOW. You
can read
more about where this information was presented.

There are a variety of ways to accomplish the data collection in the 2
weeks that remain to us this year. While this will undoubtedly put a
strain on campuses, it is far better to accomplish the data collection
now rather than wait to the new year and try to either assess a fresh
crop of 8th graders or 9th graders.

The options include the following:

Option #1: Learning.com. This is the best option in terms of
quality because it is a solution already in use in Texas and is being
reviews as part of the HB
2503 Technology Literacy Assessment Pilot being conducted by TEA.
However, the cost of doing this is about $3.00 per student with an
additional $3500 fee. This was one quote I saw.
Option #2: Use the Assessment built into TA:TEKS Electronic Textbook.
This is a free assessment that came with our state-adopted (Glencoe
Tech Connect) electronic textbook. The question, though, is how
many of your teachers actually logged in or used this electronic
textbook?
Option #3: Setup an in-house District assessment using Moodle
course management system. This is an inexpensive option but it is
the equivalent of taking a pencil-n-paper questionnaire, and putting
it online for data collection purposes. This kind of assessment is
ineffective in assessing Technology Applications TEKS, but may be all
that many school districts have. Simply, it lacks the interactivity
required to truly assess students (of course, if you’re for using
ePortfolios of student work, then these multiple choice assessments
are all ineffective measures).

Technology Literacy Assessments for students in grades 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 are
in our future, so if you are a teacher in one of those grades, you are
strongly encouraged to take advantage of available professional learning
opportunities in the area of Educational/Instructional Technology
through the District.

Consider this pilot is part of a first attempt to begin assessing your
students’–and by extension, your–technology literacy:

House Bill (HB) 2503, 80th Texas Legislature, 2007, added the Texas
Education Code (TEC), §39.0235, providing for the establishment of a
pilot program in which participating school districts assess student
technology proficiency. The project goal in accordance with HB 2503
is to develop and implement a statewide pilot program of an online
technology assessment for a certain sample of Texas students. The
Texas Education Agency (TEA) will conduct a two-year Technology Literacy
Assessment Pilot Program. Eligible participants of this RFSOI are public
school districts and charter schools.

The assessment tool for the pilot will be selected by TEA through a
Request for Proposals process. Each school year, the assessment
instrument shall be administered in a participating school district to
each student in either fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, or ninth grade on
each selected campus. The pilot will begin March 2008. Data
collection for the pilot program may continue through December 31, 2009.

If you are a classroom teacher, librarian, or administrator, it is
critical that you consider the State
Board of Educator Certification (SBEC) Technology Standards for All
Educators. These standards are the same as what is expected of the
8th graders.

To help campus teachers, librarians, and administrators, I encourage you
to take advantage of the wealth of 100% ONLINE professional learning
opportunities that are available. In my District, here are some
of those opportunities that are delivered/facilitated via our Avatar-based
learning management system. These online professional learning
opportunities include 63 courses (205 hours) of Gifted and Talented
credit…that you can earn entirely online without attending a face to
face class.

I encourage school districts to fully disclose the challenges they face.