Texas STaR Chart: Technology Progression

After carefully studying the Texas STar Chart Summary for our campus at Georgetown High School, I have decided to discuss the key area of Infrastructure for Technology as it pertains to our school's technology development as well as the progress of the campuses across the state of Texas. I chose this key area because I feel like this area will be, and currently is, the most difficult area to achieve because it depends on something that is completely out of the hands of educators. I'm talking about the area of funding. I have been in education long enough to have seen numerous state educational mandates go completely unfunded by the state. In difficult economic times, it is nearly impossible to convince the taxpayer to have their taxes raised in order to get every child a computer or access to a computer. This is especially difficult to explain to someone who no longer has children in public schools. At Georgetown High School, the STaR chart shows that we have been very fortunate to have a strong infrastructure in place as early as 2006. We were categorized in the Advanced Tech category in 2007-2007 and again in the 2007-2008 school year. However, as our enrollment continues to rise, our school has regressed into the developing Tech category. In part, this can be traced back to two areas: Students per Computers has dropped during the last two years. Our school has not kept pace with the increasing student enrollment as it relates to the number of computers available on campus. The second area of declining concern is Other Classroom Technology. It is evident that the hardware and software has remained constant while the enrollment has continued to rise.
In comparison to the State of Texas where more schools are progressing to the Advanced Tech category, I am concerned about our school's regression in this key area. If our school is going continue to strive to meet the needs of the students, the technology infrastructure has to be the major area of emphasis. All other areas of the Long Range Plan will come to a grinding halt in terms of the implementation of using technology to assist in quality teaching and learning.