Progress Report on the Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology

The progress report for the Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology provides an update on the state’s progress towards addressing the needs of education in Texas. A secure future in education is a system in which students and teachers have access to and can learn from technology 24 hours a day 7 days a week, parents have equal opportunities to participate and grow in their technology skills and knowledge, school stakeholders and leaders can have more fiscal resources. Overall the report is broken down into two different parts. Part one focuses on the four key areas of the Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology 2006-2020. Part two focuses on a summary of the services that are provided by the twenty regional education service centers in meeting the recommendations of the Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology. The STaR chart is used throughout the entire progress report as a guideline for data to show progress made or areas in which improvements need to be made. For example the StaR Chart was used under the Teaching and Learning key area to show the percentages of growth between the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 school years. Recommendations are made that the state of Texas continue to implement Pre-Kindergarten technology guidelines as well as the K-12 Technology Application TEKS in order to need the needs of our 21st century learners. Several programs and grants have taken place in order to support the recommendations made to accomplish the goals of the Long-Range Plan. Technology Immersion Pilots(TIP), Vision 2020 Grant, Target Tech in Texas( T3) Grant, Connections Grant, Rural Technology Pilot Program, Distance Learning, Texas Virtual School Program (TxVSN), and Electronic Course Program are among the several service programs that aim towards the Long-Range Plan goals.