Setting the Stage for Professional Development

Southern has adapted the International Society of Technology Education's (ISTE)  National Education Technology Standards (NETS) as the standards on which to base our professional development efforts.

The professional development offerings have been aligned to those standards.

When teachers attain the required level of proficiency, they qualify to receive 3-5 networked computers in their classroom. This diagram illustrates the pathways to obtaining computers in the classroom.

To establish a baseline from which to measure growth toward professional development goals, in 1997-98 teachers began taking a self-assessment survey adapted from the Mankato, Minnesota School District.   The survey provided data that assisted in determining areas of weakness and planning a sequence of course offerings to fill the needs.  The survey will be taken annually as one instrument to measure growth at both district and individual levels.   Since the data is collected electronically, it is easily analyzed via spreadsheet or database.

During the 1999-2000 school year, we made arrangements with SCRTEC to use their tool, Profiler, to better track and assess progress.

NCREL's  Learning With Technology Profile Tool and the CEO Forum's School Technology and Readiness Chart (STaR Chart) are also used in at Southern as tools for generating discussion among administrators and planners.

A key part of the success of technology integration is the establishment of a district-wide vision of what technology can for the students and teachers.  Tom March's Ten Stages of Working the Web for Education played a key role in allowing teachers to understand the path they must follow to begin transforming the nature of the classroom.  It combines systemic change and technology based curriculum in a way that allows people to form their personal visions from which a district-wide vision can develop.  The Ten Stages set the stage for the rest of Southern's Professional Development Initiatives.

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