Sunday, November 22, 2009

Vision 2020...who knows

Ok...I'm not usually a pessimist or a no way kind of person. However, after reading the Vision 2020 plan I have to admit I'm not sure it's attainable. The other problem I see is that not only is their plan for technology within schools but the 81st legislature just did away with a technology requirement for graduation. I think that is a little hypocritical to say the least. The plan says that "schools and districts need to ensure that there is a shared vision" however, the state then took away the technology requirement. While some districts are keeping this requirement most districts believe that students already have a basic understanding of technology and are not requiring it.
The plan wants to ensure that students are capable of maintaining employability however, the lofty plan focuses more on teacher and staff professional development without regard to helping students learn these skills. Also, the plan focuses more on teaching teachers how to implement technology for our students use, however, there is no plan to follow up and gather the data to ensure that the technology is being taught to all students.
With it almost being 2010 it seems that as a whole we are still far behind the curve and not close to what the plan had shown to be completed by this time. There also seems to be limited communication with districts and the state or at the least within the district and its campuses. I can see that my district is trying to implement some aspect of the plan specifically the staff development. But I again say that with only professional development we are not finding ways to ensure that what is being "learned" is then being "taught" to all of our students.
I'm also seeing that various amounts of monies are being spent on technology, however, no on particular person is being seen as an expert. It appears that we are just continually moving from one new idea to the next without any type of consistency.

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