STaR CHART ANALYSIS OPINION

I am choosing to analyze the Key Area of Teaching & Learning. I chose this area as it is the area that focuses on direct impact to the students. Here are the scores and ratings from NBHS for the past three years.

2008-09: 14 Developing Technology
2007-08: 15 Advanced Technology
2006-07: 13 Developing Technology

The trend shows a decrease in the Frequency/Design of Instructional Setting and the TA TEKS Implementation. The criteria for the Key Area of Teaching and Learning is that; the teacher serves as the facilitator, mentor, and co-learner, students have on-demand access to appropriate technologies to complete activities in core content areas and high schools offer at least 4 Technology Applications courses. I believe that the decrease in Frequency/Design of Instructional Setting and the TA TEKS Implementation is directly related to our decrease in Educator Preparation and Development Area. Without professional development, teachers lack the skills to effectively implement technology into the classroom. I also believe that with such a focus on standardized tests, many teachers have opted to concentrate the majority of their efforts on teaching what will be tested on the TAKS test as their jobs depend on their students standardized test scores. Back to the professional development area, the focus of our administration has been strickly on the test scores as we were told no teachers would attend out of district professional development until TAKS scores were raised. I find it interesting that when you look at our STaR Chart classifications from 5 years ago, we were rated Advanced Technology in 3 of the 4 key areas and last year we were rated Advanced Technology in only 1 Key Area. Maybe eliminating outside professional development was a step backwards.