Technology and Professional Development

Just as technology improves student achievement, it enhances professional development practices for educators. For states, school districts and schools across the country, technology is a critical tool that can be used to provide access to coursework and materials enabling teachers to become “highly qualified”.

Technology Helps Teachers Meet Professional Requirements

NCLB requires public elementary and secondary school teachers meet their state’s definition of “highly qualified teacher” for each core academic subject they teach. Technology can help teachers earn degrees, state certifications, and competencies in core academic subjects. A number of states and professional organizations now offer convenient e-learning opportunities for teachers. Technology makes it cost-effective for states to provide large-scale, consistent training that responds to public priorities.

For example:

• Florida Online Reading Professional Development (FOR-PD) is a free, online staff development project designed to help teachers improve reading instruction for students in grades PK through 12. FOR-PD translates scientifically based research practices into engaging multimedia content for all teachers—not just reading teachers. By February 2005, FOR-PD had trained more than 16,000 teachers in 67 Florida school districts.
• Black Hills State University and Northern State University in South Dakota offer an associate of science degree in paraprofessional education. This degree, which allows current or prospective educators to complete a curriculum developed to fulfill the NCLB requirements for K-12 paraprofessional educators, is offered completely by distance education using a variety of delivery methods. Earning this degree will also permit students to enroll in a four-year degree program at an institution of higher education.
• The Concord Consortium and PBS have joined forces to offer professional development for under-qualified and pre-qualified algebra teachers. The project offers online courses that include video clips, hands-on activities, and discussion moderated by a trained facilitator to convey information about effective teaching strategies.
• Louisiana’s Algebra I Online Learning Project, a pilot project of the Louisiana Virtual School, targets rural and urban schools with one or more sections of Algebra I taught by an uncertified mathematics teacher. The program pairs these classroom teachers with certified, online teachers who provide yearlong instruction to students and face-to-face and online mentoring support to classroom teachers. Districts benefit by having certified math teachers providing online instruction, classroom teachers benefit from the strong professional development that can lead to certification, and students benefit from access to high-quality, technology-supported Algebra I courses.

Technology Improves Professional Development and Classroom Practices

Technology is also a way to enrich the curriculum and improve classroom practices for teachers.

Here are some best practices:

• Intel Teach to the Future is one of the largest ongoing, technology-oriented professional development programs in the country. Between 2000 and 2003, the program trained 100,000 K–12 teachers to integrate technology into curriculum and instruction. The program had four specific results, according to a program evaluation:
  • Teachers feel prepared to integrate technology into classroom practices. Hands-on technology training gave even “technophobes” confidence in using technology with students. Teachers’ positive ratings of the training indicate that it was a productive experience with specific, useful outcomes for them.
  • Teachers do something new when they return to their classrooms. Large numbers of teachers used the plans they developed during their training—and went on to experiment on their own with technology integration and project-based teaching and learning strategies.
  • Infusing technology into classroom practices was focused and sustained over time. Teachers see value in integrating technology into classroom practices, so they continue to do so.
  • Trained teachers became Master Teachers—district-level technology leaders with a deep understanding of how technology can be used to support instruction. (Martin, et al., 2004)
• The Regional Educational Technology Assistance (RETA) initiative in New Mexico offers professional development to teachers in virtually all of the state’s 89 school districts as well as in Bureau of Indian Affairs schools and in private and parochial schools. The initiative provides teachers with a variety of curriculum resources on the Web, CD-ROM, and public television. A 2004 study of the RETA initiative shows statistically significant increases in teacher practices in these, among other, areas:

• Developing curriculum that includes computers;   

  • Using technology tools such as the Web, e-mail, spreadsheet, database, CD-ROM reference materials, and other education software applications with their students;
  • Engaging students in project-based work;
  • Engaging students in presentation of student work using technology;
  • Engaging some or all of their students, rather than just one, in a technology-related activity. (Martin, et al., 2003)
• In California, 92 percent of middle school teachers trained through a state program report moderate to high use of technology to enrich and expand the curriculum. Some 56 percent report that they are integrating technology into the curriculum, up from 30 percent before the training under the No Child Left Behind, Enhancing Education Through Technology program. Even in the early stages of implementation, 63 percent of teachers reported some evidence of academic improvement among students, and 14 percent reported major evidence of academic improvement. (Cradler, et al., 2004)

Citations

Cradler, John; Cradler, Ruthmary; Beuthel, Bob; Freeman, Molly; Cradler, Dan.
“No Child Left Behind, Enhancing Education Through Technology: Summary Report on the Implementation, Use of Support Resources, and Initial Impact of the California EETT Round One Competitive Grants.” Educational Support Systems, Inc., July 2004.

Martin, Wendy; Hupert, Naomi, Cult, Katie McMillan; Kanaya, Tomoe; and Light, Daniel. “Intel® Teach to the Future Summary of Evaluation Findings, 2002–2003: U.S. Classic Program Implementation.” Center for Children & Technology, June 2004.
http://www2.edc.org/CCT/admin/publications/report/IntelTTTFClassic_3yr04.pdf

Martin, Wendy; Hupert, Naomi; and Admon, Noga. “The RETA Initiative: Year 5 Evaluation Report.” Center for Children & Technology, September 15, 2003.
http://www2.edc.org/CCT/admin/publications/report/RETAInitiativeYear5Evaluati.pdf

“No Child Left Behind: A Toolkit for Teachers.” U.S. Department of Education, May 2004. http://www.ed.gov/teachers/nclbguide/nclb-teachers-toolkit.pdf

Web Sites

http://www.itrc.ucf.edu/forpd

http://rtt.pbs.org/rtt/index.cfm

http://lvsportal.doe.state.la.us/?algebra