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Research, Evaluation and Development |
Each year, TCET establishes a research agenda, based upon its strategic goals, that focused on creating and disseminating information regarding the impact of computer-based technologies and telecommunications on the teaching and learning process. Meetings with stakeholders identified specific research and development needs, with the outcome being a plan to provide research on "what works" and "what does not work" as it relates to the infusion of technology into schools. Below are listed case studies, and research projects, including several extensive multi-year longitudinal projects.
Beginning in 1994, TCET has published a popular series of school district and community technology profiles (case studies) and success stories. Technology projects and communities which are cited highlight Texas educators, citizens, and collaboratives with leading edge applications of varying technologies. Input from Regional Education Service Centers, the Texas Education Agency Educational Technology staff, and others is used in determining sites and projects which will be featured.
All IMAGES are available online or most may be ordered in printed form.
A more detailed listing of all the issues may be found in the Appendix. Feedback to the TCET Staff has been consistently very positive. One respondent wrote:
"Always enjoy … magazine; keep it coming. We are learning/understanding more and this is … excellent source."
With over $2.5 million dollars in assets coming from the Department of Energy and over $1 million dollars in support from partner school districts, SCOPE is the largest single sponsored project in UNT and TCET history, and has extended over several years. Through SCOPE, Texas students practice hands-on science using high tech equipment that few students (or teachers) ever see.
The Super Collider Opportunities for Public Education (SCOPE) staff, facilities, and science equipment experienced a busy and rewarding third year. SCOPE staff were represented at several national conferences including the National Science Teachers Association in New Orleans and the National Educational Computing Conference in San Diego.
Science equipment, rescued from the Superconducting Super Collider were loaned out to the SCOPE school districts. This equipment rotated on a monthly schedule to those districts requesting it. There were about a dozen pieces of large equipment from which the districts could choose. Without argument the astronomical telescope was by far the most popular.
A major emphasis during the year was designing professional development workshops. All ten of the SCOPE school districts participated in a workshop entitled Radiation and Communication. Geiger-Mueller Tubes and modulated lasers were purchased by each of the districts. These were distributed at the workshop. Teachers experimented and wrote activities using the equipment. A major function of the workshop was to bring the teachers together for collaboration and sharing.
The summer hosted two SCOPE workshops. The first was three day workshop, aimed at providing teachers with guidelines for becoming master teacher leaders and workshop directors. Teachers were provided with a cookbook guide to help them organize workshops. This guide is intended to help the teachers reproduce the SCOPE workshops that they attend at the University of North Texas. The second workshop involved five days with lasers. The workshop included a night of laser tag and a teacher created laser light show. A significant Eisenhower federal grant is helping support SCOPE activities.
Led by Dr. Linda Hodges, SCOPE Project Coordinator, the project team and the Dallas Independent School District developed an exciting new publication "Technology-Based Instructional Guides." This document, available in hardcopy and online at the SCOPE web site, provides classroom-ready lesson plans produced for classroom teachers by classroom teachers. In the fall of 1998, six additional school districts are joining the original ten in the SCOPE project. They are Kountze, Lewisville, Lufkin, McKinney, Northwest, and Spring Branch.
In the coming year, teachers from all over the United States are invited to participate in the SCOPE activities. Future workshops are open to all teachers and will be announced on the SCOPE web site. The SCOPE web site, found at http://www.unt.edu/SCOPE displays both a new look and newly designed instructional guide activities.
"The only real measure of the effectiveness of technologies and technology-enhanced programs is the extent to which they promote and support students' engaged learning and collaboration."
North Central Regional Educational Laboratory
The United Star Distance Learning Consortium (USDLC) is a unique partnership of five state departments of education --- Florida, Illinois, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Texas; a local education agency --- Region 20 Education Service Center in Texas; a university with active pre-service and in-service teacher education programs ---Western Illinois University; two state schools serving the hearing impaired --- New Mexico School for the Deaf and Texas School for the Deaf; and a nonprofit distance learning network --- StarNet.
The USDLC was funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Star Schools initiative to implement and evaluate this Engaged Learning Project between 1997 and 2002. TCET was selected as the program evaluator.
The purpose of the evaluation is to identify, describe, and analyze the project's implementation process, products, services, and training activities through a structured design. This evaluation plan was built upon a test-bed analysis methodology that uses Engaged Learner questionnaires developed by the North central regional Educational laboratory, in-depth interviews with all stakeholder groups, analysis of recorded communications and products, as well as classroom observations and student achievement data to examine the longitudinal program impact in four areas:
During the first year of project implementation, 1997-1998, Dr. Rodgers used a project site-intensive, multi-faceted data collection strategy that included site visits, structured interviews with stakeholder groups, observations of staff planning and training sessions, web documentation of key events, questionnaires, and survey instruments. The first year report was submitted to the U.S. department of Education in June 1998.
As this project continues for four more years, case studies of selected sites, participants, and specific learning situations within and across USDLC project sites in the five states will be used to identify themes and trends that surface relative to varying site experiences, distance learning curricula, and integration of distance learning technologies.
In 1997, the Texas State Board of Education approved new curriculum standards for public education in Texas, which represented the first major rewrite of the curriculum since 1984. These new standards, the "Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills" (TEKS) supersede the former "Essential Elements." Over 400 Texas classroom teachers, parents, business people, and citizens developed drafts of the TEKS. During the two review periods of the TEKS drafts, approximately 29,000 responses were received. Experts from within Texas, as well as from other states commented on the TEKS, leading to further changes. TCET and many of its Board Members, as well as its various collaborative partners, participated in these reviews.
The TEKS present clear, detailed statements of knowledge and skills and of student expectations at every grade level, beginning in Kindergarten and continuing through Grade 12. The TEKS are specific and academically rigorous, and differ from the Essential Elements which focused on what the teacher should do rather than what the student should know and be able to do. Details for each curriculum (e.g. English Language Arts and Reading, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Business Education, Technology Applications, etc.) may be found at the Internet web site www.tea.state.tx.us/teks/
Beginning in September 1998, teachers are expected to include the new TEKS in their teaching of the curriculum. Another significant difference between the TEKS and the Essential Elements is the focus on technology as a part of each curriculum. Technology was a connection area among all curricula so that specific knowledge and skills were developed around the use of computers and related technology.
In addition to technology connections in subject areas, TEKS were developed in Technology Applications specifying the student proficiencies for kindergarten through grade 12. This is the first time in Texas history that there is a comprehensive K-12 curriculum that focuses on what is expected for students to know and be able to do using computers and other related technology. The Technology Applications TEKS were developed to fulfill a Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology goal for setting technology expectations and competencies for each high school graduate by the year 2000. These Technology Applications TEKS are to be used as guidelines for instruction.
To effectively prepare students for further learning and to take leading positions in the job market, technology must be infused into all phases of the school curricula. Educator resources for the Technology Applications TEKS have been created by a task force of Texas teachers, administrators, parents, and business representatives led by TCET under the auspices of the Texas Education Agency.
An initial educator awareness package, START (Sharing Technology Applications with Teachers), was produced by TCET and distributed to curriculum coordinators and technology coordinators in school districts throughout Texas in October, 1997. The START program assisted classroom teachers in the planning and preparation for the Technology Applications TEKS during the 1997-1998 school year in anticipation of the actual implementation and integration with the foundation curriculum areas at the beginning of the 1998-1999 year.
This initial START awareness/resource package contained reference publications, CD-ROM, video tape, and slide presentation for use at the district and campus levels. Detail on the contents are depicted in the schematic on the next page, and, along with many other online resources, may be seen at the START Internet web site www.tcet.unt.edu/start/.
As a result of the success of this initial START package and its acceptance by teachers, TCET was asked to further enhance the overall set of resources in 1998. Thus began the START Curriculum Connections project, funded by an additional significant TEA grant. This new and comprehensive resource package for educators is being distributed in Fall 1998 and will include the following deliverables:
The Curriculum Connections publication, Poster, and CD-ROM are being distributed to each school campus in Texas, and those same deliverables, along with the updated Companion are being distributed to each school district and education service center across the state. The online web site is available now for all educators with Internet access at http://www.tcet.unt.edu/START.
"Planning prior to investment or implementation of technology is a necessity to avoid costly fiscal mistakes, and to avoid even more critical misjudgments in instructional programs delivered to students." -Alice ISD
"It's about time that we, as superintendents, focused on using technology in the classrooms for instructional purposes." -Cumby ISD Superintendent
The Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology, 1988-2000 called for the establishment of technology demonstration programs, and the Texas Education Agency was asked to develop a program that investigated the uses, effectiveness, feasibility of technologies for education and provided models for effective education using technology.
The Projects for Educational Technology (PET) grant program was thus established, beginning in 1994, providing planning and implementation grants which allow school districts or collaboratives to design plans for using technology to enhance staff development and student learning. TCET was asked to evaluate the impact and results of the PET program since its inception in 1994 through the current 1997-1998 school year.
The PET evaluation plan was built upon a test-bed analysis methodology, which used information developed within and across PET projects. Project evaluators held in-depth interviews with grant recipients for the 1997-1998 grants and many participants during the years from 1994 through 1997. A content analysis was conducted of all PET project reports and products located in the TEA files during the same period. An analysis of recorded communications and products, as well as classroom observations and examinations of student achievement data, were used to examine the longitudinal program impact in four areas:
The results of the TCET evaluation, led by Drs. Beverly Rodgers and Sharon Feaster, include the following observed impacts:
The full PET Evaluation Report and selected IMAGES of Technology in Texas Public Schools are being distributed to each district and Education Service Center along with a videotape of some highlights of various PET projects and a comprehensive CD-ROM. The Report and selected video clips may soon be found online and available to all educators.
In 1997, the Texas Education Agency awarded $15.5 million in TIE grants to nineteen Texas school districts and regional education service center collaboratives. In 1998, an additional $33 million was awarded to thirty-eight educational entities and collaboratives.
The funding for these grants comes from the U.S. Department of Education's Technology Literacy Challenge Fund, which envisions a 21st century where all students technologically literate. This is a five-year, $2 billion effort to promote the four goals of the National Technology Plan:
TIE's objective is to improve student achievement by fully integrating technology into teaching and learning and to ensure all Texas students are technologically literate. Its focus centers on implementing the Commissioner's Access Initiative and the recommendations in the Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology, 1996-2010 in the following four areas:
TCET was asked by the TEA to conduct the evaluation of the first year (1997-1998) of the TIE grant program and process. While that evaluation effort, led by Conan Reinken and Dr. Beverly Rodgers, is still in process as this document goes to press, some significant findings have already been realized in each of the four key areas described above.
The study methodology included an analysis of the grant applications and award process, site visits, examination of mid-year and final reports submitted by the participants, focus groups, and a symposium convened by TCET to share experiences and report results. All of the TIE grant recipients reported significant progress in technology integration, the implementation or expansion of local and wide area networks, and substantial training and professional development.
A full TIE Evaluation Report and selected IMAGES of Technology in Texas Schools featuring TIE recipients will be distributed to each district and education service center along with a video tape of some highlights of various TIE projects and a comprehensive CD-ROM. The Report and selected video clips may soon be found online and available to all educators.
"Through technology … teachers and superintendents, parents and legislators, students and business leaders … have immediate access to tools, products, data and information needed to make decisions, to educate, and to learn." -CAI Vision
Texas, in its overall agenda for school reform, is acting on the basis of three beliefs, according to Dr. Michael Moses, Commissioner of Education:
Under the Commissioner's direction, the Texas Education Agency has developed a plan that will make state-collected and state-held information a key component of education reform in Texas. Within the context of the Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology, the Commissioner's Access Initiative is the strategic implementation activity, and has three major components:
The primary goal of the Commissioner's Access Initiative is to significantly improve access to TEA resources of all types … including information, services, and products. Of particular note is that the vision and goal extend all the way to the classroom, and don't stop at the central office or administrative levels(see illustration).
In October 1997, the Texas Education Agency was awarded an IBM Reinventing Education II grant to support a pilot program within the Commissioner's Access Initiative. This pilot would initiate the development of a state-wide data warehouse, enable the creation of local and specialized data marts, and conduct school pilots that will demonstrate the value of access to comprehensive, timely, and relevant information. These data marts can be accessed and used by teachers, administrators, parents, and community leaders in making informed educational decisions that result in improved student performance and teacher effectiveness.
TCET is conducting an evaluation of a pilot implementation of the Commissioner's Access Initiative/IBM Reinventing Education II program in collaboration with the Just For The Kids organization and the Mentor Schools Network of Texas. The setting of specific objectives, planning, and selecting the pilot schools has been completed. Due to the size and complexity of the overall program, implementation was scheduled for Fall 1998, and final evaluation expected to be complete by Spring 1999.
"We tape videos off our T-STAR system, take electronic field trips, and use it to train our school board. Now we've opened it up to parents and the community … the response has been terrific!" -Belton ISD
The Commissioner's Access Initiative calls for Texas schools to have more access to resources to improve student achievement. T-STAR is the unique Texas technology initiative that delivers on that important goal.
T-STAR is Texas' satellite education network, established in 1991, that provides a wide variety of distance learning opportunities to every school district in the state. These programs come from programming providers across the U.S. and TEA and include:
TCET has been involved since 1994 in periodic assessments of various T-STAR services and resources available to Texas educators, and was commissioned this year to perform an evaluation to determine the factors that contribute to the success of satellite delivered for-credit courses. Led by Drs. Beverly Rodgers and George Hubbard, TCET surveyed those districts currently receiving for-credit courses on reasons for using them, decision process, types of students that enroll and succeed, types of courses lending themselves to satellite delivery, and other factors contributing to the success of such programs.
Profiles of some of the districts surveyed have been published in the Summer 1998 special edition of T-Star's Programming Guide. In addition, TCET published an IMAGES of Technology in Texas Schools (No. 27) that provides more information on the results of this study and can be obtained in hard copy from TCET or viewed online at TCET's web site. In brief, the findings included:
"Our kids have been very positive …" -Grady ISD
I don't think we have (even) hit the tip of the iceberg yet for what satellites have to offer." -Hartley ISD
"If you don't know where you are going, any path will do."
"If you don't know where you are going, how will you know when you get there?"
These well-worn cliches illustrate the critical importance of sound planning, and are especially true in the area of technology. Perhaps even more important is the need to keep the technology plan focused on improving teacher effectiveness and student achievement. To achieve a common end-result among a large number of teachers, administrators, students, school board, parents, and community members, a well-conceived plan is a necessity.
TCET, working in collaboration with all of the Regional Education Service Centers, developed "A Guide to Technology Planning for Texas Public School Districts". Coordinated by Dr. George Hubbard of the TCET staff, this guide was distributed to each Education Service Center on a CD-ROM. It is also available on TCET's web site and may be downloaded and printed by anyone interested in building a technology plan.
In addition to the many longitudinal projects described above, several other research projects were completed and reports published. The following list summarizes the new research reports distributed this year in both electronic and print formats:
Each of these publications is available on line or can be ordered in print form.
TCET frequently works with identified technology planning,implementation, and integration grant projects as project evaluators. In 1997-1998, performed TIE evaluations for:
PET evaluations were performed for:
TIF evaluations were performed for:
In addition, TCET has assisted Regional Education Service Centers and school districts in the evaluation of various local technology projects. In 1997-1998, technology evaluations and technology management audits were performed at several school districts.
The model for the TCET Technology Management Audit assumes that the Technology Plan reflects how the district and Campus Improvement Plans integrate the technology infrastructure into instructional decision-making, teaching, and learning for the improvement of student learning. Teaching and learning focuses the plan on student outcomes and teacher effectiveness as a result of integrating technology into the curriculum.
Many other research projects were undertaken and completed during the years 1994-1998 and are listed below; each of these projects resulted in a deliverable product for immediate use by Texas educators and is described on the publications page in more detail.
All of these research publications may be found at TCET's web site for viewing and downloading: http://www.tcet.unt.edu/pubs or can be ordered in print form.
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Texas Center for Educational Technology
Last edited Dec 98