HISD Technology Goals

This year marks the fifth year in HISD Long-Range Strategic Plan for Technology. Was the plan a fail or a success?

HISD goals were to: increase student achievement, increase management efficiency, improve public support and confidence in school, create a positive district culture and provide facilities to standard program.  HISD put a lot of thought into how they could best make this plan work for students and teachers alike.  They even went as far as to ask the teachers what they felt was needed.  I know asking the person that does the work is a stretch but that’s who else would know best.  (Go figure!)  Teachers weighed in and I think that this just may have helped this plan succeed. Teachers asked for more technical support and data management.  The strategy was to increase the help desk function and at time have trained personnel on campus to assist with tech issues and system updates.  They asked for a unified system that allows data exchange.  They responded by working on obtaining software that would allow effective collaboration of student record and eliminate repeat work.  After looking over the plan I can see that goals are met and can’t wait to see what other improvements that will be made. 

Unfortunately, I am not able to access information about the professional development available with the district but after speaking with several HISD employees I have learned that there are professional development opportunities available on the HISD employee portal.  I would really like to see what the plans are for HISD in the coming years.  With the budget cuts and the teacher layoffs how much of the technology budget will be affected?