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ERIC Number: EJ839144
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009-May
Pages: 4
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1082-5754
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Getting to the Heart of Technology Integration: Virginia's Instructional Technology Resource Teacher Program
Coffman, Teresa
Learning & Leading with Technology, v36 n7 p20-23 May 2009
For many states, it's been a long struggle to fund positions dedicated to helping schools integrate technology. But in Virginia, thanks to the state's forward thinking educational leaders and lawmakers, every school division has its own team of technology-integration specialists. It started with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and the Enhancing Education through Technology program, which both promote initiatives to give teachers, principals, and administrators the power to integrate technology effectively into teaching and learning. Hoping to take advantage of this opportunity while it lasted, these educational leaders united with the Virginia Department of Education and lawmakers to create a statewide initiative introducing a workable vision of technology integration throughout the Virginia school system. Specifically, they wanted to infuse technology into the curriculum to improve communication, task efficiency, data-driven decision making, instruction, and, ultimately, student performance. These leaders understood that, for this vision to become reality, every school division in the state would need to have its own technology leaders. With that goal in mind, the Virginia General Assembly authorized and funded two new education positions in 2004--the instructional technology resource teacher (ITRT) and technology support staff person--and mandated that every school employ at least one of each for every 1,000 students. This article describes these two education positions and the benefits the ITRT program has reaped in terms of successful technology integration and improved student learning and test scores.
International Society for Technology in Education. 180 West 8th Avenue, Suite 300, Eugene, OR 97401-2916. Tel: 800-336-5191; Tel: 541-302-3777; Fax: 541-302-3778; e-mail: iste@iste.org; Web site: http://www.iste.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Virginia
Identifiers - Laws, Policies, & Programs: No Child Left Behind Act 2001
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A