No Child Left Behind Act funds will once again be available this school year through Title II Part D (ED TECH) that can be used for professional development.  Professional development plays an essential role in successful education improvement. Professional development serves as the bridge between where prospective and experienced educators are now and where they will need to be in the future to meet the new challenges of guiding all students in achieving higher standards of learning and development.  Professional development activities must be designed with the input of teachers, principals, and other personnel, and must meet a variety of technical standards. Specifically, they must:
 

• be tied to state content and student performance standards;
• reflect current research on teaching and learning;
• be designed to have a positive impact on the teacher's performance in the classroom;
• contribute to continuous improvement in the classroom or throughout the school;
• include methods to teach children with special needs;
• be developed with extensive participation of teachers; and
• include gender-equitable education methods, techniques, and practices.

Title II Part D funding has been divided up among the fifteen schools and each school's allocation is listed in the table below.  An allocation formula was designed based on the number of students at each school.  To use these funds will require a brief but realistic plan explaining how this funding will be used to provide effective staff development at the school level.  This plan must be developed as a team effort by the school's principal, technology committee, and the TSP serving the school.  The school's TSP will serve as the contact person between the school and the technology coordinator on this project.

Plan must be published on the Internet as a web page and an access link provided before they will be considered for approval.  All plans must be approved by the technology coordinator before funds can be utilized by the school.  Deadline for schools to submit plans will be September 30,  2003.
 

 
Plan must include the following:

• Goal(s).  The goal(s) of the plan will be at least one of the following:

Provide staff development that will help teachers improve student academic achievement through the use of technology in elementary schools and secondary schools

Provide staff development that will help teachers assist students in crossing the digital divide by ensuring that they are technologically literate by the time they finish the eighth grade

Provide staff development that will ensure that teachers are able to integrate technology into the curriculum to improve student achievement

An action plan complete with timeline of everything that is is to occur to provide this staff development.
 

A description of the type of assessment that will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the staff development provided by the plan.  A report of the outcome of the assessment must be published on a website by the end of the 2003-2004 school year.

A detailed budget breakdown of how the allocated amount will be spent.  No budget may exceed the allocated amount.  Budget categories are as follows:

Substitutes (43.06 per day)
Online Staff Development
Webmaster and BLT Supplements (Building Level Leaders)
Staff Development Supplies and Materials

Each plan submitted must be approved by the district technology coordinator. Once approved, the contact person will work with Tonya Shell at the central office to complete requisitions.  Tonya will not make any purchases until a school's plan has been approved and authorized by the technology coordinator to be processed.

Greene County schools will use Title II Part D formula funds for providing ongoing and sustained professional development in the integration of advanced technologies, including emerging technologies, into curricula and instruction and in using those technologies to create new learning environments, such as professional development in the use of technology

• to access data and resources to develop curricula and instructional materials;
• to enable teachers
• to use the Internet and other technology to communicate with parents, other teachers, principals, and administrators
• to retrieve Internet-based learning resources;
• to lead to improvements in classroom instruction in the core academic subjects, that effectively prepare students to meet challenging State academic content standards including increasing student technology literacy, and student academic achievement standards.