VSTE

Virginia Society for Technology in Education

ISTE

2024 Annual Report from the Executive Director

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As the year draws to a close it is fitting that we look back on the months and milestones that have made 2024 a year of significant growth and advancement for VSTE. The highlights from 2024 feature many of the ways that VSTE has advanced and grown as an organization. Communication, Membership, Development, and Partnership are the four goal areas identified in the 2024-2027 Strategic Plan. Guided by our 2024-2027 Strategic Plan, we achieved the following.

Communication
Communication as a goal primarily focuses on showcasing the identity of VSTE, focusing on its purpose, and recognizing ways to strengthen involvement through awareness. Our strategic plan emphasizes a clear purpose and intentional decision-making. Developing the strategic plan provided many opportunities for the Board to discuss the values and vision of the organization. The plan has helped to solidify our commitment to our core values and utilize our organizational strengths. Communication is critical to our success. There is more to follow regarding the Communication Plan and gaining insight from our membership. We have restructured our regular meetings to enhance communication and encourage dialogue among the Board. Weekly meetings with the executive director have also increased the flow of information and the opportunities for said dialogue.

Membership
Engaging and expanding our membership is the focus of the second strategic plan goal. The adoption of an association management system and the creation of a membership portal will lead the organization toward better understanding and interacting with its membership. The membership portal has enhanced member engagement by allowing members to manage their profiles and keep their information up-to-date. The membership portal has also allowed the organization to better keep track of the roles and locations of our members, including those that support the organization as exhibitors and sponsors. This will lead to more effective and efficient dialogue with members and allow VSTE to effectively know and better understand our membership. Through these efforts, we have been establishing a foundation for enhancing the benefits of membership. Every attendee at this year’s annual conference is an active VSTE member with an updated profile including all of our exhibitors and our sponsors.
Our annual conference builds on our reputation for providing an outstanding lineup of presenters and featured speakers. Our presenters allow us to celebrate the success of the finest educators in Virginia and bring perspectives from those recognized for their impact on the national teaching and learning community. The efforts of our conference team have been focused on continuing this legacy through the enhancement of the overall conference experience.

Development
Continued development is important to any organization. VSTE has continued to build on the certified coaching program and has also begun to shape and develop the professional services team. The certified coaching program has grown significantly, with over 300 certified coaches and over 100 more in training. The professional services program has begun to recruit talent and has taken on its first series of content creation and delivery which will roll out in early 2025. Both of these programs bring together a network of talented individuals to support the ongoing innovation that is a hallmark of VSTE. These networks will also help us to better identify the needs of our community and also the expert and experienced professionals to meet those needs.

Partnerships
Partnerships with other organizations stretches VSTE in positive ways as the collaborations extend the reach and influence of the organization. Our partnerships with key supporters are essential to our mission and vision. Maintaining ongoing partnerships and seeking out new partnerships provides both structure and new opportunities to serve our community. We are pleased to continue the work we have done with the Virginia Department of Education, Virtual Virginia, the Virginia Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (VASCD), CodeVA, the Greater Richmond Area Educational Technology Consortium (GRAETC) and the Shenandoah Valley Educational Technology Collaborative (SVETC), Blue Ridge PBS, WHRO, Virginia Ed Strategies, Forward Edge, Virginia's Training and Technical Assistance Centers (T/TAC), the Commonwealth Partnership for Learning, as well as our many sponsors and exhibitors. We also continue our memberships with national organizations like the Consortium of School Networks (CoSN), the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) and the School, Health, Library Broadband Coalition (SHLB). We learned in 2024 that the merger of ASCD + ISTE will bring changes to the relationship we have with those organizations as ASCD + ISTE refine their partnership program. Continuing on with effective partnerships provides VSTE and its members with great possibilities in the future. An example of this type of collaboration can be heard and seen in season one of the ActiVAtED Podcast series and by subscribing to season two.

Strategic Planning
The recently adopted 2024-2027 Strategic Plan is one way the Board has focused on VSTE’s internal growth and development. We completed several necessary revisions to our guidance documents and standard operating procedures like the VSTE Webinar Protocols, Procedures, and Best Practices and the Finance Policy and Procedures documents. The development of a Communications Plan has helped us make improvements in the utilization of the VSTE Blog, VSTE newsletter and various social media platforms to keep our followers informed and engaged. Effective communication, emphasis on the value of membership, developing programs that respond to the changing needs of our community and engaging partners that can support our growth are the goal driven and strategic means by which VSTE can proudly enter into 2025 and toward our fortieth conference with pride in its past and hope for its future.

Be well, make good happen, and keep in touch.

National Day of Action, April 10, 2019

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Please join the Title IV-A Coalition for our National Day of Action!

Please join us and the Title IV-A Coalition on April 10, 2019, for a National Day of Action to advocate for full funding of the Title IV-A Student Support and Academic Enrichment (SSAE) grant program under Title IV-A of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The Title IV-A flexible block grant allows districts to invest in well-rounded programs, safe and healthy schools, and the effective use of technology.

Congress has recognized the importance of this block grant and provided $1.1 billion in FY18 and $1.17 billion in FY19 for Title IV-A. At this funding level, many districts are receiving substantial funds and finally have the flexibility to make meaningful investments in the program areas they need most based off of their needs assessments.

This year, it is particularly important that we demonstrate to Congress the wide range of opportunities that this program provides for students. We need to show our ongoing support for Title IV-A, share stories about why these funds are so meaningful, and ask Congress to continue to invest in this program.

What You Can Do on April 10th

Our new resources and toolkit make it easy to take action! On April 10th we ask that you please join educators and advocates all across the nation by taking one (or all) of the following actions:

SEND A PREWRITTEN LETTER TO CONGRESS

Use our easy advocacy tool to send this pre-written letter to Congress about the need to adequately invest in the Title IV-A block grant.

TWEET YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS

See sample tweets below and use our easy advocacy tool to automatically send tweets to your elected officials! Please feel free to add additional activities re Title IV-A programs your organization supports in your individual tweets.

@[Senator/Rep], thank you for funding #TitleIVA of #ESSA in FY19, which provides mental health services, #SEL, access to #STEM, arts, music, PE, afterschool & #edtech programs. Our nation’s students deserve the $1.6 billion Congress promised. Please fully fund #TitleIVA in FY20.

@[Senator/Rep] Full funding for #TitleIVA means districts have local control and flexibility to invest in programs that support safe and healthy schools, well-rounded ed, and effective use of #edtech. Please fully fund #TitleIVA in FY20. #ESSA

All students benefit from #TitleIVA funds, w/o them districts are forced to choose between critical programs like safe and healthy schools, well-rounded education, and instructional support for #edtech. @[Senator/Rep] Please fully fund #TitleIVA in FY20. #ESSA

Districts and schools are making effective use of #TitleIVA funds from FY18+19 by investing in safe and healthy school initiatives [violence prevention, mental health, school safety], well-rounded ed [PE, STEM, Music, SEL], and #edtech [PD, personalized & blended learning]. @[Senator/Rep] fully fund #TitleIVA.

CALL YOUR CONGRESSIONAL OFFICES

Below is a script you can use:

I am a [insert profession or organizational affiliation] and a voter in [insert home state and or congressional district] and I am calling to urge Senator/Representative [insert name here] to fully fund the Student Support and Academic Enrichment grant program under Title IV, Part A of the Every Student Succeeds Act in fiscal year 2020.

Congress recognized the importance of the Title IV-A block grant in FY 2018 by providing $1.1 billion and $1.17 billion in FY 2019, which have provided districts with the flexibility to make meaningful investments in school programs based on their needs. This grant program allows districts to make meaningful investments in well-rounded education programs, safe and healthy school programs, and the effective use of technology.

All of these areas supported by this block grant are critical to ensure all students graduate from high school ready to enter college or the workforce. I strongly urge you to please fully fund Title IV-A at $1.6 billion in FY 2020.

SHARE YOUR STORY – HOW DO THESE FUNDS IMPACT YOU AND YOUR STUDENTS?

Share Your Story Here: One of the most compelling ways to let Congress know about the importance of funding for this program is to hear directly from you about how these programs benefit your students. In order to help us show Congress the real life value these funds provide to you and your students, we are collecting stories about the benefits and consequences of receiving adequate or inadequate funds for programs including mental health services and professionals, music, arts, AP, STEM, and the effective use of technology.

Do you have a story to tell? Has your school received enough funding for these programs? What differences have these funds made in the lives of your students? What happens if these programs and services go away due to underfunding?

Please take a few minutes to write a paragraph or two using this handy form to share your story with us and to show Congress exactly why funding for these programs matters. We need to let members of Congress know how increased funding for this program could help your students.

Work closely with a superintendent? Ask them to take the district leader survey here by April 15th. This survey asks district leaders about the meaningful ways Title IV-A dollars have been used over the past two years and will provide critical data for our continued advocacy. Remember, once the funds are appropriated from Congress and districts have received the funding from the states, it is the superintendent, district leaders, and local community that decide how this funding is spent. 

Proposed TSIP Revision

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A committee of The Virginia Society for Technology in Education (VSTE), with the support of the Virginia Department of Education's Office of Technology and Virtual Learning, is drafting new Technology Standards for Instructional Personnel (TSIP).

If approved, these standards will update the original 1998 standards and represent the base level skills that every educator must meet in order to be considered proficient in the use of technology for teaching and learning.

Below you can read the most current draft of the proposed revision to the Standards. We invite feedback on this proposal from every Virginia educator and you can provide your comments using this form.

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Proposed TSIP Standards (DRAFT) 2/13/2017

1. Lifelong Learner: Teachers engage in ongoing professional learning related to content, pedagogy and technology.

a. Engages in ongoing professional growth related to the use of innovative instructional strategies that integrate digital technologies.
b. Use technology to obtain feedback that allows for reflection and improvement in the learning process.
c. Employs digital tools to collaborate with the learning community on educational topics and learning opportunities.

2. Digital Leadership: Teachers model safe and ethical practices for their students.

a. Cultivate and manage their digital identity and reputation and are aware of the permanence of their actions in the digital world.
b. Promote safe and ethical behavior with students through collaborative online experiences
c. Embed digital citizenship skills in all lessons involving online experiences
d. Model the use of technology to communicate, create, collaborate and solve problems
e. Select appropriate digital content, tools and resources that meet local, state and/or federal policies.
f. Demonstrate an understanding of the rights and obligations of student privacy and security when collecting and using student data and selecting digital content, tools, and resources.

3. Learning Facilitator: Teachers support student learning by harnessing the power of technology.

a. Incorporate learning strategies that use technology to accommodate learner variability, personalize learning, and engender student choice, self-direction and goal-setting. (Possible Indicators: coursework in personalizing learning; recognizes and can articulate examples of personalizing learning using technology; articulates how to determine learner variability and potential technology solutions.)
b. Assist students in selecting and using appropriate and available digital tools for learning, creating, problem-solving and communicating. (Possible Indicators: Coursework in using digital tools in the classroom; recognizes a variety of digital tools and can articulate how they might be used with students; lesson plan that involves using digital tools to develop these skills.)
c. Use a variety of formative and summative assessments that leverage the power of technology to provide immediate and specific feedback, and offer alternative learning paths to students including competency-based approaches. (Possible Indicators: coursework in assessments; experience with using technology-based formative and summative assessments; ability to develop such assessments regarding a specific SOL.)
d. Acquire, access, and analyze quantitative and qualitative data to effectively respond to students’ needs and communicate findings to various stakeholders. (Possible indicators: coursework in assessment and understanding data; experience with using technology-based assessment tools; communication skills for interpreting data for student/parent/administrators.)

4. Skilled Technology User: Understand the fundamental concepts of technology operations and troubleshooting as well as basic uses of technology in instruction

a. Demonstrate the ability to choose and use digital technologies including both hardware, software and web-based resources to support classroom instruction
b. Demonstrate the ability to troubleshoot typical classroom technologies using a variety of resources
c. Perform basic computing operations such as accessing accounts, select appropriate applications to perform tasks, file management and web navigation.

National Day of Action for Education

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Join CoSN, ISTE, and SETDA on May 11, 2017, for a national Day of Action to advocate for the policies that could significantly impact educators, their schools and the students they serve.

What You Can Do on May 11th

On May 11th, we ask that you please join educators and advocates all across the nation by taking one (or all) of the following extremely critical actions:

1. Send a prewritten letter to Congress

Use our easy advocacy tool to send this pre-written letter to Congress about the effectiveness of E-Rate and the Title IV, A block grant, which houses the ed tech provisions in ESSA.

2. Tweet #ERateWorks, #MoreTitleIV, #Act4EdTech

Here are some sample tweets you can use:

  • Millions of students are connected to the internet at school because #ErateWorks @AjitPaiFCC
  • Personalized and digital learning is possible in schools because #ErateWorks to provide broadband in classrooms @AjitPaiFCC
  • Give schools the funding to provide Students with a well-rounded education @[Congressperson] #Act4EdTech #MoreTitleIV
  • Every school benefits from #edtech funding @[Congressperson] #Act4EdTech #MoreTitleIV

3. Call your members in Congress!

Unsure who your Representative is? – Visit the Find Your Representative tool. Unsure what to say? - Here is a script you can use when speaking to staff member of the office.

  • I am a [insert title and organizational affiliation] and I am calling to urge Senator/Representative [insert name here] to support full funding of the Student Support and Academic Enrichment grant program under Title IV, Part A of the Every Student Succeeds Act. Congress authorized Title IV Part A of ESSA at $1.65 Billion to ensure that each school district received funds to support access to a well-rounded education, improve student’s physical and mental health and improve conditions for learning, and to increase the effective use of technology. Unfortunately, the current appropriation bill falls far short of full funding.
  • There is a wealth of evidence that supports the needs for students to have access to a diverse academic curriculum that includes science, arts, foreign language and civic education; programs that support students physical, mental, and behavioral health, and the improve school safety; and modern, classroom based technology. All of these areas are critical to ensure all students graduate from high school ready to enter.
  • ESSA consolidated most of the programs that support student health and safety, well rounded academics and education technology into this new flexible block grant.  Without a significant investment in Title IV Part A, districts will be faced with the unnecessarily difficult decision of choosing which area to invest in. Full funding of Title IV Part A will ensure that each district is provided funds to invest in each of these critical areas.
  • I urge Senator/Representative [insert name] to support the full funding if Title IV Part A.

We hope you can join us on May 11th to support edtech policies!