he Teacher Leadership Project, a nationally recognized, award-winning professional development model that is used in 18 states by 4,200 teachers, is a prime example of the good work being done in technology-infused teaching.
It started in the mid-1990s when the Northwest Educational Service District 189 in Anacortes, Wash., passed a large technology bond that allowed the district to put four computers in every classroom. But teachers didn’t exactly give the machines a run for their money.
Several teachers were hired as technology coaches and given stipends in exchange for training other teachers how to use an electronic grade book, access e-mail and the Internet, and save files to the network. But within two years many of the machines were sitting in the backs of classrooms collecting dust.
Over the past 20 years, school reform efforts have identified teacher professional development as a key component of change and as an important link between standards and student achievement. After all, as students are expected to learn more complex and analytical skills in preparation for work and life in the "21st century global economy," teachers in turn must be expected to teach in ways that develop those higher order thinking and performance skills, experts say.