What: I applied for and was awarded a competitive federal grant to support a cultural change toward the use of technology tools in teaching methods. There were two grants awarded in our six-county region. The grant provided funding of $230,000 for three years. The name of my grant was VISTAS (Visalia Innovations to Students & Teachers Achieving Standards). I viewed technology as affording teachers an expanded look at learning possibilities and leveraging our ability to set a higher standard for our students and thus achieving higher. Our motto thus, became, "Seeing farther, reaching higher, achieving greater." The grant would extend through November 2001.

What's Next: I selected this artifact for two reasons. First, it reflects my desire to "guide and support the long-term professional development." I have produced a number of "Onetime Wonders" but these "drive-by" workshops have a limited impact. The grant writing process itself was challenging to connect my view of technology and the change in culture that would be implied with the parameters of the grant. Finding community connections and a district match was arduous but critical to its foundation. District support was required. 

Second was the sustainability of the grant. For three years, I could receive funding and build a system that would last after the money was gone. In this, it was an incentive for me to "provide opportunities for all members of the learning community to develop shared responsibility."

After the grant funding disappeared, what structures should be in place to support the ongoing progress of the reform? How would this effort live on without the level of funding this grant provided? To answer this question, I had to look at building systems that would become a part of the VUSD culture. These system included: a technology budget, the view that instructional technology plays a significant role in student achievement and a school's performance, that all students and staff should be skilled in the use of technology.

So What: As the program unfolds, I will be meeting with principals, support managers, and senior management to build these systems and create a culture that supports a strong staff professional growth program.