New Waverly Independent School District received an early Christmas present this week in the form of a $100,000 grant from the Texas Education Agency for technology and training.

The $965,000 Target Tech in Texas (T3) grant from TEA was awarded to the Region VI Education Service Center and six collaborative districts for classroom technology and corresponding professional development.

“District technology director Mark Barber and I were approached by Region VI earlier this year about including our school district in the grant,” NWISD Superintendent Dr. Clay Webb said. “Barber and I attended training and we were awarded the grant, with our portion being just over $100,000.”

According to information provided by the Region VI ESC, the focus areas for the collaborative will use quality on-going researched based professional development to prepare teachers for seamless integration of technology with TEKS based content grades K-12.

The collaborative will also provide the technologies, networks, and technical support necessary to create an infrastructure that supports technology integration.

“The grant will cover the purchase of some hardware as well as teacher training at Region VI,” Webb said. “We are not sure on the equipment we will purchase, but have decided to direct the funds to our elementary, intermediate and junior high campuses.”

According to the superintendent, for the past couple of years the district has been upgrading some of its classroom technology.

“We are thrilled about the receipt of this grant — $100,000 is a tremendous amount of money for us,” Webb said. “We are trying to put as much technology in the hands of kids and teachers as we can, and anything we can do for our students is always appreciated.”

The T3 grant will focus on the following the areas for technology improvement and integration: Grades K-8 Technology Applications TEKS, Curriculum Connections, Implementation, and Mastery; Grades 9-12 Content Area Connections and Transformed Teaching Practices; and Technology, Networks, and Technical Support.

Other Region VI districts receiving the grant include the Brazos School for Inquiry and Creativity, Buffalo ISD, Madisonville ISD, Magnolia ISD and Splendora ISD.

For more information, visit the collaborative website at http://t3.esc6.net or e-mail the grant manager at cmoak@esc6.net.