Anda di halaman 1dari 11

Technology Evaluation

Century School District


Gilbert Apodaca, Boise State University

Table of Contents
Demographic Overview Administrative - Islands Policy Planning Budget Administrative Information Curriculum Integration - Integrated Electronic Information Assessment Curriculum Integration Teacher Use Student Use Support - Islands Stakeholder Involvement Administrative Support Training Technical/Infrastructure Support Connectivity - Integrated Local Area Networking (LAN) District Area Networking (WAN) Internet Access Communication Systems Innovation - Integrated New Technologies Comprehensive Technologies Conclusion

Maturity Benchmarks Survey Sheet

Demographic Overview
The Century School District is comprised of three schools, Elementary, Junior High, High School that are housed in the same building and are considered as a single entity for the purpose of this evaluation. One elementary school, one junior high, and one high school. This district is classified as rural, sparsely populated, predominantly hispanic, and impoverished. The area has less than 3 people per square mile (~1 person per square km) (Census, 2010). The total population for the county is 3,524 (Census, 2010) with 66% of the population reporting to be Hispanic or Latino. Unemployment has fluctuated between 13.9% and 10.8% over the past year (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010) and 28.4% of the population have an income below the poverty level (Census, 2010). 42.3% of families with children under the age of 18 reported an income below the poverty level. The district is the smaller of the two districts located in a southern Colorado county.

The pk-12 population of the district is 248. 71% of students qualify for free lunch based on family income and an additional 14% qualify for reduced price lunch. Over 84% of students are classified as Hispanic / Latino. The number of English as a second language students is low with less than 5% of students classified as in this category.

The school district has suffered a significant turnover of administration over the past 6 years. There have been a total of five different superintendents and four different principals over that time. The teaching staff have been mostly consistent over the same time period. The school district has won multiple awards in growth over the past few years. In both 2010 and 2011 the district was recognized as a Center of Excellence and also earned the 2010 Governor's Award for Distinguished Improvement. The 17 members of the teaching staff are relatively young and interested in incorporating technology into their classrooms and curriculums. All three schools are housed in a building that completed construction in December of 2010. This new building was built with networking in mind and has a very good internal infrastructure though outside access is limited to low internet speeds available in the area.

Administrative - Islands
The administrative filter is composed of four major sections, Policy, Planning, Budget, and Administrative Information. Technology use policy is in place though it is mostly unregulated. The district lacks formal technology planning. Budget is set aside for technology, though it is unstructured and commonly used to replace old technology and seldom to integrate new systems and applications. The entire district makes proper use of the integrated administrative information system. Overall the administrative filter is weak but does have some strong areas.

Policy
Behavioral: Islands Resource/Infrastructure: Islands Staff and students submit a form stating that they will follow technology use guidelines, though the guidelines are not well defined and violations are mostly unenforced. Technically, appropriate technology use is formalized through accepting terms of use, though most of the recorded violations of these terms includes loss or damage of hardware.

Planning
Behavioral: Emergent Resource/Infrastructure: Emergent The technology planning process at the district is at best isolated to projects and is completely budget driven. Any equipment that has been purchased in the past has been general use and have little to no direct applications prior to purchase. The district has a 5-year technology plan that has been submitted to the board to comply with policy, though it was rushed and completed by an outside party. The plan was not up to date at the time and the suggestions presented have not been implemented. Although this is considered the districts formal plan, it is truly informal since it has little value to the district.

Budget
Behavioral: Emergent Resource/Infrastructure: Islands A very small portion of the districts general fund is earmarked for technology. There is little articulation to its use and is mostly informal. Projects are usually funded based on individual administrative decisions and are seldom based on applications. There are no other budgets that are usually considered for technology.

Administrative Information
Behavioral: Intelligent Resource/Infrastructure: Intelligent All teachers, support staff, and administrators use GoEdustar as a student management system. This system is used to track attendance, grades, lunch count, demographics, athletic eligibility, and other important administrative tasks. This system is used daily by all staff members and real time data is used to make daily decisions. The district has not used paper systems for at least 10 years.

Curriculum Integration - Integrated


Century School Districts curriculum integration is assessed as being right between the Islands and Integrated benchmark maturity stages. The curricular filter has five sections, Electronic Information, Assessment, Curricular Integration, Teacher Use, and Student Use. This diverse filter explores access to digital resources and how they are utilized by both staff and students. Staff and students are dependant on electronic information resources due to outdated text resources. Technology based assessments are underutilized by staff due to lack of resources and training. Student self assessments are not common in the district based on similar reasons. Curriculum is indirectly dependent on technology; curriculum is not focused around technology but technology is utilized to deliver curriculum. Some curricular areas have more resources available than others, with a few claiming to have almost no technology resources currently available. All teachers report using technology on a daily basis to design and deliver lessons. Completing tasks such as entering and calculating grades, tracking attendance, and delivering lessons would dramatically change if technology were not available. Most staff members have appropriate technology available to them but many would still like more resources available. Students use technology on a daily basis, but it is seldom varied. Most students have consistent and regular access to technology when it is required.

Electronic Information
Behavioral: Intelligent Resource/Infrastructure: Islands Staff and students claim that they are heavily dependant on electronic information resources on a daily basis. Resources available are slightly beyond basic, students have access to one research database that they use sparingly. Staff members mention that many free electronic resources are more up to date and readily available than traditional text resources. Both students and staff members claim that resources are limited in many areas and this could be a key area of improvement.

Assessment
Behavioral: Islands; Resource/Infrastructure: Islands Many staff members use technology for assessments. All of the elementary teachers and some of the secondary teachers use reading assessment tools that are network based. The district formerly used Compass Learning as a math review/learning/assessment tool, but that practice has been discontinued this year. It was not replaced by another service. The district has multiple classroom response systems that a few teachers utilize for both formative and summative lessons. A few of the math teachers use online tools such as Khan Academy to allow students to self-assess their abilities and work on their weaknesses.

Curriculum Integration
Behavioral: Integrated Resource/Infrastructure: Islands Although the school curriculum is not directly dependent on technology, it is widely utilized. Since so many teachers claim to be heavily dependent on electronic information resources, curriculum is indirectly dependent on technology. Some curricular areas have more technology related resources than others. While language arts, maths, and social studies have many resources reported, Art, music, physical education, and some science classes have little to no reported technology related resources.

Teacher Use
Behavioral: Intelligent Resource/Infrastructure: Integrated As mentioned earlier, many teachers claim that their work would be severely hindered without technology. Attendance, grades, and behaviour are all documented by all teachers on GoEdustar, an online student management system. Most teachers have reported that they plan and organize lessons using online resources. Not all teachers report having access to appropriate technology available to them. Some complaints include lack of useful scanners and limited availability of printers. The science department does not have many useful data collection tools to use for laboratory exercises. Overall most teachers report that appropriate technology is availalbe to them.

Student Use

Behavioral: Islands Resource/Infrastructure: Integrated Many students use technology multiple times per week to complete projects, but the use of technology is very limited. Most reported technology use is based around online research and office productivity products to create a simple presentation or document. Most students in the district have consistent and regular access to technology. At times computers are difficult to access due to limited technology or other accessibility issues. Internet speeds are relatively low and can occasionally be limiting. Technology resources are mostly limited to computers and online resources.

Support - Islands
Since formal technology planning is lacking in the district, many stakeholder groups do not take part in the informal planning processes that do exist. Administration is a big part of technology planning and does provide some support to help new staff get acclimated. Technology training activities are few and far between, though when made available most staff members participate. Very little formal technical support exists in the building.

Stakeholder Involvement
Behavioral: Emergent Resource/Infrastructure: Islands There is very little engagement of stakeholder groups in the technology planning process. Most stakeholders report very little formal planning and plans that are made are typically topdown; Board and administration make most decisions. Most groups state that many groups are represented in implementation of technologies. This is not difficult in the district since any one individual typically represents multiple groups.

Administrative Support
Behavioral: Islands Resource/Infrastructure: Islands Administration typically has a strong voice in technology planning in the district. There is not much formal time allocated to planning though administration has be identified as being mostly supportive in implementation. Administration understands that new teachers may take some time to understand how to use systems in place and adjust their expectations accordingly.

Training
Behavioral: Integrated Resource/Infrastructure: Emergent

When technology training activities are made available, most staff members participate. The common criticism that I heard was that there are very limited formal technology trainings provided. Over the past few years professional development has been focused on other useful endeavors such as Positive Behaviour Interventions and Support, curriculum development and supplementation, and Professional Learning Communities.

Technical/Infrastructure Support
Behavioral: Islands Resource/Infrastructure: Islands Many staff utilize support, both formal and informal, whenever provided. Members of the staff who are technology literate support those who are emerging. Outside of this relationship staff members have little to no formal support. Staff are limited to helping each other and sharing resources we find on our own most of the time. Many staff members have shown interest to additional trainings and in-building technology support, though there has been little access to either for numerous years. The current system for support involves a lengthy series of emails and almost no end user support. In short, staff feel as though they are on their own when it comes to technical support.

Connectivity - Integrated
The new building has a solid internal infrastructure that is primarily limited by internet speed. Most common LAN features are replaced by online applications so the limitation causes much difficulty. Internet access is available all around the building, though typical daily users reduce speed greatly. Communication systems are available to all staff and students, though it is mostly underutilized. District email is a good form of communication amongst staff but not fully integrated with students who have limited use of internet both on and off campus.

Local Area Networking (LAN)


Behavioral: Integrated Resource/Infrastructure: Integrated Local area networking in the district has been mostly replaced by free online services that allow simple sharing through cloud computing. Many teachers use Google Drive or Dropbox as shared folders amongst staff and administration. Setting up a locally hosted folder is a cumbersome process in the district and many opt for services that they can personally control. These networks are accessible to all environments though use is still limited by relatively slow download speeds, though files are always available and contacts are synced.

District Area Networking (WAN)

Behavioral: Islands Resource/Infrastructure: Integrated Staff use district network services on a daily basis, though use is primarily traditional office applications and other basic manners. The district has a high-speed internet line but average daily speed tests show that the network has an average midday download speed of around 4 Mbps which is tolerable though not desirable for many services such as video streaming and online collaboration. Voice services are available in the district.

Internet Access
Behavioral: Islands Resource/Infrastructure: Intelligent Although many staff members use the internet on a daily basis, student use is not as absolute. Upper secondary students make use of technology much more than the lower grades. Curriculum integration is sparse. Some classrooms use online resources on a fairly consistent basis, but overall use is limited. Many teachers explain that student login issues and inconsistent access to technology are major reasons why technology is not more directly integrated into their curriculum. Direct internet access is available in all areas of the building through the wireless network.

Communication Systems
Behavioral: Integrated Resource/Infrastructure: Intelligent Email, documents, online storage, and social interaction is available to all staff and secondary students through the districts implementation of Google Apps. Staff and administration are expected to check their district email on a daily basis primarily for administrative activities. Some teachers utilize the email system to engage students in learning activities. One teacher demonstrated a use of Google Drive documents to allow students to collaboratively revise writings. This type of communication based learning activity does not seem to be common in the district.

Innovation - Integrated
Innovation is currently at the Innovation benchmark at Century High School. The innovation filter has two sections, New Technologies and Comprehensive Technologies. Both of these sections inquire how staff utilize innovative technologies when presented. Staff are overall accepting of new technologies presented but lack of direct application prior to selection of

technology limits implementation. The district holds a comprehensive array of basic technology but lacks advanced multimedia and measurement equipment. Administrative imposed limitations of student access also impede innovation amongst students and staff.

New Technologies
Behavioral: Integrated Resource/Infrastructure: Integrated New technologies are readily accepted by most staff members. Most staff members are appreciative and eager to use whenever new technologies are made available. Unfortunately, most of the time technology is purchased prior to having a direct application so it can go unused or underutilized. We have a ways to go prior to systematic adoption. New technologies are not systematically adopted throughout the school but they are accepted by staff with moderate implementation. The majority of staff members take to new technologies and find creative ways to implement them, though others are somewhat resistant.

Comprehensive Technologies
Behavioral: Integrated Resource/Infrastructure: Islands The district holds a comprehensive array of basic technology but absolutely lacks advanced techniques. While students have access to office productivity products and simple research resources, advanced resources such as design software, multimedia and scientific measurement equipment are unavailable to students or staff. Even free and readily available resources are hard to provide to students. Administration is reluctant to allow staff to install programs which would help increase student understanding. Our high school biology teacher explained to me that he could not use Zygote Body with his students since student logins only have one browser, Internet Explorer 8. This limitation also prevents complete use of many other online resources including the complete use of Google Drive resources that many teachers have attempted to integrate.

Conclusion
Overall, the Century School District has a long way to go to be classified at an intelligent maturity level in terms of technology use. An overall, unweighted score, of all sections of all five filters classify the district as being in the islands maturity level. Immediate strengths of the district include the integrated use of administrative information system, behavioral use of electronic information in teacher use of technology in curriculum planning and implementation, ability to access internet across the campus and availability of resources in communication systems. These strengths demonstrate a great foundation that can be built upon. Staff and students gravitate toward any available technology resources and want to utilize useful resources. The staff and students are willing to try out innovative technologies. Unfortunately formal technology support and training is lacking in the building. The internal building infrastructure is mostly supportive of building upon these strengths to bring up many other focus areas. If external connections were enhanced other factors would also improve including communication, networking, and more curricular resources would become available. Additional assessment related technology tools should be considered for school level implementation to improve curricular framework for the whole district. Available tech support, training resources, and improved internet connection are concerns that could be immediately addressed and improved over the short term. Over the long term, the district will need to build useful application based technology planning policy that incorporates representatives of all stakeholder groups to move forward economically and efficiently.

Anda mungkin juga menyukai