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Joshua Dickson, right, leads the School

Committee through an exercise of jumbled
auditory directions to show what some of his
students struggle with.
North Adams School Initiative Uses High-Tech Tools
By Tammy Daniels
iBerkshires Staff
09:55PM / Monday, March 04, 2013
NORTH ADAMS, Mass.
School Committee
members struggled on
Monday night to follow a
set of simple recorded
directions to match
shapes and colors on a
mat.
The problem was the
"simple" directions
spoken once and not
repeated came amidst
the babble of a typical
classroom setting that
made hearing directions
difficult. No one was able
to complete it.
The demonstration by
Joshua Dickson, a teacher
in the autism program at
Brayton Elementary
School, was designed to
give the board members a
taste of what some of his students deal with on a daily basis.
"It took me 15 tries to do it," said Dickson of the exercise (which was supposed to reveal
an image if successfully completed). "I just sort of wanted to give a little bit of a
foundation to some of the struggles our students face in the typical classroom."
Dickson designed a program, Project Access, a technologically based alternative for
children who need more help to achieve the "same high expectations for students across
the district." Dickson said raising their ability to achieve could be as simple as a pencil grip
for those with motor skills issues to more dynamic interactions to encourage learning.
Project Access (Assistive Technology in Coaching and Creating Expectations of Successful
Students) uses a combination of software and touch-screen computers. It is being funded
by a Gateway Fund grant based on Dickson's presentation to its advisory committee last
spring.
The grant provided funding for upgraded educational software (BoardMaker Studio), two
Planar touchscreens and several Apple iPads. The equipment is being used in the Castles
programs for preschool, kindergarten-5 and high school students ranging from those
with communication delays, to those on the autism spectrum to those with behavioral
issues.
Dickson demonstrated some of what younger
students have been doing with the programs, such
as interactive illustrated books in which the
characters "talk" what the text is describing to
enhance literacy, a reading application for matching
words with objects that also lets children build
sentences and another that lets the teacher upload
tests or forms so that children who have difficulty
writing can speak the answers.
"It still allows them to demonstrate their knowledge
and mastery of the content but at their own level,"
he said.
Dickson is looking at another grant and, in comparing data from last year and this, he said
the special education population seems to be rising, making access to academic learning
and life skills even more important.
"It's something that I feel very strongly about," he told the board, "taking into
consideration making investments going into the future so we have the resources and the
tools that we need to make the most successful students that we possibly can."
In other business, Superintendent James Montepare said the school district is making
some progress on its action plan to increase Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment
System scores and graduation rates. He described it as a "daunting task."
"This district action plan was very, very ambitious," he said, because of its complexity in
integrating plans for the individual schools and the state's new assessments. "We wanted
to test the waters and see how far we went with this."
The first objective is to improve MCAS scoring of proficient or higher to 60 percent the
English Language Arts and 45 percent in math. Much of the steps and benchmarks toward
that goal are on track, including increasing classroom instruction times and testing
improvements. Timelines are being revised and data collection is still being done on other
objectives, including scoring on science and social studies. Steps to improve graduation
rates are mostly complete and showing progress.
Some objectives are on target, some off, said Montepare. "So it's a work in progress.
You'll see more as the school improvements come your way."
The board also approved tuition rates for the 2013-14 school year:
High and elementary schools $10,303
Special education $18,571
E3, autism, transition $24,763
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