School Technology Environment Evaluation Matt Smeller

Washington Elementary is located in the city of Sumner, WA in the Sumner School District. Sumner has approximately 8,000 students within its 2 high schools, 4 middle schools, and 8 elementary schools. Washington elementary was built in 1999 and at that time, had the newest technology available. Washington is also a poverty school with 70% of its 430 students on free and/or reduced lunches. Washington serves over 125 breakfasts in the morning and also has an after school program to help kids finish homework along with enrichment opportunities. Administrative Filter Policy: Behavioral - Integrated, Resource/Infrastructure - Islands Planning: Behavioral - Islands, Resource/Infrastructure - Islands Budget: Behavioral - Islands, Resource/Infrastructure - Islands Administrative Information: Behavioral - Intelligent, Resource/Infrastructure - Intelligent For Administrative Filter, Washington Elementary is a little mixed in all areas and categories in terms of maturity. There is definitely a technology use plan that is formalized and embraced by most staff members. At least, they are all aware of the plan, what it is, and what the plan contains. whether it is fully embraced, I cant determine. I do know that every time a school district employee signs on to their computer they are agreeing to the Sumner School District Acceptable Use Policy. The policy physically pops up for each user to read and by clicking continue the employee is agreeing to its terms. Ever since the district hired a new Technology Chief Officer 2 years ago, the district has worked on its technology plan. The state of Washington also has technology standards for all districts which help drive the districts plan. Because several capital projects have been completed below budgets, most additional monies have been available for technology upgrades that have several buildings in the district. Most recently, the district has changed its Mac OS elementaries to Windows OS so that all schools are uniform. Prior to receiving extra monies from capital projects, a small budget for technology existed in the district if money was available. A technology bond is in the works to go on the ballot in 1 year to help pay for upgraded technology. This year, the district created its own portal with all district files, information, and resources available in a defined place. All administrative information is electronic and available to all staff members any time.

Curricular Filter Electronic Information: Behavioral - Integrated, Resource/Infrastructure - Integrated Assessment: Behavioral - Integrated, Resource/Infrastructure - Integrated Curricular Integration: Behavioral - Integrated, Resource/Infrastructure - Integrated Teacher Use: Behavioral - Intelligent, Resource/Infrastructure - intelligent Student Use: Behavioral - Integrated, Resource/Infrastructure - Integrated

In the Curricular Filter, Washington Elementary is mainly Integrated. Virtually all student information is available online. Teachers and Support Staff can view anything from attendance, behavior issues, IEP information, district and state assessment online. Teachers can also analyze and track their students progress with online resources available to them. The district also subscribes to many supplemental resources that children can log on to at home to practice skills needed to be proficient. Because of all these resources available, teachers at Washington Elementary have access to appropriate technologies. Even though our students are low-income, the majority of them have access to technology at home. For those that dont, Washington has a computer lab with 30 computers, three mobile computer carts containing 30 computers each and 3-4 desktop computers in each classroom. Support Filter Stakeholder Involvement: Behavioral - Islands, Resource/Infrastructure - Islands Administrative Support: Behavioral - Islands, Resource/Infrastructure - Islands Training: Behavioral - Islands, Resource/Infrastructure - Islands Technical/Infrastructure Support:Behavioral - Intelligent, Resource/Infrastructure - Intelligent The Support Filter is the area of maturity that in my opinion needs the most work. For Stakeholder Involvement and Administrative Support, I rated Washington Islands because most if not all planning and implementation comes from the district level with little input from others. Sometimes a representative from the elementary and secondary levels is slightly involved with technology planning, but mostly the major decisions are at the district level. For training and infrastructure, Washington is Integrated and Intelligent. There are set monthly technology trainings available for staff to new learn tools and resources. Washington has a Technology Instructional Leader that trains staff on the resources that are provided by the district. Basically this person is vital in helping to teach the districts technology plan to its employees. Sumner also provides a tech hotline, and/or email for continued questions about technology and resources. Connectivity Filter Local Area Networking (LAN): Behavioral - Intelligent, Resource/Infrastructure - Intelligent District Area Networking (WAN): Behavioral - Intelligent, Resource/Infrastructure - Intelligent Internet Access: Behavioral - Intelligent, Resource/Infrastructure - Intelligent Communications Systems: Behavioral - Intelligent, Resource/Infrastructure - Intelligent Connectivity Filter is Intelligent for all areas because each school in the district has fiber optics, high-speed bandwidth. Speeds are fast and constantly reliable and can accomodate video streaming easily. Wireless access point are available in all buildings allowing employees and guest to log in to the network with district and personal devices. The district provides a video streaming service to teachers that most teachers utilize to help enrich their teaching. Teachers are also able to log in to the network to use mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers.

Innovation Filter New Technologies: Behavioral - Intelligent, Resource/Infrastructure - Intelligent Comprehensive Technologies: Behavioral - Integrated, Resource/Infrastructure - Integrated Staff members are Washinton are integrated when it comes to their technology maturity with new and comprehensive computers. Most teachers get excited when they see a new technology modeled for them. They are open to trying new things, but lack patience when it comes to being proficient. I find that a lot of teachers at Washington dont want to put a lot of time into learning something new. They learn the basics, but dont utilize the technology to its ability.

Overall, I find that that the Sumner School district is mostly integrated in technology maturity. Sumner School District and Washington Elementary has worked hard in the last few years to not only digitize its administrative systems by creating a district Portal, but also use technology to keep student records, track learning, and assess students learning. All district employees have access to high-speed internet, email, google accounts, and wireless access in buildings. The district technology department recognizes the importance of technology in education and unlike other districts has embraced it by opening firewalls for teachers to access valuable sites like Youtube for education while creating student accounts that are more closely monitored and locked down for the safety of the student. Because so many teaching resources and systems have become digital, reliable internet access is a must. When the network goes down (rarely) teachers are in a panic because they need the internet access to conduct so much of their daily work. Washington elementary is lucky to have a computer lab, 3 mobile computer carts and classroom computers. Students at Washington have regular access to computers! Washington is getting ready to deploy apple mobile devices to teachers and some classrooms in the coming months to share. We are excited to see how we can use the devices to improve student learning. One area of maturity growth needed is in the Support Filter. Specifically, Stakeholder Involvement and Administrative Support. I can imagine that involving more people to help plan and implement new technologies could be difficult because so many people are so passionate about different types of technologies. Perhaps a solution would be to have 1 representative from each building or grade level give input. Administrative Support is also an area in the Support Filter that needs more maturity. Finding appropriate times for training is difficult. Because each teacher is involved in at least two Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) along with necessary commitments to students, colleagues, and parents, leaving very little room for additional technology training. One thing that has helped overcome this problem is the creation of Instructional Technology Leaders within each building to help train teachers. This scenario is still a work in progress, because the number of training hours available varies amongst the buildings (no consistency) and teachers are not required to attend.

Finally, I think that the large majority of teachers at Washington Elementary are very accepting and open to new technologies. I do find that a large number dont have the time to really become proficient at new technologies and tend do the bare minimum. This is mainly because they lack the extra personal time to train themselves.