School-of-Thought

South Dakota has come up with a proposal for the DOE’s Race to the Top competition.  The state Ed Department’s news release descrribes a plan to close the gap for our state’s most impoverished student population, American Indians.  Read the news release here.

This video stirred me. 

When people say one-to-one laptop programs can’t work, I just shake my head.  Of course they can work – just look at us! 

 The Watertown School District is currently in the seventh year of a 1:1 program.  We’ve gone through growing pains that are associated with any type of change, but today, 1:1 is simply how we do business – its part and parcel of our normal everyday life and culture at the high school. 

 My perspective on a one-to-one program is necessarily different than a teacher’s or administrator’s perspective.  As a school board member, my charge is to not only promote the best educational opportunities for our students, but to also balance that with the interests of taxpayers.  The information I provide below is hopefully a balanced and honest presentation of our district’s experiences.

 So how did the program come to be?  Roll back the clock eight to nine years and at the core was a group of motivated teachers and administrators who believed 1:1 was an important component of educating students in the 21^st Century, and was necessary to successfully accomplish our district’s mission of educating all students.  Their most significant initial hurdle was to sell the school board on the concept – and the cost.  After lengthy debate, the program was approved with unanimous school board support.  Resources were realigned to accommodate our district’s new priority. 

 Today, our annual board discussions are no longer “do we need the program,” but “how can we make it better.”  Each of us on the school board have come to understand a 1:1 laptop program is much more than simply issuing the tool to every high school student and staff, it’s about creating a new educational environment and providing the infrastructure to allow our classrooms and curriculums to be transformed by the technology.

The move has not come without cost.  For example, this past summer our board approved a four-year lease for 1300 new Macs.  Our commitment to the project?  Nearly $1.4 million.  Of course, that’s in addition to ongoing staffing needs that come with a project like this.  In our district, that translates into a staff of technology integrationists to provide integration support for curriculum, and network and computer technical support people.

We recoup some money through the savings associated with no longer needing to purchase textbooks – texts are now provided by CDs or DVD’s, and a great deal of teacher curricular resources are now online.  But to a large extent, the program has been paid for through a shifting of priorities.  For example, we’d love to put air conditioning in each of our buildings, but our priority is to provide funding for the 1:1 program.

ASSESSING OUR NEEDS 

Five years ago, we began surveying our 9-12 students, a random sample of high school parents, and staff members to gather information relating to the 1:1 program.  The school worked with TIE staff members, who served as outside evaluators, in order to share with the community the outcomes of the initiative based on our district’s goals.  This information is now collected each spring and is used to helped us solve some of the problems that we encountered (e.g. classroom management), as well as help plan for summer and school year staff development. 

CURRICULUM INTEGRATION

Our school district has an extensive scope and sequencing process for all areas of curriculum development.  New technology integration (software and hardware) occurs mainly through the curriculum cycle.  During the period of study (science, for example), software and hardware is a high priority for the K-12 staff members teaching the science curriculum and technology integrationists.  The summer that the curriculum is being studied, technology is also the focus.  The integrationistorders the technology for preview, and the staff views the technology.  Decisions are then made regarding the hardware/software based on teaching staff and technology staff input. The district has a five year curriculum cycle that continues to include a strong component for technology integration. 

STAFF DEVELOPMENT

If a school district can have an attitude, ours is that staff development is at the heart of student learning.  The better the staff development programs are prepared, delivered and implemented with our staff, the more advanced learning will occur for our students.  The district also understands that true staff development does not occur as one time events.  Most staff development programming is on a 3-5 year cycle, and in fact some of our training programs continue each year in order to update new staff members and refresh some of our veteran staff.  Staff development surrounding technology is no different.

At the building level, a technology integrationist provides integration support for curriculum through one-on-one meetings, team meetings, and building level trainings.   The technology integrationists support teachers using different methods of staff development.  For example, they may team teach with the classroom teacher, or help the classroom teacher plan individual lessons integrating technology, and/or support the classroom teacher by being physically present when technology is used in the lesson implementation.

Additionally, after school and summer courses are also offered by the district.  These courses are taught by the technology integrationists or classroom teachers.  These courses are generally offered for college credit, and we support the 1:1program by providing teachers curriculum pay to attend staff development workshops. 

At the 9-12 level, a laptop leadership team meets monthly to discuss curriculum staff development needs and infrastructure needs.  Team members attend National Technology Learning Conferences to gain new information regarding curriculum software.  Several staff members attend the Technology In Education (TIE) conferences on a yearly basis, and a few staff members attend the annual National Technology Conferences.  All of these opportunities help the district continue in advancing the learning for students within the curriculum developed.

 FUNDING

Our school district has several sources for funding.   We utilize the district’s capital outlay fund for the purchase of technology.  We purchase technology (hardware and software) on an annual review cycle that is written as a part of the technology plan.  Our school board continues to support the need to keep the equipment up-to-date and also to help keep our students and staff progressing with the use of technology. 

 The general budget also supports the technology for this district, mainly by supporting the personnel, but also by supporting some of the technology needs such as purchased services (maintenance, etc.), travel (national conferences, state conferences, etc.), supplies, and training (certification training, etc.).  The general fund also supports the salaries and benefits for 8.5 FTE contracts. We also utilize Title IIA and Title IID funding.  This funding supports the staff development for the technology training.  We fund staff development trainers, trainings, and support teachers in the laptop initiative by funding staff development programs. 

THE FUTURE

 Our 1:1 laptop program continues to evolve.   Who knows what the next five or ten years will bring?  But this much I do know — I’m glad we’re at year seven in the program, not sitting back pondering the concept.  That would have been seven years lost – seven years without providing our young people the very best we have to offer for their success.

Are there hurdles to overcome with a project like this ?  Absolutely — finances, staff attitudes, commitment to development, etc.  However as with anything in education, the cost versus the benefits has to be weighed.  When put in that context, to me, the future is clear – the benefits of a 1:1 program far outweigh the costs.  My gut instinct is that the 1:1 laptop program will be in Watertown a very long time. 

What are your thoughts?  Does your school district have a 1:1 program?  If not, what hurdles are keeping you back?   Please feel free to let me know.

Of the many  educational blogs I read, the ones most meaningful to me are those written by superintendents like Kim Moritz from New York, or from school board members  like Brian Wheeler from Virginia, or Jim Woods from Oregon.

Though I’ve never met any of these folks in person, we all share a common bond – improving educational opportunities in our respective communities.  What’s especially helpful in my role as a school board member is when education leaders like the folks I mentioned above write about their local efforts.  Good school boards constantly seek and plan new ways to refine, strengthen, modify, correct, and/or eliminate existing programs and practices to get better results.  

By sharing information and insights, we help each other — and that’s the purpose today’s post — to share what we’re doing in Watertown.

HOW ARE WE DOING?   

At tomorrow’s monthly school board meeting, the administration will report on the progress of one of the goals we’ve been working on — that All Students will Graduate High School on Time and be Post-Secondary Prepared.

Two of the performance indicators we’re watching are:

A. The drop-out rate.  Our goal is to continue to see the drop-out rate decrease each year.  This semester, 12 students dropped out.  While that’s 12 too many, the trend is good. Comparing apples-to-apples, 24 students dropping out the first semester last year, 23 during the same time frame in 2007-08, and 29 in 2006-07.

B. The number of students with failing grades.  Again, the number are moving in the right direction. Comparing the percentage of students with failing grade from any first quarter class this year to last year, shows:

• 4.8% of ninth graders received a failing grade in one of their classes this year compared to 7.7% last year;
• 15.6% of 10th graders received a failing grade this year compared to 17.8% last year;
• 9.2% of 11th graders received a failing grade this year compared to 12.3% last year;
• and 6.6% of 12th graders received a failing grade this year compared to 7.2% last year.

HOW ARE WE DOING IT?

We’re moving in the right direction, but like any school district we have our challenges.  The following are a few of our strategies:

1. Academic Resource Center (ARC)/Credit Recovery is offered daily from 7:30-5PM during the school year to provide struggling students additional opportunities to recover credits.

2. Summer Bridge Academy for at-risk 8th graders transitioning to the high school.  Each year, up to 30 8th graders are selected to participate in a two week, 8AM – 5PM pre-high school program designed to acclimate them to high school and allow them to see purpose in their classes as they plan for their future. 

3. After-School Study Hall is available to any student.  Academic help is provided by certified teachers.

4. Night School is offered in two hour session twice per week for students that are off grade level or for students that have dropped out and wish to return to school.

5. Coordinated Truancy Reduction.  This year an additional component of the joint community-school plan was added.  This consists of preventative educational work provided to parents who need some help with the attendance of their children.  Year to date we’ve seen a 1% increase in attendance compared to last year.

6. Supplemental Education Services in reading and math from state-approved providers are offered to all our high school’s economically disadvantaged students. 

7. Summer School Offering to aide students who continue to struggle in math and English or reading, or to aide students in credit recovery, or to help students get back to grade level in any core content area so they can stay in school and graduate on time.

8. Knowing our Kids. More of a philosophy than a program, our administration does it’s best to know every student by name.  Each student is assigned a homeroom advisor that sticks with the student through all four years of high school, get to know him or her, follows the student’s personal learning plan and so on.   The goal is to develop a relationship, and to make high school relevant.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Hit me up with feedback.  If you’re an out-of-town reader, what are you doing in your school district to make a difference?  And whether your a local reader or an out-of-towner, as always, if you have questions or suggestions, drop me a note. 

Until next time!