| District Office: Part Two (PDF) |  |
| New data collection and analysis tools have emerged in the past decade. These new tools, such as data warehousing and data mining, are now making their way into education. Districts can use these new tools to collect important data, which in turn, can inform their planning and decision-making processes. |  |
| Civic Center: Part One (PDF) | |
| When there is representation and communication among all stakeholders in strategic planning for education, the community can reach across boundaries to find solutions that benefit students and support the broader community. As technology and software continue to evolve, schools and districts have taken steps to align technology with their teaching needs and to provide the technology students need. With a systemic approach to technology, needs can be prioritized and budget funding allocated where they are most needed. | |
| District Office: Part One (PDF) | |
| The collection and use of data are critical for documenting successful programs that should be expanded and for identifying those programs for which alternative strategies are needed. Data allows district leaders to demonstrate effectiveness necessary to make programmatic and funding decisions. | |
| Around The Clock Learning | |
| Spry Community School is a new school model in Chicago. This school combines pre-K through high school students into one space where K-8 starts at 9am, and High School runs from 11-7pm. The school aims for a 100% graduation rate, and its philosophy is that the greatest influence on students is family, and the greatest influence on family is community; therefore, they aim to be a resource for continuous community learning and involvement. Spry offers programs such as partnerships with hospitals where students serve as interns, a high school-elementary school tutoring program, and an afterschool program that teaches computer and life skills. | |
| Vegas Virtual | |
| Clark County, in Las Vegas, has a virtual school program which serves approximately 4,500 students. Online education allows students to have more control over their curriculum. Both teachers and students cite increased communication, access, and convenience as benefits of online learning; however, they acknowledge that in order to be successful, students must be self-motivated. | |
| Learning By Design | |
| The Build San Francisco Institute is a small school which was created through a partnership between the Architecture Foundation of San Francisco and the San Francisco Unified School District. This school targets students who haven't performed well in traditional schools. They come to the Institute three days per week and work on projects there that satisfiy core curricular objectives in math and the arts. They complete design challenges and apply math and art to real-world problems. Seniors also intern with design firms twice a week. The Institute's policy is to not accept second-rate work, because this is unacceptable in the real world. Students report that they have a more positive attitude after working at the Institute, and that they enjoy the collaborative atmosphere. | |
| Online Learning: School Goes High Tech | |
| The Florida Virtual School started in 2000 and is the first internet-based public school in the country. In Florida, some students are faced with a lack of qualified teachers or access to courses, and FLVS fills these gaps. The school serves grades 7-12 but does not offer a diploma. Teachers like FLVS because they feel that they can relate to their students more while online and get to know them better. Students enjoy the flexibility, increased support, and one-on-one attention that FLVS provides; however, they caution that procrastination is not acceptable in this environment. | |
| Online Learning: West Virginia Virtual School | |
| In West Virginia, 7th and 8th grade students are required to take a language. In rural school where there is a shortage of language teachers, the students can take online langugage courses through the West Virginia Virtual School. Teachers instruct large groups via speakerphone, and each student uses a Wimba to exchange individual voice messages and recordings with their teachers. A classroom facilitator monitors the students as they engage in online activities during the day. | |
| Virtual High School: Education On Demand | |
| The Virtual High School is a non-profit collaboration between 300 high schools in 26 states and 16 countries. VHS offers students over 150 courses. Each participating school lends a course to VHS and agrees to free up a teacher to instruct students online. The goal is to build a community of learners and engage students online. Students learn 21st century skills, and kids at all levels are able to accelerate their learning. Teachers also learn a new way of teaching and interacting with students. | |
| Schools As Hubs Of The Community | |
| The West Des Moines school district in Iowa believes that their schools should serve as magnet for community activies, cultural enrichment, and social services for both students and community members. All 15 schools are open day and night, 7 days per week, for use by everyone in the community. The Community Education Program coordinates over 400 classes and social services at the school. The belief in West Des Moines is that education and technology creates equal opportunity, and they hope to instill a culture of learning throughout their entire community. | |
| Home: Part One (PDF) | |
| Online courses can enable schools to expand student learning opportunities. Schools can offer subjects on which no local expertise is available, that only a few students are interested in, or that are unavailable because of traditional scheduling. This is particularly true for languages, advanced course topics, and college preparatory courses, but online courses can also be invaluable in helping students who are struggling or who have dropped out and wish to recover the credits necessary to graduate. | |
| High School: Part Three (PDF) | |
| By using such tools as e-mail and Web 2.0 information-sharing tools enhanced with video, students can connect with native-language-speaking teachers, mentors, and peers from around the world to share cultural information as well as conversational practice. These interactions offer opportunities for language learning, for increasing global awareness, and for modeling international collaboration. | |
| High School Classroom: Part Four (PDF) | |
| Technology can allow schools to connect with outside experts in real time. Whether it is a local businessperson or a university expert, technologies such as videoconferencing can link professionals and schools over long distances. By linking experts where they work with students in schools, opportunities for collaboration are expanded as no one has to travel and the expert can resume to work as soon as the session is over. By reducing the amount of time it takes to participate, more frequent collaborations may be possible. | |
| Let's Be Clear | |
| Public schools are often subject to criticism from many stakeholders. Rather than ignore ciriticsm though, schools should promote transparency in an effort to educate critics. In this article, the authors discuss how to promote transparency and what the pitfalls may be. | |
| Meet Your New School Library Media Specialist | |
| A library media specialist has become an essential part of a school's faculty. This article describes the role of an LMS, how to recruit candidates, and the changes that may need to be undertaken at the school in order to take full advantage of the LMS' knowledge and skills. | |
| Middle School: Part Four (PDF) | |
| School-based computer labs can serve a resource not just as for students, but for community members as well. Schools can host informal "parent nights" for parents to come to school with their children to see firsthand how their children are learning and using technology. School-based computer access can provide formal learning opportunities for parents and other community members who may need technology skills and also serve those who wish to pursue GED or other education experiences through distance learning. | |
| Elementary School: Part One (PDF) | |
| Mobile technologies are becoming ever more sophisticated, with expanded computing power and connectivity with external devices, which increases their usefulness in schools. These technologies can help make learning science more meaningful, authentic, productive, and motivating for students and teachers. Strategic integration of mobile and classroom technologies can enhance learning across the curriculum. | |
| Home: Part Four (PDF) | |
| The Internet and telecommunications networks can be an important part of a community's communications system for both routine information and especially emergency information. Through applications like automated telephone messages, text messaging, e-mail, and websites, schools can alert community members about a wide range of topics from routine changes in scheduling and reminders for upcoming events to dismissal, lockdown, evacuation, or other information critical in an emergency. | |
| Home: Part Three (PDF) | |
| New global positioning technologies are offering unprecedented learning and support opportunities. Global positioning systems (GPS) are being used to help provide directions for cars and buses but can also be used in an emergency to locate vehicles or individuals. Systems can keep track of bus locations, monitor the bus systems, and keep real-time records of school bus stops. Cell phones with GPS access can be used to collect geopositioning data to log artifacts or geocode pictures to provide students with a real-world context for what they are learning. | |
| High School: Part One (PDF) | |
| Mobile technologies and new information distribution models make it possible to provide on-demand multimedia learning opportunities. Innovations such as podcasts enable the creation of audio or video lessons that can be stored on the web and delivered to computers, iPods, and other handheld devices. Podcasts can be as short or as long as necessary to convey the topic at hand, and because they can be played on mobile devices means that they can be used for "just-in-time" learning, in addition to supporting formal instruction. | |
| High School: Part Two (PDF) | |
| The use of technology can be particularly effective in of special education. Adaptive and assistive technologies give students with physical or learning challenges to access to learning opportunities. In addition, administrative systems allow teachers to automate the creation, monitoring, and updating of individualized education plans (IEPs), streamlining the administrative processes and allowing teachers to spend more time developing learning experiences and working with students | |
| High School Library: Part Three (PDF) | |
| Increasingly, the Internet can be a critical research tool. In addition to accessing publicly available websites, libraries often pay for subscriptions to private databases of copyrighted material such as newspapers, magazines, and journals that are not freely available. The combination of free and for-fee online services along with traditional books, periodicals, and other primary source materials helps provide students with a wide range of sources and perspectives that not only give students familiarity with different types of writing, but also can improve the quality of their research. | |
| Middle School: Part Five (PDF) | |
| The use of technology can bring experiences into the classroom that would otherwise be unavailable, impossible, or at the very least difficult to accomplish. Simulations are a dynamic visual resource for introducing and teaching complex concepts. Depending on the medium, they can be sourced, saved, and rerun at any point in the learning process. Simulations can allow students to test their hypotheses, validate or invalidate assumptions, and run multiple what if scenarios that might otherwise be too costly, too difficult, or too dangerous to undertake in reality. While simulations are most often associated with sciences, they can be an engaging and effective way to teach complex concepts in many other disciplines as well. Also, giving students the opportunity to combine technology experiences with hands-on activities helps demonstrate the value of the technology for design and planning and the limitations of simulations relative to real-world development. Finally, giving students the chance to present their work to an audience of other students, parents, or community members can elevate the level of their work. | |
| High School Classroom: Part One (PDF) | |
| The ongoing assessment of student progress can provide a foundation for personalized instructional delivery. Technology tools can rapidly generate feedback from a variety of assessment types. Using technology-based diagnostic assessments, students and teachers can understand what a student already knows and help plan an instructional program to get him or her to the next level. Frequent formative assessments can allow students and teachers to monitor student progress and understand how close they are to their goals. Summative assessments allow students to demonstrate mastery and teachers to document student achievement. Technology-based assessments can also adapt to student understanding, becoming progressively more difficult as students learn more. | |
| Middle School: Part One (PDF) | |
| Assessment is critical in teaching and learning. Embedded assessments provide teachers with evidence of student progress and areas where a student is struggling. Assessments give students clarity about their own success and weakness. Assessment information can inform educators, parents, and community members in evaluating the effectiveness of a program. The challenge with assessment has always been the lag time between taking the assessment and receiving the results. Online assessments can greatly reduce this turnaround time, meaning that students and teachers alike have near real-time access to information about student learning. | |
| Elementary School: Part Five (PDF) | |
| Teacher collaboration is a significant contributor to successful technology integration. Through collaboration, teachers support one another as they learn how the software works. But what is perhaps more important, working together provides opportunities to discuss how technology can be applied to the curriculum and how the material should be taught. By working together, teachers strengthen each other and provide more consistent experiences for students. | |
| Schools Mull Needs Of Adult Distance Learners | |
| Many ed-tech advocates have voiced support for distance learning as a way for K-12 students to take courses not offered at their regular schools or enroll in courses for college credit. But another group of learners--adults who turn to distance learning to return or expand their schooling--is attracting more and more national attention. | |
| Civic Center: Part Two (PDF) | |
| Business leaders, local employers, city leadership, and community members in general can be vocal advocates for effective and meaningful use of technology to support student learning and school operation. It is not enough to be competent in basic word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation programs. Businesses need employees who can use tools in creative ways to approach work issues in new ways. Technology is not a separate skill in the workplace; rather, it must be leveraged to the fullest extent for competitive value. | |
| Community: Part One (PDF) | |
| Technology can help community members and businesses share their expertise to help address students' academic needs and interests. This can provide opportunities for ongoing school-community engagement beyond volunteering or occasional presentations. Technology can also expand the size of a schools' community, allowing students to access expertise in their region, state, nation, or throughout the world. | |
| Home: Part Five (PDF) | |
| Just as students can use technology to access information outside of school, teachers can benefit from the opportunity as well. By providing remote access to school and district networks, teachers can have access to school-based resources and web-based tools to streamline administrative tasks, enhance planning opportunities, and support student learning. | |
| Community: Part Two (PDF) | |
| Online learning offerings can expand access to life-long educational opportunities that transcend traditional schooling. When courses are available online, community members can connect to classes that interest them or that they need to improve their employment prospects. Public access to technology can ensure that these educational opportunities are available for those who lack access at home. | |
| Community: Part Three (PDF) | |
| The Internet can provide information for parents from all communities. A parent portal that provides information in the primary languages served by the school can help improve parents' involvement and engagement in their students' education. Properly constructed, parent portals can provide information about student assignments and performance, two-way communication with teachers and administrators, and paperwork reduction, as well as announcements of school and community events and activities to parents from all language backgrounds. | |
| Home: Part Six (PDF) | |
| Technology can expand opportunities for parents to learn about and become involved in their child's education. A parent portal is a web site designed to provide parents secure access to information about their children's homework and schoolwork, as well as calendar information and opportunities to access teachers and administrators. | |
| Animating Dreams | |
| The ACME Animation Program is a school-based program where studnets connect with professional animators through teleconferencing technology and receive instant feedback from these experts on their animations. The program has also developed a website for anyone in the world to get similar feedback. This allows students to form relationships with professional mentors, which has improved the quality of their work. Teachers report that students produce better work when they know that professionals will be judging it, and that they also learn to work with deadlines in mind. | |
| A New Way To Teach: Begin With The End | |
| At the Marin School of Arts and Technology, teachers have implemented a project-based learning curriculum. Students work in the field, take their data back to the labs, and ultimately present their findings through digital media. School administrators believe that the students should be doing the learning work in project based learning, not the teachers. However, this curriculum requires teachers to brainstorm and work together to develop questions and projects for their students. | |
| Beginning The Journey: Five-Year-Olds Drive Their Own Project-Based Learning Projects | |
| At the Auburn Early Education Center, kindergarten students engage in learning by completing long term projects as a class. The kids decide on the theme of each project, based on their own curiosity and experiences. The teachers then guide them to resources, and the students learn how to cooperate, solve problems, and critically think and write about their solutions and experiences. The activities have meaning and value to the students, which makes them more engaging. The Center also incorporates technology into the classroom by using smartboards, which gives students access to a wide variety of information. | |
| Cinema Program: Cultivating A Career In Film | |
| At the Northeast School of the Arts, students are engaged in a filmaking class which instructors use a context for developing their thinking and writing skills. Students document school projects and trips in the class, and their films have been screened at festivals. The students learn how to write and develop a storyline, all while realizing that their stories do matter, and that the public is interested in what they have to say. | |
| Engineering Success: Students Build Understanding | |
| Freshmen at Aviation High School participated in a 6 month long project where they worked in teams of three to build an airplane wing. Project-based learning is prevalent in all subjects at Aviation High. This project was designed to make science and engineering seem more accessable to students. Local engineers analyzed their results and listened to student presentations, and there was time to provide feedback at the end, because the philosophy at Aviation High is that reflection is equated with retention. | |
| High Expectations: Students Learn To Rise To The Occasion | |
| The teachers at Faubion Elementary School are the ones responsible for the high performance exhibited by their students. Three quarters of the student population at Faubion qualify for free or reduced price lunch, however 97% of fifth grade students meet or exceed state expectations in reading and math. Teachers cite the fact that they set high expectations for all students, they engage parents as partners and visit students at home before the school year starts, the teachers work in grade level teams to plan lessons together or even teach together, they incorporate a social emotional learning curriculum called Life Skills into every grade in order to teach students how to be good citizens, and they enhance their lessons through technology use. | |
| Las Vegas: C.P. Squires Elementary | |
| The C.P. Squires Elementary School meets the needs of english language learners, both in school and out of school. About 90 percent of their student popoulation does not speak english, so reading is the main focus at the school. Teachers reinforce english language skills through a variety of methods, and by first grade, 98% of students demonstrate mastery of letters and sounds. Technology is an important part of the process; each student works on the computer and recieves individualized instruction. There are also many after school and adult programs to enrich the students and their families. | |
| No Gamer Left Behind | |
| Games and simulations are an effective way for students to learn the skills that they will need in the 21st century; however, many schools have not implemented these new technologies. Proponents of serious games argue that simulations tap into students' interests and allow them to channel their energy in a positive manner. The McKinley Technical High School in Washington DC is an example of a school which has turned itself around by incorporating games and simulations into its curriculum. Kids at McKinley see the connections between their academic subjects and the real world, and they have been very successful. Students enjoy the school atmosphere and report that the energy in their classrooms motivates them to learn more. | |
| The Global Dimension: Walter Payton High School | |
| Walter Payton College Prep in Chicago infuses a global perspective into every subject that they teach in order to achieve their goal of teaching students to be global citizens and leaders. Four years of language studies are recommended for students. The school hosts many international visitors to gain a global perspective. Technology plays a key role, both within the school and as a means to connect students to real-world experts and to their international sister schools. | |