| Avenues To Success |  |
| Several years ago a friend asked if I thought it was possible to maintain a thriving technology education program with all the changes that have been taking place over the last ten years. He said that, with outside forces such as NCLB, statemandated exit exams, and the push for students to enroll in more math and science, technology education was becoming an afterthought in some schools. |  |
| Starting Over | |
| Administrators in Oakland, CA came together to talk about the struggles they face when managing their respective schools. Out of this, the New School Development Group was created. This group recruited principals and coached them with the idea that in the end, 12 new schools would be created based upon their vision. The video follows the experience of one principal who started a new small school as a result of hte New School Development Group. | |
| Ten Big Ideas For Better Classrooms | |
| Ten ideas for improving public education are identified in this video, along with examples of each idea in action. The ten big ideas are: project-based learning, technology integration, integrated studies, cooperative learning, comprehensive assessment, emotional intelligence, teacher preparation, parent involvement, community partners, and maximize resources. | |
| 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. | |
| Technology Can Transform Schools (PDF) | |
| An article commenting on the results of the U.S. Department of Education's report on the effectiveness of technology in education. | |
| Students Want The 21st Century Classroom But Schools Not Meeting Student Expectations | |
| Results from the 5th Annual Speak Up survey, the largest annual national survey of K-12 students, teachers, parents, and school administrators, about the use of technology and science resources. Speak Up 2007 revealed a growing "digital disconnect" between students and their teachers and parents about the role of technology for learning, and how well schools are doing to prepare students for the jobs of the future. | |
| Crossroads In Education | |
| This is a comprehensive article on the use of social tools. The resource includes information on infrastructure requirements as well as academic implications. | |
| Students Want More Use Of Gaming Technology | |
| Project Tomorrow's fifth annual Speak Up Survey, the largest annual survey addressing the attitudes and opinions of K-12 students, teachers, parents, and school administrators toward the use of technology in education, reveals that online or electronic gaming is one of the technologies that students use most frequently -- and that educational gaming is one of the emerging technologies that students would most like to see implemented in their schools. Yet, only one in 10 teachers has adopted gaming as an instructional tool. | |
| Factors Influencing The Effective Use Of Technology For Teaching And Learning | |
| This report provides technical assistance and professional development around eight factors that are key to effective use of technology in schools. | |
| Leadership And Learning With ICT (PDF) | |
| A report from a study funded by the Australian government whose objective was to investigate how educational leadership supports learning with ICT in Australian schools. | |
| Leadership Principles In Technology | |
| An article that provides guidelines and principles for effective leadership in technology integration efforts in schools. | |
| Leadership: Walking The Talk | |
| An article about the ways that leadership roles in schools and districts must expand and change in the face of technology integration. | |
| Developing Effective Technology Plans | |
| An article describing ways to be strategic about technology planning, funding, and implementation. | |
| Technology Planning: It's More Than Computers (PDF) | |
| A report about philosophical approaches and critical components of successful technology planning processes. | |
| Technology Planning: Recipe For Success | |
| A report that details the steps of successful technology planning, from forming committees to implementing and evaluating the technology plan. | |
| Buried Treasure (PDF) | |
| A report that demonstrates how to create a 'management guide' for effective development and use of evidence-based indicators of school, teacher, and student performance. | |
| The Elementary Principal As A Change Facilitator In ICT Integration | |
| The thesis of this article is that the elementary school principal can have a significant impact on the integration of ICT into pedagogical practice and, in turn, on student learning. There are some links to similar articles in the references. | |
| Cowan Sunset High School | |
| Cowan Sunset High School in Las Vegas caters to about 500 students who would have otherwise dropped out of school . The school provides a day nursery for moms and dads, and the school day runs from 2-9pm in order to allow students to work in the mornings or evenings. Students report that the teachers are understanding at Cowan, and they enjoy the different environment that the school provides. | |
| Achieving With Data (PDF) | |
| A report from a study that looked at key strategies of four school systems that are leaders in using data for instructional decision making and improving student achievement. | |
| 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. | |
| Innovations In Education Book Series (Microsoft Word) | |
| The Innovations in Education book series is published by the Office of Innovation and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education. The books detail how school systems around the country have put the No Child Left Behind Act to work. | |
| In Some L.A. County Libraries, Video Games And Noise Are Welcome | |
| Some school libraries are turning to video games to connect with teenagers who have outgrown story time. Almost a quarter of libraries surveyed last year by Syracuse University's School of Information Studies had put on video game events. | |
| The Little School System That Could | |
| DeBolt's vision and the history of the Manassas Park school system are captured in the book "The Little School System That Could: Transforming a City School District," by Daniel L. Duke, a professor at the University of Virginia's Curry School of Education. The book addresses the politics and the turnover that stifled the district in its early years, plus the man, the staff members and the supporters who made it what it is today. | |
| Are Teachers Ready For 21st Century Learning? | |
| An unprecedented level of discussion about 21st Century learning and its impact on teachers' work has taken place in the Teacher Leaders Network discussion group recently. Among the many topics covered: Internet safety and cyber-bullying; growing up online; the risk of teachers becoming "irrelevant"; the frustrations caused by school firewalls; and the distinction between digital tools and digitally-infused learning. | |
| Affording 1:1 | |
| Two articles that provide strategies and guidelines for funding a successful one to one initiative. | |
| Key Technology Trends | |
| An article outlining the current technology trends reported in a 2006 survey conducted by the Greaves Group. | |
| 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. | |
| 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. | |
| 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. | |
| A New Day For Learning | |
| In most areas of the contry, schools have not changed in many years, and the educational system looks the same as it always has. Some people are making efforts to change the educational system though. This video illustrates examples of reform efforts throughout the country, where schools are emphasizing things like community collaboration, real world learning, and distance learning. | |
| Dollars And Sense | |
| The Ariel Community Academy provides a K-8 curriculum that infuses financial literacy into every subject. The school was created from a public school/private buisness partenership, because the founder believed that by exposing African American children to the stock market, their math scores would improve. Each class receives $20,000 in the 6th grade to invest, and in the 8th grade, the class donates half of the profits to charity and splits the second half emong themselves. Each student also learns how to write a business plan, and students are exposed to successful community members and African American business executives on a regular basis. | |
| Critical Issue: Technology Leadership | |
| This Critical Issue focuses on leadership qualities responses to change, and effective uses of technology. The article examines important findings associated with leadership in general and considerations specific to education. Next, it provides summaries of major factors associated with change in general and their implications for education. Finally, it examines research findings and best practices as they impact technology leadership and educational productivity. | |
| Las Vegas: Environments | |
| In Clark County, NV, two schools have built unique learning labs with help from community members. One school built a 1 million dollar rainforest biosphere and a second built a replica of a silver mine. Students learn about concepts in history, earth science, geology, etc - all while having a fun, hands-on learning experience. Community members funded and built both labs, and they often volunteer as guides in the labs. | |
| How To: Get A Whole Community On Board For School Reform | |
| The author highlights a school district in Alaska which underwent significant reforms when a new superintendent was hired in 1994. He engaged the community and developed a standards-based system that has become a model for other school districts. | |
| 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. | |
| Secrets To Success | |
| This article lists common features that successful schools share. While there is not one single factor that is at the core of a successful school, many exhibit the characteristics illustrated in this article. | |
| Finding Funds For Student Laptops | |
| An article describing different approaches to funding one to one laptop initiatives | |
| K12 Online Learning | |
| This 2007 study is one of the first studies to collect data on and to compare fully online and blended learning in K-12 schools. The goal was to explore the nature of online learning in K-12 schools and to establish base data for more extensive future studies. Issues related to planning, operational difficulties, and online learning providers were also examined. This research should help in thinking about if online learning should be a part of the technology plan. | |
| District Initiative (PDF) | |
| An article highlighting how an underachieving district used data-driven business practices to improve student achievement | |
| Making Sense Of Data Driven Decision Making In Education | |
| A white paper that synthesizes information from several large studies with the aim of clarifying the ways that data are being used in schools and districts for data-driven decision making | |
| 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. | |
| Assistive Technology And The Story of Lukas Bratcher | |
| Lukas Bratcher was born with a birth condition that limited the use of his limbs. He was unable to play a musical instrument, until a community member developed a euphonium that could be controlled by a joystick, which opened and closed the valves. This technology fulfilled Lukas' dream of playing in the school band. | |
| Success Spoken Here | |
| The John Stanford International School fosters an appreciation of diversity among its students. The school provides a multicultural perspective to children, technology is integrated into art and music, and there is a great deal of parental and community involvement. The most important feature of the school is its language immesion program though; students learn math and science in either Spanish or Japanese. | |