Part 2
Technology Plan Objectives
Pekin Public Schools District
108 District Technology Plan envisions a sophisticated, high speed
electronic environment. Following this plan District 108
has invested in an outstanding technological environment. Every
classroom has five-networked multimedia student workstations,
a large screen instructional station, and a teacher desktop. All
computers are connected through the district wide area network
to centralized servers and a T1 connection to the Internet. These
elements of hardware and infrastructure are completed.
While hardware and connectivity goals
will be met with existing funds, the technology plan proposes
three sets of objectives that may be supported through this grant
proposal:
1. Goals for Instructional Management
Utilize technology to allow students, parents and staff to
monitor student achievement through a student data management
system.
Utilize technology to link curriculum, instruction and assessment
through a teacher data management system.
Utilize technology to collect and analyze school improvement
data to meet ISBE quality assurance requirements.
Create an electronic student portfolio performance assessment.
Provide instruction for teachers in web page design utilized
in academic instruction
2. Goal for Collaboration of Staff, Students, Parents and
Community
Learn about the implementation of community learning center
sites
Implement a new concept of distance learning in collaboration
with universities and other classrooms
Investigate and develop software to communicate to students,
parents, and community student achievements with state and district
standards
3. Goals for Professional Development
Assign roles for staff development to ensure responsibilities
and accountabilities
Collaborate with ISU for online professional development (Our
assistant superintendent has a letter of partnership on file in
the district office and will fax to the necessary party or attach
to the online application.)
Evaluate and revise pilot teacher training program to include
integration of technology in instruction. (Phase 1 taught technology
skills) The district staff has indicated a need to further their
training utilizing technology integration in the classroom. They
will be given models to incorporate the best practices of technology
integration.
Evaluate and refine Teacher Academy program, which is an after
hours technology training of skills using Microsoft Office, Inpiration,
E-mail, Learning Village Software and Internet, offerings in light
of national and state teacher certification requirements.
We are going to have them design problem-based projects that they
can use in the classroom with these tools.
Expand and coordinate training to include specialists, sped,
support staff, administration, board, and ISU-PDS staff and students
Incorporate George Lucas Education Foundation (GLEF) materials
in staff development to demonstrate the models of teachers effectively
integrating technology with community learning centers for students
and parents together. The videos will be utilized for training
as well as information and Brian Abeling assisting with this project.
New Teaching/ Learning Strategies:
As explained in the body of this proposal, District 108
has committed itself to addressing its critical instructional
needs through concerted efforts to improve both the availability
of technology and the district's systems of curriculum and instruction.
In support of that commitment, this proposal request funds to
do the following:
1. Develop Software to generate and manage knowledge about
student achievement:
A yearlong search has proven that software does not yet exist
that is friendly to students and teachers, seamlessly collects
data, and reports data with intuitive, visual formats. For that
reason, District 108 has agreed to work with two software development
firms. Technology Pathway Corporation (Appendix B) will work with
the district and three other school districts across the country
to create and pilot teacher software to collect and manage information
about standards achievement. In addition, the district will
contract with a local programmer to expand existing software used
for teacher self assessment of technology skills into a platform
for student self evaluation of academic standards. This proposal
requests $40,000 for programming and related expenses that can
be shared with others through our district web site.
2. Identify and purchase instructional software that promotes
active, engaged learning of Illinois Standards and Benchmarks:
After identifying student needs, instructional software will
be purchase to promote community learning centers and distance
learning. The district's Software Committee is developing standards
and a rubric to evaluate instructional software both for content
and for research proven pedagogy. The rubric will be used to purchase
and install instructional software on the district's wide network.
This proposal requests $45,000 matched with local funds, to help
the district build a library of excellent instructional software
to achieve these goals.
3. Provide standards-based professional development for teachers
to acquire both the technology skills and the instructional skills
needed in a technologically sophisticated learning environment:
District 108 has an effective professional development model
that integrates targeted instruction; mentoring, online resources
in collaboration with state wide universities, and self evaluation
on standards. Pekin School District 108 views professional
development as the most significant variable supporting effective
implementation of change. Online professional development
will be implemented with Illinois State University and University
of Illinois Champaign. A letter is in the district office
confirming the partnership with ISU. However, as with any
innovation, teacher and parents need to integrate these changes
into their daily lives. This proposal request $50,000 to develop
and conduct the necessary training, because teachers need more
individualized help in the classroom to adapt of all the innovations
with the standardards.
Project Overview
The Organizational Setting
Public Involvement: Pekin School District 108 has practiced
strategic planning for over a decade, during which time it has
developed systems of accomplishing and evaluating progress toward
strategic goals. This proposal derives from the Pekin School District
108 Strategic Plan. The District 108 Technology Plan derives
from the Technology Strategy of Goal Four in the Plan and is approved
by the Area Three Hub. The Strategic Plan guides all activity
in the district. Every other spring, the Strategic Plan is evaluated,
revised and extended by the Board of Education and DILT, the District
Instructional Leadership team (DILT). The Strategic Plan
guides all activity in the district and is revisited every other
year by the Board of Education and DILT, the District Instructional
Leadership Team (DILT).
It is available at
http://www.pekin.net/pekin108/ The plan, the District 108
Technology Plan, and their most recent evaluations are available
online at http://www.pekin.net/pekin108.
DILT is a collaborative leadership group consisting
of 25 parents, teachers, administrators, board members, and community
representatives. In addition to helping revise and monitor
the status of the Strategic Plan, DILT also conducts action research
and otherwise supports the district's efforts to accomplish its
strategic goals. As this proposal was developed within the
DILT structure, it reflects the participation of those stake holders.
Curriculum Big Picture. Goal One of the Strategic
Plan states, "We will increase student performance through the
school improvement process." Consistent with the Goals 2000
and Illinois Quality Assurance programs, the district's school
improvement process targets student achievement of Illinois Learning
Standards and promotes active, engaged learning in which student
explore ideas and produce knowledge under the guidance of a teacher
who acts as both cognitive model and co-learner. As explained
below, the activities proposed here will increase each teacher's
ability to instruct to those standards and each student's ultimate
achievement of them.
As emphasized by GOAL ONE, schools should be about learning,
and the big picture should be about curriculum. Last year,
District 108 adopted the three elements of its "Curriculum Big
Picture." Each element begins with the word, "Everyone," meaning
students, teachers, parents, support staff, administrators, board
members of the community. If as the proverb says, "It takes
a village.." then Pekin intends to create the village.
EVERYONE KNOWS WHAT STUDENTS MUST LEARN. Cognitive
psychology tells us that learning requires concepts and skills
to build ever larger and more comprehensive models. The
difference between novices and experts lies less in the quantity
of what they know than in the quality of how they know it.
OF course, the expert has accumulated a vast store of information,
but more important, the expert has also built connections among
ideas and skills into a rich, specific, and articulated model
of his understanding. In a cognitive apprenticeship model,
the student and teacher collaborate in complex projects that help
the student develop a clear model of the subject area knowledge.
Recent instructional literature suggests that students
learn best by reaching just beyond their existing knowledge using
cognitive crutches to support them as they develop their internal
models. Although teachers have long used songs, stories
and mnemonics to help students put the pieces into larger cognitive
structures. If students are to be successfully achieve the
sophisticated expectations of the Illinois Learning Standards,
they will need new cognitive strategies to support them.
Pekin's teachers have invested the last two years toward
developing a cognitive map from the Illinois Learning Standards
and Benchmarks. It is a matrix of knowledge, skills, and
attitudes that students need to develop. These objectives
are expressed in language that students and parents can understand
and remember. They are parallel across all grades to help
students build sophisticated understandings across years.
Not only does the content of the objectives form the basis for
learning activities, the actual wording is taught to students
to help them incorporate what they learn each day.
EVERYONE TAKES RESPONSIBILITY FOR STUDENTS' LEARNING.
The word "responsibility" connotes a commitment that is internal
to the person. Public discussion about imposing accountability
on schools misses the point that learning is necessarily something
students do inside themselves. To be permanent it must become
something for which they take internal responsibility. To
be effective, the adults must take internal responsibility that
every student learns what must be learned.
EVERYONE USES DATA WHEN MAKING DECISIONS ABOUT LEARNING.
Last, the processes of teaching and learning are filled with decisions
about what to do next. Those decisions must be based on
clear data about authentic learning. As indicated by the
business world's quality management concepts (and Illinois' Lincoln
Award process). Relevant data must continually inform practice.
Everyone must have relevant, timely data available to make decisions
that range from which specific skill to work on today all the
way to setting the technology budget for coming years.
SAI: Standards-Assessment-Instruction. To implement
the Curriculum Big Picture, District 108 is developing its Standards-Assessment-Instruction
(SAI) system. The name describes the process: We begin with
the standards. We assess student achievement of them, and
we use the assessment data to inform instruction. Although
it will take two years to fully implement SAI, the roll out is
under way, beginning with grade level objectives derived from
Illinois Learning Standards.
ASSESSMENT. To the foundation of the local curriculum
objectives, SAI adds an assessment system modeled after ISAT.
Three cycles of district wide SAI assessments are intended to
provide meaningful formative and summative data to inform and
evaluate instruction. In the fall, winter, and spring students
complete assessments modeled on ISAT items, including open ended
problems in math and reading. They also complete a cross
disciplinary performance based project using math and language
skills.
Pekin School District 108's SAI model
strongly emphasizes continuous data collection to inform instruction.
As it is a framework to establish that end, and each grade's student
objectives are assessed three times during the
year. The fall assessment is in the middle of September
and the winter assessment in January provide formative data, and
the spring assessment in May provides summative information.
SAI assessments are patterned after
ISAT test items, with the addition of teacher observable and student
performance
In addition, students conduct their own self assessment
by compiling portfolios of their best efforts toward each objective.
At the end of each cycle, every student records his or her evaluation
of this portfolio on an "I Can Do It!" sheet. Pekin School
District 108's SAI model strongly emphasizes student goal setting
and self evaluation. In a cognitive apprenticeship
model, the teacher shares that task and provides feedback on the
same form. Students present their self evaluation and portfolios
during student led parent conferences. The District will
replace the paper with a software to track the data using Data
Tracker.
INSTRUCTION. Data from the SAI assessment, student
self evaluation, and classroom performance inform instructional
planning. In the classroom, the teacher and student set
goals, decide what needs to further work and what new topics to
pursue. The Title 1 and reading improvement support staff
evaluate assessment data to decide which students can return to
regular instruction and which new students need assistance.
SAI is intended to be an overall instructional philosophy
supported by a knowledge management system. To be effective,
assessments and observations must provide real-time performance
checks for the student, parent, and teacher to monitor learning.
Convenient technology is needed to collect the data, analyze it,
and present the findings in clear, easy to use formats.
For data to effectively inform instruction, a data bank of lesson
ideas and strategies aligned with the objectives need to be readily
available. Further, the District needs to take advantage
of its sophisticated network by developing a library of well designed
software to offer students, parents, teachers and community members
to effectively assist them with their goals of improvement guided
from the data collected.
The Proposed Project
During SAI’s pilot year, it has become painfully obvious
that specific resources are needed to succeed in raising student
achievement. This proposal targets three of those specific needs:
1. No existing software is adequate to the bookkeeping task
SAI demands. A variety of applications, from NCS “abacus” instructional
management system to individual teacher grade books have all fallen
short. None integrates the comprehensiveness, connectivity and
convenience needed to be effective in real classrooms.
2. No existing software automates student self assessment
in a cognitive apprenticeship model.
3. The district's existing instructional software is becoming
outdated, fails to take advantage of the multimedia power and
networking efficiencies in the infrastructure, and is poorly aligned
with the new curriculum objectives.
In addition, District 108 needs to design and conduct professional
development activities to help teachers master and use these new
tools. The elements of this proposal are detailed below.
Technology Pathways Instructional Data Management Software:
In the pilot year of SAI, teachers expressed much frustration
with the difficulty of managing the volume of data generated.
Not only was there a lot data to deal with, the analysis process
was slow. It took two weeks from the time when students
completed the work for the district to collect, analyze and report
the results— a wholly unacceptable delay. Worse, the instructional
management software, “Abacus” by National Computer Systems, was
designed to keep track of only the master/non mastery of standards.
It was poorly adapted to handle open response, fluency, performance
records, and the other types of rich data sources generated by
the SAI assessments. A yearlong search for software turned up
none that was better adapted that “Abacus” to the task.
To take advantage of the continuos standards-based instructional
planning built into SAI, teachers need computer help with the
date load. Through this grant, District 108 proposes to create
such software. District 108 is currently investigating instructional
software from a company called Technology Pathways, which is headed
by nationally recognized researcher and change agent, Bena Kallick.
Teachers using this software find it an intuitive, friendly, and
effective tool for implementing standards-based instruction. However,
the software is designed for stand-alone computers and needs improvements
to help teachers collect, analyze, and apply performance data.
Dr. Kallick is gathering a consortium of school districts across
the country to help her develop a network tool that will do those
tasks for her software as well manage data from all standard based
instruction in a district. (Appendix B) Beginning August 2000,
representatives of the districts met with Dr. Kallick and her
programming to develop design criteria for the software. District
teachers will pilot alpha and beta versions of the software across
the 2001-2002 school year. District 108 will own a lifetime site
license of the software once it is completed.
Through this grant proposal, District 108 will budget
$20,000 for programming and program consultation expenses to Technology
Pathways Corporation. District 108 will budget for local
personnel and expenses from local funds. The software will be
available for implementation in the private schools through network
access currently provided through District 108.
Student Data Tracker Self Evaluation Intranet Application:
Student self evaluation is an integral part of SAI. Beginning
in the earliest grades, this process helps students become aware
of their progress through the curriculum amp. As students grow
through the years, they learn to realistically evaluate their
need, set goals for themselves, and achieve their goals.
As mentioned above, District 108 currently uses the “I Can Do
It” sheets to help students evaluate their progress. The
sheets are cumbersome hard copies. The pressure –sensitive forms
are difficult for students to write on and are too fragile to
withstand a full year’s handling in classrooms.
Across the last year, District 108 has employed local
programmers to develop a piece of software that could address
these problems. “Data Tracker" is an Intranet application designed
to help teachers manage their own learning of the districts professional
technology standards. For each teacher in a mentor group the professional
developer uses Data Tracker to create a home page listing the
standards that must be achieved. After attending classes and using
the skills in their classrooms, teachers log onto the home page
and evaluate their level of achievement of each standard. At a
later time, the professional developer provides online feedback
to each teacher's self evaluation. Data Tracker software conveniently
collects, analyzes, and reports data from the entire group’s evaluations
in real time. Pekin School District 108's SAI model strongly
emphasizes student goal setting and self evaluation. The
following documents present an existing software application,
"Data Tracker," that this grant proposes to reprogram as an online,
Intranet replacement for the "I Can Do It!" student self evaluation
forms. The school district wants to learn from the Springfield
School District how theirs functions.
District 108 proposes to develop Date Tracker into a
replacement for the “I Can Do It” sheets. The interface needs
to be made friendlier for students. Data security is also an issue,
as is the need to collect longitudinal data across each student’s
school career.
Through this grant proposal, District 108 will budget
$35,000 to accomplish this programming across summer 2001 in preparation
for initial piloting across the 2001-2002 school year. District
funds will be budgeted for all supplies and personnel expenses.
The software will be available for implementation in the private
schools through network access currently provided through District
108.
Instructional Software Aligned With State Standards:
A recent district wide survey identified teachers’ desire
for software that is well designed, networkable and aligned with
state standards. In January, the district established its Software
Committee to accomplish three goals.
1. Develop criteria and an evaluation rubric to guide the
process of selection for instructional software that supports
Illinois Learning Standards. The software should use local and
Internet resources to address student’s differentiated learning
capabilities using primary source, higher level thinking skills,
and engaged learning activities.
2. Develop district policy and procedure to assure that instructional
software purchases provide materials that are compatible with
the infrastructure, meet district curriculum guidelines, and through
site license and update efficiencies, are sustainable across the
years.
3. Evaluate and recommend instructional software for purchase
in summer 2001 for implementation during the 2001-2002 school
year.
Through this grant proposal, District 108 will budget $45,000
to purchase instructional software.
These will be matched by expenditures from local district funds.
Private schools will purchase instructional software with their
proportional amount of grant funds.
Professional Development for Implementation and Sustainability.
The continual professional development of the district’s staff
is an integral part of achieving success with the purchase of
this new software. Specifically, the following activities
will be applied to implementation of these projects.
Pekin Professional Development School is a collaborative endeavor
between District 108 and Illinois State University in which district
teachers and university professors develop yearlong, technology
based experiences for undergraduate teacher interns.
Pekin Public Schools District 108 uses teacher release
time to conduct district wide training to support SAI goals.
These include the following: One full day of teacher institute
before the beginning of school in August, 5 School Improvement
Planning half day sessions, 3 extended day teacher work sessions
(one per SAI cycle).
Technology Academy offers peer taught classes at no cost to
staff to provide them with the skill to use programs with their
students.
Computer Pilot Program is a comprehensive four-year training
program, which provides technology skills training, mentoring,
classroom integration strategies, as well as the necessary hardware
and software. Participating teachers are provided release
time and mentor support.
Learning Center teachers in each school provide in-services
to staff on technology skills and application through on-the-spot
consultation, release time training, and after school workshops.
They are professional developers for part of their day.
Fellowships are an extended curricular opportunity for teachers
to explore new instructional practices, methodologies, and/or
technologies to enhance teaching and learning in the classroom.
Teachers apply for fellowships based on district goals and are
paid a fellowship stipend for successful completion of the projects.
The classes and workshops offered within the district provide
teachers with the continuing credits for recertification.
The district provides incentives such as stipends and credit
hours to promote the professional development of its staff.
The above professional development tools will be expanded
and changed to support teachers' efforts to ongoing, sustained
professional development to integrate engaged learning and standards-based
approaches to instruction.
Combined with annual professional development budgets, grant
funds will support the process of modifying and conducting these
activities to support the project. Most significantly, the
district and Illinois State University will collaborate on developing
and disseminating this project through the Pekin Professional
Development School. Online professional development, the
George Lucas Education Foundation professional development, and
site visits to other schools, who have pursued this goal too,
will be explored.
Through this grant proposal, District 108 will budget $50,000
to employ consultants, provide substitutes, and pay stipends and
fellowships to participating faculty. This amount will be
matched with funds from the Illinois Professional Development
Block Grant and local district sources. Private school
teachers and administrators are invited to participate in classes,
workshops, and academy offerings.
Partnership with Teacher Education Program. In collaboration
with Illinois State University, District 108 operates the Pekin
Professional Development School. The PDS is a collaborative
project in which ISU seniors serve a yearlong internship in district
schools. District staff serve as adjunct faculty of ISU,
and ISU faculty work and teach in district schools. The
primary focus of the PDS is to develop standards-based instructional
strategies in a technologically enriched environment. While
it is not expected that grant funds will flow to the PDS, which
is supported through other funds, District 108 and ISU will incorporate
project activities into the PDS program.
Coordination of Funds. If this proposal is awarded,
the above activities will be funded through a combination of TLCF
funds, entitlement grants, and local funds. IF this proposal
is not awarded, the activities will be conducted over a longer
period of time using entitlement and local funds alone.
Publication of Results. Pekin District 108 takes seriously
its responsibility to inform the public of its progress and of
the lessons it has learned. The district Website, http://www.pekin.net/pekin108,
is the official repository of all committee work, student data,
and other products of district efforts. If funded, the activities
in this grant proposal will be published and continuously updated
in the appropriate parts of that site.
Public and Private Schools are Pekin Public Schools, St. Joseph
School, Good Shepherd Lutheran School, and Faith Baptist. School.
Local Sources are District Instructional Leadership Team,
Pekin Public Library, and Dirksen Congressional Center.
Budget
| What |
Cost |
| Dr. Bena Kallick/Technologies Pathway Corporation |
$40,000 * |
| Instructional Software |
$45,000 * |
| Professional Development |
$50,000 * |
| Data Tracker/Local Developers |
$35,000 * |
| TLCG Grand Total |
$170,000 * |
* These will be matched with district funds.
Time Line
|
WHO
|
What
|
When
|
| Staff and Tech Coordinators |
Data Tracker Planning |
July 10-30th, 2001 |
| LC Teachers |
Professional Develop --Data Tracker |
August 10, 2001 |
| DILT & Tech Coordinator |
Look at Community Designs |
August 10-30th, 2001 |
| Tech Coordinator and LC Teachers |
Meet With Consultants for Pathways |
September 4, 2001 |
| Parochial Schools |
Meet with District Tech Coordinators for Input |
September 6, 2001 |
| Representive Group |
Meet with Consultants for Data Tracker |
October 1, 2001 |
| Brian Abeling, West Des Moines |
Meet with Representative Group to Plan Community Involvement
Centers |
October 15, 20001 |
| LC Teachers and Tech Coordinator |
Visit Springfield Schools to explore their data tracking
software |
October 30, 2001 |
| District Representation |
Meet to develop software with Pathways |
November 1, 2001 |
| Tech Coordinator |
Meet with Programmers to Finalize
|
November 5, 2001 |
| LC Teachers and Tech Coordinator |
Finalize Community, Parent Involvement |
December 3, 2001 |
| A Representative Group from Various Grade Levels |
Pilot Software For Data Tracker and Standards Assistance |
January 16-, 2002 |
| District Wide Meeting |
Introduce New Software |
February 15, 2002 |
| Parents, Staff, and Students |
Open Community Rooms |
March 4, 2002 |
| Pilots of Software |
Assess Software in Summative Eval |
April 3, 2002 |
| Tech Coordinator |
District Findings |
Subject to Last Day of School |
| Tech Coordinator |
Publish on District Website |
June 15, 2002 |
|
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