SIP Plan Analysis

Tori Martin
ITEC 7410
Spring 2022

Shared Vision and Target Areas of improvement

Ragsdale Elementary school's vision is to prepare all students with the shared

responsibility of families and community members in becoming successful citizens as

they prepare for a challenging world (Ragsdale SIP, pg.44, 2021). Part of the vision at

Ragsdale is for teachers and staff to collaboratively increase their knowledge and

practice of technology resources and strategies through professional learning to

effectively improve academic achievement during face-to-face instruction, blended

learning, digital learning days (DLD), and/or visual instruction. An overarching need

described in the school improvement plan is for the number of students in 3 rd-5th grade

scoring proficient and/or advanced on the Reading Inventory to increase by 5%;

collectively progressing from 66% scoring proficient and/or advanced in Spring 2021 to

71% in Spring 2022.

One action-step the school plans to take in order to achieve this goal is to

continue the use of provided technology along with programs such as Education

Galaxy, System44, Read180, iRead, and Write Score. “With Technology ever changing,

Ragsdale strives to make sure the latest technology is available to each teacher. It is a

district goal to have each pupil issued a device to use at school and at home” (Arnold,

2021). This device would be assigned to each specific student at the beginning of the

year, and they would keep that device until the end of the year. “This would ensure each

student is exposed to the most cutting-edge technology possible and would keep

students’ resources comparable to other district” (Arnold, 2021). The school attempts to

keep each student technologically sound so they may be successful once becoming an
SIP Plan Analysis
Tori Martin
ITEC 7410
Spring 2022

adult and exiting the school system. Ragsdale does not have these capabilities yet, but

this is one of the school’s long-term goals.

Technology Literacy

Ragsdale does not address student technology literacy in their shared vision nor in

their school improvement plan. Since this is not addressed, I would recommend adding

an additional action step stating teachers will use technology tools to access, manage,

integrate, evaluate, create, and communicate information. A good goal for Ragsdale

students would be to spend 45% of their day exploring, creating, and building through

technology. This will help lessons reach the higher LOTi levels and students will be able

to more effectively achieve the ISTE standards. Providing these goals and expectations

within the SIP will contribute to the progressive shift that is apparent in education and

will better equip Ragsdale for the digital age classroom models.

Assistive Technology and Diversity

The School Improvement Plan (SIP) states teachers who work with students with

special needs will be provided yearly trainings by the school district. These trainings

include behavioral interventions, hands on techniques, supportive/supplement

technology trainings, along with instructional practices that best meet the needs of the

students at Ragsdale. The school district provides professional learning for ELL/ESOL

teachers to ensure that students with language barriers have the same opportunities to

be successful in the classroom. There are several new technologies that have been

provided to supplement instruction for students whose primary language is not English,
SIP Plan Analysis
Tori Martin
ITEC 7410
Spring 2022

and the ELL/ESOL teachers attend trainings for these technological resources on an as

needed basis. According to Ragsdale’s ELL/ESOL teacher Mrs. Capalbo, all Paulding

County ELL/ESOL teachers receive annual Technology training for program s such as:

Lexia® Core5® Reading, SIOP, and ELLevation. Lexia® Core5® Reading is an

adaptive blended learning program that accelerates the development of literacy skills for

students of all abilities, helping them make that critical shift from learning to read to

reading to learn. SIOP is an acronym for Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol

(SIOP) was developed to make content material more comprehensible to English

Language Learners. Last, ELLevation is the most comprehensive ELL program

management platform that organizes all ELL student data, supports critical meeting and

monitoring processes, enables accurate reporting, and supports instructional planning

for multilingual students.

To accommodate the lack of technology in the home, our students have the

opportunity to check out devices from the school. Parents sign out the device and return

it at the end of the school year. Ragsdale is constantly researching different ways to

provide our families with digital necessities such as internet. ATTNT has paired with our

school district and is offering free internet to families in certain areas of the county who

could have internet access, within reason of their location, but are unable to afford it.

This is supported by the E-Rate program provided by the state of Georgia. “The

universal service Schools and Libraries Program, commonly known as "E-rate,"

provides discounts of up to 90 percent to help eligible schools and libraries in the United

States obtain affordable telecommunications and internet access.” (US Department of

SIP Plan Analysis
Tori Martin
ITEC 7410
Spring 2022

Education, 2019). Ragsdale school is a Title I school and has 53% of students

qualifying for free and/ or reduced lunch. Many of our lower-income families cannot

afford devices on their own. The classrooms are not one to one with technology quite

yet, however, this year the school received three new lap top carts to help students gain

more exposure to technology. Along with the laptop cart each grade level has access to

a shared computer lab making it even easier to have student access to a device. All of

these efforts were made by Ragsdale or the school district to bridge the digital equity

gap and provide resources to their students.

How Technology is Addressed in the SIP

Ragsdale strives to reach the technology standards, goals, and digital equity

listed in the SIP by providing access to several devices within each school and

classroom along with expectations for academic implementation. As stated before,

many students who attend Ragsdale come from low-income households and have

minimal exposure to technology and digital devices. The reason behind implementing

the above listed instructional strategies is to support students and teachers and help

grow better equipped citizens as we approach this digital age. “The proliferation of

technology in the world is making it much more difficult to engage our students”

(Sheninger, 2019). The school approaches the use of technology gingerly due to 1) the

students’ inexperience with technology and 2) the digital reform the education system is

experiencing across the nation.

SIP Plan Analysis
Tori Martin
ITEC 7410
Spring 2022

References

Martin, T., & Arnold, A. (2021, August 30). Professional Learning and How it Relates to
Ragsdale Elementary's School Improvement Plan. personal.

Ragsdale Elementary School Administration. (2021, September). Ragsdale School Improvement

Plan. 528 Holly Springs Rd, Rockmart, GA 30153. Retrieved September 28, 2021.

Sheninger, E. (2019). Digital Leadership (2nd Edition). SAGE Publications, Inc. (US).
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US Department of Education (ED). (2019, September 6). E-rate program - Office of Non-Public
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