Cheronne Edwards

Ed Tech 501-Week 14

Technology Maturity Evaluation

Institution: Border Middle School Demographics: Schools - 1 elementary, 1 middle school, 1 high school, 1 alternative middle school, 1 alternative high school Students K-12 - 1003 Free-Reduced lunch - over 75% participating 100% Native American Population Poverty ranking ranges between 3-7 (1 being the highest poverty rate in state) Population (2009) - 6,492 Employment (16 yrs old and up)- 32% Employed, 12.5% Unemployed, 55.5% Not in labor force Per Capita Income (2009) - $21,827 Families, $9,728 Non-family, 44.1% Families had income from employment Technology Maturity Benchmark Results The maturity model was completed with input from the I.T. department, and administrators, along with faculty and staff members. Technology in place: Only two classrooms are not equipped with an interactive whiteboard (2 SmartBoards, and 18 Promethean Boards) or document cameras. Only four teachers have slates (reduced from last year when all had slates). Last year the middle school had a 1:1 computer ratio. This year that has been radically reduced. One classroom has 20 laptops, and we have two computer labs. One lab is dedicated to the computer applications and career exploration class, the other is available on a first come-first served basis (with administrator approval). Student use of personal electronics or email is prohibited.

Administrative Filter
Behavioral: Islands Policy - The school has a technology use agreement, but it is not enforced by all staff members. Planning - This is a limited activity, and when it does occur it tends to be a last minute professional development activity centered around one aspect of technology with little to no follow up or implementation expectations. Budget - A policy must exist, but no one on our campus seems to know what it is. Basically you submit a requisition and wait and see. Administrative Information - The student management system is used by all teachers for attendance, the gradebook component is used at a very basic level. All other aspects of the application's features are not utilized by teachers, and support staff use them with rudimentary to intermediate skill levels. Resource/Infrastructure: Integrated (low side) Policy - The school has a technology use agreement that is approved by the governing board. Planning - There is a district wide technology plan that deals with infrastructure, but it does not seem to be connected to other activities or school-wide goals. Budget - There is a district-wide technology budget and, when possible, other sources are utilized for unexpected expenses. However, the limited planning affects budgeting. Administrative/Information - The student administrative system is available to most personnel with limitations on what they can access or view. The limitations set by permission settings often impact productivity. Reading teachers have access to a proprietary reading program gradebook portal.

Curricular Filter
Behavioral: Emergent (high side) Electronic Information - Staff members are dependent on the student information system for attendance, and widely use school-based email at work. Email access in the evening and on weekends is frequently unavailable. Teachers use the Internet frequently to varying degrees of abilities to locate curricular resources. Students use the Internet sporadically as a project based tool with only specific sites used. PowerPoint is the main productivity application used by teachers. Students occasionally use word processing or PowerPoint applications and Internet. Assessment - The only assessment that truly utilizes technology is the quarterly reading comprehension test that all students take. We do have Accelerated Reader, but we are just implementing the program. We do use ATI Galileo testing, but do not use the online assessment option. We did try last year for one assessment, but administration has suspended online benchmark assessments. Teachers can still opt to use Galileo to do small formative assessments with pen and paper only. Curriculum Integration - Our district utilizes a consortium curriculum database for a standards-based curriculum map. Some of the resources include PowerPoint, or video streaming. The Internet is used as a lesson planning resource by the majority of teachers. Teacher Use - Teachers do use the computer and Internet daily to take attendance, email, and to access consortium lesson materials (this is new this semester and teachers are at different levels of comfort with the implementation). Student Use - Student use of technology is limited to one class. For eighth grade one semester of computer applications & career explorations, for sixth and seventh grade it is limited to one quarter of computer applications. The seventh grade class sporadically uses laptops. The science classes periodically use the computer lab to do limited research. The seventh and eighth grade honors math classes go to the computer lab three times a week for six weeks to do Brainfuse. This is an interactive math tutoring program. Resource/Infrastructure: Integrated Electronic Information: We do have access to comprehensive curriculum based resources. Unfortunately they are limited to core academics and

used only to the level of comfort the teacher has with technology. None of the resources are fully utilized by any teacher. Assessment - All faculty have full access to Galileo reports, reading teachers and administrators have access to reading data. A spreadsheet is maintained for all assessment results by student and grade level. The spreadsheet does not utilize pivot table features. Curriculum Integration - This is utilized on a limited basis with core academics (PowerPoint and standards database lesson information), and computer applications. Teacher Use - All teachers have access to a variety of technology resources in their classrooms (computers, document cameras, interactive whiteboards). Student Use - Students do not have consistent access to technology. Student access has been reduced to the point of thwarting development.

Support Filter
Behavioral: Emergent/Integrated Stakeholder Involvement - As a site, we are aware that here is some sort of plan since there has to be an approved technology plan to be eligible for e-rate. Beyond that, there is little knowledge or involvement. There is no active technology team in place at the district or site levels. No one I spoke to has knowledge of what the tech plan is or the implementation procedures. I asked the Technology director, who said yes there is a plan, but would not elaborate. By this I take it to mean there is a document, but it is not a living document with any input from stakeholders. Administrative Support - There is no evidence of administrative involvement at the site level. There are weekly technology meetings scheduled, but the I.T. director has only attended the initial meeting. So, in effect, there is no communication or input from the site administration. Training - Most staff do participate in professional development when it is offered. At the beginning of the year, teachers were trained on Google documents and calendar basics, student management system, and the proprietary reading gradebook. Sporadic training has occurred throughout the school year on accessing the Galileo assessment results and consortium curriculum materials. Technical & Infrastructure Support - All staff with computer access can email tech support for assistance. There is no chain of command for outages. If there is a need for equipment, the request goes through the onsite designee, then to tech support. If purchase is required requests are

routed to the site administrator, then to tech support. Small repairs or malfunctions are handled informally (no email to tech support) on site. Onsite tech assistance is provided by an administrator designated teacher. Resource/Infrastructure: Emergent/Integrated Stakeholder - There is no site-based representation on the technology committee, if one exists. Administrative Support - There is a weekly tech meeting scheduled, but has it only been held once this year - the initial meeting. As a result there is no planning or implementation process. Training - There is ongoing onsite training for Galileo and one-to-one coaching for student management system and reading gradebook portal. The training is provided by a teacher as schedule permits. Technical & Infrastructure Support - The district has a technology director (a contractor) and two full time technicians. These techs are available generally for outages or equipment failures. Onsite assistance is provided by a teacher as schedule permits.

Connectivity Filter
Behavioral: Islands Local Area Networking - Staff utilize the network for printing. Filesharing is not available. District Area Networking - Staff use district service for email, and Internet access. Internet Access - Staff members use the Internet frequently to access information, student information system, and reading gradebook, and curriculum consortium resources. Student access to the Internet is limited to the computer applications & career exploration class, and an occasional trip to the computer lab for science project research. Communication Systems - Email is used daily, but mostly as a way to reduce phone calls within the school. The full functionality of the email application is not utilized, or not permissible. Resource/Infrastructure:Intelligent/Islands Local Area Networking - High speed networking is available via ethernet. Wi-fi service is available, but with strict security restrictions that prohibit print sharing services, remote email, flash or java. District Area Networking - High speed service is available at the middle school and, to some extent, district offices only. Services are available at other sites, at much reduced speeds. Service includes Internet and VoIP. Streaming is only available at the district office and middle school at this time, as the network connections to other sites do not have adequate bandwidth. Internet Access - Direct Internet access is available at all sites with varying speeds and reliability. Outages at the high school are common. Communication Systems - Email is available to all certified staff, and office administrative staff only. Support staff members such as paraprofessionals and security monitors do not have email access.

Innovation Filter
Behavioral: Emergent New Technologies - Opportunity to experiment with new technologies is very limited, impacting the acceptance by staff. Most teachers reject anything new, viewing it as just another thing to add to their already full plate. Others are interested but do not have opportunities to experiment, let alone implement. Support for existing or new technology is limited to the spare time of onsite teachers who feel more confident with using technology. Comprehensive Technologies - Technology is limited to computers, document cameras, and interactive whiteboards that are used to project PowerPoint presentations. Resource/Infrastructure: Emergent/Islands New Technologies - There is limited acceptance of new technology, with only sporadic implementation into a few classrooms. Teachers will use Internet as a resource to find information but do not use it to interactively support the curriculum. Promethean Boards are available and are used as a projector screen for PowerPoint presentations that will let you advance to the next slide from the board. This is an improvement from the beginning of the year when a fourth of the boards were being used as bulletin boards. Comprehensive Technologies - Staff will use the computer for basics, and occasionally use document cameras as an overhead projector. That is the limit for about 90% of the staff. Two staff members at the middle school use the flip chart aspect of the interactive whiteboards.

Summary
This year, we have taken a huge step backward in regard to student computer access, limiting them to one class with computers. The technology currently available consists of computers with Internet access, student management system, email, document cameras, and interactive whiteboards. Software applications are limited to Microsoft Office and the interactive board applications. Teachers do not have access to scanners and printing is funneled to one printer/copier in the school office. Teachers have to walk to the office to pick up printouts. This is time consuming and not very productive, as the printer frequently does not accept print jobs. Sadly, the only way to find out if your print job was successful is to walk to the office and see what was printed - your document or an error sheet, or to call the office. Student printing is prohibited. 7

Overall, I would rate our middle school as an Island. The lack of district planning for technology in conjunction with other programs is directly impacting the growth and implementation of technological resources. With virtually no communication between the I.T. department and other programs, we are falling further behind, with our students suffering the most. The existing staff members have not been trained on the technology that is in place and many of the new staff members come to the district deficient in basic technology skills.