A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

FOCUS on education -- First Quarter 1995-96

Computer Technology Issue

A Successful Computer Lab Approach: Administrative Applications: Expanding the Classroom Through E-Mail & Internet Projects

Newsbriefs:

Reflections on KY's Technology Initiatives

Plus CBBS Technology Quick Byte & Resources That Work Inserts!

Transforming Teaching, Learning Through Computer Technology

With access to computers, modems, videos, and CD-ROMs, students are interacting with astronauts and authors, accessing real data to find solutions, collaborating with peers who live across the continent to publish on-line projects, and creating interactive presentations. These technologies won't make school reform happen. Yet the effective use of technology can support and advance key features of school reform_ student-centered classrooms, student exploration and real-world problem solving, interactive instruction, heterogeneous grouping of students, performance-based assessment, multidisciplinary learning, and teacher as facilitator.

Given the accelerating pace of technological innovation and the role new technologies play in virtually every sphere of our economy, schools are directing energies toward updating curricula and finding the resources to adequately prepare all students to lead productive and meaningful lives in an ever-complex society. As futurists point out, the "achievers" will be those who can think, create, problem solve, and utilize technology as a strategic tool.

ESEA reauthorization and other recent legislation support technology as a key component to all curricular and school reform efforts. In conducting school-based needs assessment and developing school-specific programs, staff in Title I targeted assistance and schoolwide program schools have the opportunity to strengthen curriculum and instruction through the creative use of technology.

Why technology in the classroom?

Research suggests that the effective integration of technology in the curriculum stimulates students to attempt more complex tasks and material. Teachers who use technology in this manner appear to develop higher expectations for their students, in part because technology supports and enhances what students are able to produce. As experience builds, both teachers and students attempt harder tasks. When motivated and informed by peer input and their own progress, students take more care in crafting their work. The technology enables students to engage in content areas, interdisciplinary studies, and challenging activities that might otherwise be inaccessible until later in their education or never at all.

Teachers report that, regardless of students' previous underachievement or poor motivation, even those who are most at-risk are capable of startling gains as they develop the logical thinking, visualization, and other higher-order skills necessary for the creative uses of computer technology. In this way, technology serves as an "equalizer," enabling both gifted and slower learners to progress at their own speeds. The best combination of hardware, software, and instruction provides the trial-and-error and immediate feedback that promotes learning and the development of students' multiple intelligences.

Technology leadership for the future

For many schools, investing in technology has required a careful reexamination of what we want to teach, why, and how; a commitment to strengthening curriculum and instruction; and the involvement of teachers, parents, and the community. As many of the educators highlighted in this issue of FOCUS told us, any school or district planning for technology had better be eager for change.

Read on for examples of technology leadership across Region B/2. We have limited our discussion to computer-based technologies and tried to avoid presenting information that can readily be found at your library or bookstore. See you in Cyberspace!

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Quick Acronym & Reference Guide

    BBS: Bulletin Board System
    Internet: also referred to as the Net
    LAN: Local Area Network
    LEA: Local Education Agency
    SEA: State Education Agency
    WAN: Wide Area Network
    World Wide Web: an on-line system spanning the Internet that links Internet documents, allowing Internet users to jump from one area of the Net to another. Also referred to as WWW, 3W, or the Web.

Canfield Local Schools Making the Computer Lab Approach Work

It's Not Where You Put Them; It's How You Use Them

Many educators were not big fans of the "computer lab"; students were pulled out of the classroom to work in the lab and often there was no connection between lab and classroom work. Staff and students at Canfield Local Schools (CLS) of northeast Ohio have had a very different experience with computer labs_ technology is integrated throughout the curriculum and classroom teachers coach students during their lab time, with the assistance of a technologist or lab teacher who supports each grade level.

Canfield staff believe that the curriculum should drive the district's technology plan, as opposed to technology driving the curriculum. "We ask ourselves first what we want to teach students, then ask how technology can enhance this curriculum and instruction," said Dave Costello, Technology Coordinator at Canfield. At CLS, reading and writing are emphasized across the curriculum and computer technology engages students in hands-on learning and exploring.

CLS has two K-3 elementary schools, one elementary school serving fourth and fifth graders, one middle, and one high school that serve about 2700 students. Canfield's computer-student ratio is approximately 1:8. The district has 12 labs: one for each K-3 school; a fourth-grade lab; a fifth-grade lab; a sixth-grade lab; a mini music lab; a robotics lab; an eighth grade multimedia lab; and for the high school, a multimedia lab, a graphics design lab, a business lab, and a new science lab supplied with ten workstations for scientific instrumentation studies.

Visitors see very little "drill and kill." Aside from the specialized labs listed above, Canfield's MAC labs are multipurpose, equipped for a variety of uses from word processing to multimedia and on-line research. "We have a very laissez-faire approach about how any one teacher wants to use the labs," said Costello. "Teachers use labs as extensions of their own classrooms." The district does not buy prepackaged software systems from vendors, but has chosen to buy basic software and repurpose it. Students use HyperCard, Microsoft Works, and a variety of other software suited to their curriculum, e.g., Kid Pix, MacPaint, Publish It!, SuperPaint, MACDRAFT, Quicken, General Ledger, AutoCad, and various math and special education programs.

Why did Canfield choose the lab approach? "Five or six years ago, when we only had one or two people in each building who knew technology, the lab approach made more sense, rather than having a computer in every room that gathered dust. The most important thing is not where you place the machines, but ultimately how you are going to use them," Costello said.

On Integrating Technology

The biggest challenge is evolving the use and role of computers. "Districts and teachers start by teaching the tool [the computer], but must move on to using the tool in the curriculum," he said. At CLS, school staff had the opportunity to get comfortable with computers and acquire basic skills first, and then were encouraged to move from word processing to other realms. Technology was embedded in the curriculum grade by grade, in sequenced strands. The fifth grade teachers, for example, worked with the fifth grade technologist who reviewed the curriculum and mapped out lab resources that were created for or purchased for use with each and every unit.

According to James Watkins, Superintendent, if all Canfield's computers were stolen one night, staff would continue the technology program the next morning. "Our most valued resources are not computers, but rather the people that have developed their use," he said. "We call these staff our computer champions; they take the technology beyond their own use and put it in the hands of kids."

Professional Development

Five years ago, after a group of 15-20 teachers were trained in fundamental computer skills and HyperCard at a local learning facility, they went to their respective buildings to "evangelize the integration process, the software, and the platforms." This year, the district is using situated learning for professional development. Costello will be working alongside teachers during the regular school day, facilitating projects in the classroom, or planning with them during free periods.

The district also offers ongoing, needs-based small group training. Inservices have covered the World Wide Web (WWW), Internet, and e-mail, just to name a few topics. Teachers are not the only staff who attend these sessions; administrators, bus drivers, and custodial staff have participated. Most staff are computer users at some level, administrators included. "I believe that I have to model technology use for principals and that principals should model use for teachers," Watkins said.

The ride hasn't always been smooth. "We have realized there's just never enough staff development," Costello said. "It's a very slow process of trying to bring the level of usage and expertise of teachers throughout the district to a new, higher level every year."

Seeing is Believing

Canfield has hosted more than 200 site visitors and plans to cosponsor, with the Council for Academic Excellence, the district's second MAC Educator Day on Oct. 19. For more information on CLS, contact James Watkins, Superintendent, at (216)533-3303.

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Highlights of Canfield's Computer Technology Programs:
  • Computer training sessions offered to the adult community
  • Summer computer camps for high school students
  • Student entrepreneurial projects that raise funds for technology
Examples of Innovative Projects:
  • Chemistry classes using spreadsheet analysis of chemical compounds
  • Sophomore American History students using on-line tools to research, write, and build hypermedia stacks on modern American achievements
  • Elementary students participating in a simulated immigration experience in which they search databases and consult maps to find employment and housing and construct budgets for families coming to Boston in 1850

Prince George's READ System Supporting Proactive Policy Making

Under the Improving America's Schools Act (IASA) of 1994, and state reform initiatives, public school systems face numerous accountability and data reporting challenges. Districts are now accountable for tracking the achievement of students who move within the district and buildings need more raw data from the central office for their respective needs assessments.
Research, Evaluation, and Accountability (REA) staff in Prince George's County Public Schools (PGCPS), Maryland, are managing the growing demand for statistical information about student achievement and school effectiveness with the Research and Evaluation Assimilation Database (READ). READ is a database management system that enables research staff to analyze school data quickly; create reports on trends, patterns, and achievement benchmarks on any scale, group, or longitudinal time frame; and investigate the effects of hypothetical situations on the school system.

The READ Data Warehouse

The READ system is constructed from the consolidated data input from several operational databases in the local system that process day-to-day transactions on student demographics and enrollment, student course performance, student institutional experience, research survey responses, and school system programs, such as Title I. In addition, state test data for students are included. Data needs are anticipated and collected proactively, before a research question is posed to staff.

Within the READ system, the largest and most important database is the "data warehouse," an aggregation of data snapshots over time, which form an integrated, historical collection of data for all students in the district. Unlike data in the operational, on-line databases which are changing daily, data in the data warehouse are nonvolatile. These data are said to be "time variant" because they represent sets of changing, but accurate data at specific points in time.

Unique Capabilities

All 118,000 students in the PGCPS are accounted for in the READ system, not just those who may have participated in certain "events" (e.g. a specific standardized test). Each student's progress can be followed throughout his or her entire academic career.

READ data stores have enabled staff to address a range of "hot topics" (i.e. longitudinal questions about elementary students' math achievement and success in high school, course enrollment status for particular grades, ethnic groups, and program participants).

The data are coded and stored so that all levels of statistical analysis, from basic "descriptives" to trend analysis and hierarchical linear modeling, may be conducted. Data from PGCPS research reports are "recycled" back through the READ system for future use.

READ Operations

The READ System Pipeline is the flow of information from raw data to polished reports_ through the networked system. Six REA staff support READ's operations: two computer operators, a data analyst, a database administrator, an operations analyst, and a statistician. REA staff designed and developed READ over a two-year period. PGCPS is the 17th largest school district in the nation.

Source: ORE Research Report No. 34-1-95, "READ Data Warehousing System," authored by Eugene Adcock, Reginald Haseltine, Paul Gammill, and Leonard Winkler. For more information, contact Dr. Adcock, Research and Evaluation Director, at (301)952-6240.

A video about the READ system is also available. It highlights considerations districts need to make if looking to design or implement a system similar to READ. There are some MIS software packages available on the market that schools and districts can customize to manage their student and school data. Next time you're at state or regional conferences or meetings, ask around to see what other districts are using for evaluation and reporting purposes.

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Computer Technology Helps Teachers Manage Time, Tasks at Hanstein

When Anita Williams returned to teaching after 12 years as a computer analyst and trainer, she was faced with a challenge: how to maximize her instructional time with nearly 40 six-year-olds. She looked to computer technology to free up time spent on manual record keeping tasks, and today, helps colleagues at Hanstein Elementary, a schoolwide program in Detroit, do the same.

"I've learned that technology should be used to solve problems and save time and money," Williams said. "Administrative tasks should not be burdensome or take up teachers' time during the regular school day when the focus should be on teaching students." During her time at Hanstein, Williams has collaborated with Principal Billie Joan Gibbs, teachers, and other school staff to identify new applications for computer technology.

Automated Record Keeping

Using Microsoft software (Access 2.0, Excel 4.0), Williams first set out to automate her own record keeping system. She created templates of all district and school forms (attendance forms, grade books, etc.) and developed a classroom database with records for each of her students. This system enabled Williams to add new information to the classroom database, then update school and district forms by pressing one key.

Williams next task? To get other teachers to buy into this automated approach. Williams created a teacher handbook and conducted introductory training in the Microsoft programs. She encouraged colleagues to access the program's tutorial, practice, and follow up with the teacher leaders on each floor. Since that time, Williams has conducted other computer technology workshops, most embedded into teacher evaluation days.

With this automated system, teachers can quickly group students according to a variety of factors and no longer spend so much time creating class lists or student name cards and labels, calculating grades or managing grade books, completing school/district forms, preparing weekly lesson plan books, or editing these records for each new student or for each new year. For example, just minutes after students were assigned for the 1995-96 school year, each teacher received a class list with students grouped according to room number, gender, race, grade level, and bus number -- tasks that in previous years were done manually.

Over the summer, Williams turned her attention toward creating electronic lesson plan books. She created lesson plan templates and linked teachers' files to a master lesson plan book for Gibbs. These electronic books streamline the review process and ensure confidentiality. Teachers send their plans to Gibbs across Hanstein's LAN; Gibbs composes feedback on her desktop and then routes plans back.

School Staff Collaboration

Hanstein's Technology Support Group, composed of five core teachers who serve as peer coaches, meets every Tuesday for one hour before the school day begins. This year each team member is serving as a "specialist" in one area of software applications and will be responsible for troubleshooting.

Paraprofessionals are also contributing to Hanstein's progress in computer technology. Williams refers to her class' paraprofessional as a lifesaver. "I used to be called upon to leave my classroom to address colleagues questions; now the paraprofessional does that troubleshooting," Williams said.

For more information about Hanstein Elementary's technology program, contact Williams at (313)417-9370.
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How Williams' Class Works:

Just eight weeks into the school year, Williams reports that her class is "off to a bang-up start!" Hanstein has 30 student PC stations and ten teacher stations integrated into ten elementary classrooms supported by a file server.

  • Student Computer Captains
    Students in Williams' class work in cooperative learning groups at six PC workstations. Because Title I students tend to use the computer less frequently than their higher achieving peers, students are encouraged to coach and assist one another. A computer captain in each group sees that students rotate through computer use.
  • "Classroom as Clinic"
    Williams' classes have hosted many site visitors: administrators, curriculum leaders, and classroom and Title I teachers. Last year, Williams' first graders simulated their classroom experience at the "Black Child in Crisis" conference, demonstrating how they collaboratively use computers in the classroom.

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[ Table of Contents ] [ Expanding the Classroom... ]

Last Updated -- Nov. 29, 1995, (pjk)