GAPSS Clark

GAPSS Review of New Manchester High School

By Heather Clark
Kennesaw State University Masters of Instructional Technology











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GAPSS
The Georgia Assessment of Performance on School Standards (GAPSS) meets the accountability
requirement of No Child Left Behind. It involves schools using data driven and researched based
practices to evaluate schools programs. The GAPSS analysis is carried out by a qualified team of
educators. The team is looking to see if a schools programs succeed in eight strands. These strands are
curriculum, instruction, assessment, planning and organization, student, family and community support,
professional learning, leadership, and school culture. Analysis of these strands help to determine a
schools path for school improvement.
The process that is carried out is multi stepped. The team will be comprised of six to eight
certified staff members that will begin the process with introductions and classroom observations.
Additional days may be required for review, team collaboration, and GAPPS summaries. The team will
then work together to develop the School Keys which will indicate needs improvement areas, share
data, clarify comments to relevant data, and identify tools and resources to support the school
improvement process. The introductions, class observations, and summary process should take
approximately three days. In the following days there will be team meetings with the principal and the
leadership teams to discuss staff surveys, classroom observations, strand summary reports, and a
quarterly action plan to outline next step suggestions.
One important aspect of the GAPSS is technology integration and training. This is discussed in
strand PL 1.6 Resources Support Job-Embedded Professional Learning. A teacher will be marked fully
operational if technology is supporting student learning that is aligned within the schools improvement
plan. Further it is discussed in the Instruction strand of the GAPSS strands. It outlines that a school
should effectively integrate technology into instruction. Meaning, the teacher should integrate
technology to supplement instruction to provide real-world connections and make relevant applications.
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Further, students should be using technology in the classroom to do research, create
documents/projects, and to demonstrate a greater understanding of the material presented. Finally,
GAPSS places importance on technology being effectively allocated within the school and within the
classrooms.
New Manchester High School
The School Improvement Plan (SIP) for New Manchester High School explicitly outlines
technology and a technology vision for the school. New Manchester High School opened in 2011 and
the schools primary goal was to become a 21
st
century technology school. This includes a Bring Your
Own Technology campaign and school support of technology integration within the classroom. Further,
each teacher is to be provided with INTEL training on how to support the use of technology in the
classroom. The SIP states that teachers will also be trained in Promethean board/slates, Student
Response Devices, Infinite Campus, Moodle Training, Thinkgate, AIMsWeb, Remind101, and Edmodo to
assist in the integration of technology in the classrooms. New Manchesters technology goal, according
to the SIP, is to have 100% of the faculty, will complete the above training for the use of technology
resources and/or specific course needs. This training, or professional development, will be a
combination of workshops and collaborative work. Each workshop will introduce a specific technology.
The faculty will usually break into groups and work collaboratively to complete an assignment using the
newly introduced technology. For example, when the NMHS faculty was INTEL technology trained, the
concept was initially presented to the faculty via a group meeting. In the meeting the administration
introduced the technology coaches, those who had received the INTEL coach training over the summer
months. Each coach would have a group of approximately thirty faculty members to work with and
train. In these smaller groups, the coach would discuss the technology application and assign us a
project or collaborative work assignment in which we would break out into smaller groups to complete.
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Each group would then meet again to present the final projects or discuss the findings. According to the
SIP, professional development and learning needs are both data driven and faculty requested. The
administration and technology teams will monitor student progress through data to determine student
learning and student growth. The SIP indicates a goal of 10% growth from pre-test to post-test in each
academic core class. This data will be obtained through common district assessments and through the
use of Thinkagate technology, and AIMs Web data. If student growth is not occurring, the
administration, leadership and technology teams will meet to discuss how better to improve student
learning. Often the teams and the administration will meet with the Common Core Teams to discuss
what methods would best be utilized to increase student learning and how one may achieve that.
However, New Manchesters professional development in technology training, according to the SIP, will
be driven by faculty need and request. Professional development with respect to technology is the
upmost importance, Principal Constance Craft indicated. As a 21
st
technology school, the district and
the parents wish to seethe teacher use technology effectively to educate their children and to the
administration requires the staff to use technology to document student achievement (C. Craft, personal
communication February 2014)
Once professional development has occurred the technology team is available for follow up
support. The technology team is comprised of ten faculty and staff that was formed based on a
volunteer basis. These are teachers and staff that consider themselves technology experts and
volunteered to be part of the technology team. One simply needs to send an e-mail regarding their
problem, concern or question and the technology team responds accordingly. Sometimes, if it is a
simple question, a team member may respond via e-mail. However, often during their planning periods,
a team member may visit the teacher to discuss the problem or offer demonstrations for assistance.
Additionally, Douglas County has subject specific instructional coaches that are also available. One may
email or call the countys instructional coach for assistance. However, because there is only one
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technology coach per subject, it is much more difficult to get a timely response from him/her. As a
result, the school technology team is utilized more often than the county instructional coaches.
According to Ms. Craft, the follow up support is the most vital part of professional development. She
states that a lot of the schools teachers transferred to New Manchester High School with little
technology backgrounds. These follow up support teams help ensure that technology is being properly
implemented on a regular basis and used to troubleshoot problems as they occur (C. Craft, personal
communication February 2014)
New Manchester High Schools school improvement plan outlines the desire to become a 21
st

century technology school. As a result the school is able to provide the faculty and staff with various
professional development opportunities, as discussed above. The majority of the professional
development opportunities are conducted by the county technology specialist. Thus there is no
additional cost to the school. Alternatively, the technology team will also conduct professional
development sessions more specialized towards teacher needs. As a result, there is also no cost to the
school because the technology team is comprised of teachers who volunteered for the position.
Douglas County, according to C. Craft, is currently in debt. That is why it is so important to keep the
costs of professional development down (C. Craft, personal communication February 2014). There are
incentives to joining the technology team; such as additional dress down passes, substitute teachers
for when professional development will occur during class times (in which case the substitute teacher
cost will come out of the professional development budget), and first access to the newest and latest
technologies. New Manchesters technology team does an excellent job at training the staff and
because it is formed from a group of volunteers, the cost to the school is relatively low. Any costs that
occur are taken from the professional development budget, according to Brandy Herring, New
Manchesters bookkeeper. The bookkeeper stated that the cost of a substitute is much cheaper than
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paying for the cost of a professional technology expert to come to New Manchester High School to train
the staff (B. Herring, personal communication February 2014).
Professional learning, especially with respect to technology, is mandatory at NMHS. According
to C. Craft, this is an aspect she is not willing to negotiate on. She believes that these sessions are
imperative and as a result, attendance is mandatory (C. Craft, personal communication February 2014).
The reason for this is that school improvement plan outlines the goal to become a 21
st
century
technology school. As a result, the faculty must be up to date on the most recent technologies. The
faculty at New Manchester High School is evaluated by the administration on the use of these
technologies through pre-scheduled observations and impromptu walk-throughs. If a teacher is
effectively utilizing a technology on a regular basis, he/she is encouraged to support and help other
members of his/her department become more technology advanced. If a teacher is struggling with the
regular, effective use of technology in their classrooms, he/she is recommended to another teach within
their department. If, on average, the faculty as a whole is not effectively utilizing technology on a
regular basis, this is when school wide professional development is implemented.
For professional development that is not mandatory or provided by New Manchester High
School, the faculty and staff have other options for professional development. Constance Craft
expresses the importance of additional professional development. Although she cannot force her
faculty to attend optional technology training, she strongly encourages teachers to attend. She outlines
that it not only makes the teachers job easier, but also helps student achievement (C. Craft, personal
communication February 2014). For example, when speaking to the Special Education department chair
Geri Armstrong, and various ESOL teachers, these teachers often register for professional development
through Douglas Countys PD360 (G. Armstrong, personal communication February 2014). PD360 is a
web based tool that lists all the available professional development opportunities provided by the
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county. Often these opportunities are more specialized. The Special Education and ESOL teachers
frequently sign up for additional professional development in this manner. Often a stipend is available
for teachers, or substitutes are provided if time off of school is required. This funding comes out of the
professional development budget for the county.
The professional development as it pertains to New Manchesters SIP has been discussed above.
However, there are also professional learning teams that are within the school and within the county.
For example, each department as their own Common Core Team in which the team meets to discuss
data, student achievement, instructional technologies, etc. A CCT leader will also coordinate with the
CCT leader of other schools to share information. Often this is beneficial when helping students learn as
one school may be very successful in teaching a concept to their students which might be beneficial for
other schools to learn. The primary method of communication is through conference call and through e-
mail to the other CCTs. Further, within New Manchester we also have a Testing Committee, which
meets to discuss testing schedules, common district assessments, data, etc., Technology Committee,
which offers follow up technical support after professional development, and the Leadership Team,
which meets to discuss implementation of new ideas, instructional coaching, student achievement data,
and interschool communication.
The administration frequently conducts walk-throughs to assess the facultys teaching practices
and to determine what, if any, technologies we are using that support the school improvement plan.
These walk throughs will happen once a month, on average, and the feedback is immediate. The
administration e-mails the result of the walk throughs within 24 hours. This way the teachers get
feedback on their practices and the administration understands how technology is being used in the
classroom and how frequently it is being used. This data is then uploaded into Teacher Keys evaluation
platform and used at the end of the year for the teachersformal evaluation. New Manchester High
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Schools administration will often meet during the CCT meets to discuss student data and student
achievement. As a result, the administration is able to make correlations between the technologies
witnessed in the classroom and student achievement data.
New Manchester High School is the newest high school in Douglas County and as stated in the
School Improvement Plan, strives to be a 21
st
century technology school. As a result, there is
mandatory professional development that takes place during teacher planning as to not incur additional
costs, that introduces the faculty and staff to new technologies, updates, how to utilize existing
technologies in new ways which are all part of New Manchesters SIP. If staff wishes to take additional
professional development, PD360 is a great tool to find courses that fit a teachers need. The
administration conducts walk throughs to determine how, or if, the technology is being properly used
and meets with the Common Core Teams to discuss data. As a result, New Manchester High School
meets the eight strands of GAPSS.












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Resources

Armstrong, G (2014, 02). Interview by H Clark [New Manchester High School]. School
Improvement.
Craft, C. (2014, 02). Interview by H Clark [New Manchester High School]. School
Improvement.
Herring, B. (2014, 02). Interview by H Clark [New Manchester High School]. School
Improvement.