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Technology Program Administrator

Table of Contents

I. Executive Summary.... P. 2 II. Organizational Chart.. P. 4 III. Methods.... P. 5 IV. Center Context & Goals... P. 5 V. Center Activities.... P. 8 VI. Evaluation. P. 9 VII. Monthly Report. P. 11 VIII. References P. 11 IX. Appendices. P. 12

Part A: Program Evaluation

I. Executive Summary
Purpose The purpose of this report is to reveal the findings of an evaluation done to assess the effectiveness of a middle schools technology program and activities. An organizational chart showing the flow of command within the middle school along with the districts technology chain of command is provided. The procedures for and findings of the data collected is given. Interviews and observations were carried out at the middle school. Various stakeholders were involved in these interviews and observations. These include, but are not limited to, teachers, students, and the schools technology technician. The schools mission statement and a brief history are included. The goals and stakeholders of the middle school, as well as the titles of key personnel, along with a short description of each job title, are also listed. The middle schools current status and activities provide an idea of what goes on at the middle school on a daily basis. Lastly, the actual evaluation and recommendations for future improvements based on the data collected is discussed.

Message The middle school that this report focuses on is in the process of implementing a one-to-one student to device ratio initiative. Although this initiative has not come to full fruition, the school has various types of technology that is available to its teachers and students. Students are learning multiple types of technology skills throughout their middle school career. However, there are some elements of the technology program at this school that still need improving. These improvements are listed in the next section.

Key Recommendations Monitor the bandwidth used to see what may be needed in the future to prepare for the one-to-one initiative.

3 Technology training needs to be offered to staff as a professional learning opportunity. An improved communication regarding specific technology roles needs to be established. There needs to be an increased amount of devices for the entire Social Studies department to use, considering there are no textbooks available to use when IPads or I-Pods are not available. Software evaluation and purchases should be required to go through the technology department.

II. Organizational Chart

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III. Methods
The data collected reflects that of a public middle school in Georgia. Interviews and observations were used to collect data, as well as documents and web sites provided by both the school and school district. Various stakeholders were interviewed. These interviews included: teachers, students, an Assistant Principal, the schools Technology Technician, and Media Specialists. The Assistant Principal and Media Specialists were asked about their involvement in the middle schools technology program. The interview questions asked of teachers and students are available in the Appendices as Appendix A and B. Observations of students in a classroom setting were among the data collected. The observation checklist is located in the Appendices as Appendix C. Existing documentation that was used for data collection: The schools Title 1 Plan, which is provided on its web site, provided the schools goals and plans for overall school improvements. The middle schools web site provided the mission statement and administrative positions. The districts web site provided the total amount of students enrolled at the middle school.

IV. Center Context and Goals

Mission According to the middle schools web site, the schools mission statement is as follows: DMS will be the bridge that empowers each Cougar to achieve excellence. Together with the community we will design meaningful experiences that enhance creativity, embrace diversity, and foster confidence and compassion. This collaborative community will create a safe learning environment that upholds high expectations and promotes a passion for learning (Dalton Middle School, 2013).

History The middle school has been open for more than a decade, as it was built in 1999 (DMS Title 1 Design Team, 2012). The schools Title 1 Plan describes the school as being organized into

6 grade level wings. Each grade level contains five interdisciplinary teams. These interdisciplinary teams instruct students in the disciplines of math, social studies, science, and literacy. Spanish is offered for eligible eighth graders in addition to their reading instruction. Additionally, DMS offers inclusion settings for ELL and ESS students within the teams (DMS Title 1 Design Team, 2012).

Goals According to Title 1 Plan (2012): Goal 1: To provide professional learning opportunities for all staff members to increase awareness of how to engage all students and how best to address the differences among all students. Goal 2: To provide support services and programs for students and the school community that will enhance learning opportunities and promote a successful transition for a significantly diverse population. Goal 3: To increase the percentage of students in grades six through eight performing at or above grade level in mathematics and to continue to implement instructional strategies and programs that will challenge all students. Goal 4: To increase the percentage of students in grades six through eight reading at or above grade level, to increase the reading levels of below grade level readers and to incorporate opportunities that will challenge all learners to become competent, life-long readers. Goal 5: To increase the percentage of students performing on target or exceeding target as measured by the Georgia Writing Assessment criteria. (p. 18-19)

Stakeholders Sixth grade through eighth grade teachers Sixth grade through eighth grade students Parents of students enrolled in the school The districts technology department Media Specialists

7 Center Administrators: Principal and assistant principals Community members The board members of the school system

Key Personnel and Brief Position Descriptions

Principal: Head of the middle school who makes most of the final decisions on the administrative side. This person is responsible for the entire staff and everyone on the staff reports to this position. 8th Grade Assistant Principal: Deals directly with all 8th grade teachers. Any needs, complaints, and requests regarding the 8th grade teachers and/or students are reported to this position. 7th Grade Assistant Principal: Deals directly with all 7th grade teachers. Any needs, complaints, and requests regarding the 7th grade teachers and/or students are reported to this position. 6th Grade Assistant Principal: Deals directly with all 6th grade teachers. Any needs, complaints, and requests regarding the 6th grade teachers and/or students are reported to this position. Connections Assistant Principal: Deals directly with all the connections teachers. Any needs, complaints, and requests regarding the connections teachers are reported to this position. Technology Technician: Responsible for keeping all technology in the school running, fixing any problems in a timely manner, and keeping track of the technology inventory of the school. All HelpDesk requests are reported to this position. Any issues with carrying out these requests require the person in this position to coordinate a solution with a Technology Specialist. The Technology Technician keeps up with updates, software installations, warrantee status, network issues, and laptop replacements. Media Specialists: Responsible for seven I-Pad carts, one I-Pod cart, four carts of netbooks, and 30 Kindles. Any I-Pad apps that are requested by teachers are purchased by the person in this position. Title 1 purchases, DVDs, student response systems, and document cameras are checked out to teachers through the Media Specialists. Part of the Media Center is used as a computer lab, so the Media Specialists keep up with who is signed up for what times.

Current Status of the Center According to the districts web site, the middle school serves about 1725 students in grades 6-8 (Dalton Public Schools: Our Schools, 2013). The school is in the process of phasing out the

8 television sets. The goal is to use laptops for any media needs. All teachers have currently been assigned individual Dell Netbooks to use. Smart boards are located in all classrooms, as well as document cameras. The Social Studies teachers have two carts, one I-Pad and one I-Pod, with 1530 devices on each cart. These two carts are shared within the Social Studies department and are used in place of textbooks. There are four carts of Netbooks, seven I-Pad carts and one I-Pod cart, each with 15-30 devices that can be checked out by any teacher in the building. The Media Center houses 30 Kindles that are available for check out by students.

V. Center Activities
The middle school currently has blended learning environments with regards to the saturation of one-to-one technology integration. On one team, all the teachers have received class sets of Lenovo laptops for their students to use while in the classroom. Another two teachers are piloting an initiative to let their students take home their individual laptops. The 7th grade math team has Lenovos for all of their students to use while in the classroom as well. All of this teams curriculum is located on an online learning management system called Instructure Canvas. As a result, this team is not using any textbooks. Throughout their middle school career, students rotate throughout all of the connections classes that are offered. Connections classes at the middle school consist of various types of classes. Drama, band, foreign language, and technology classes are all offered. There are four types of technology classes that are offered. These classes were revamped a few years ago with the development of new technologies. The classes used to be more basic, such as keyboarding. Now, the four classes are as follows: Office Applications, Web 2.0, Digital Media, and Business. A journalism class has begun to be incorporate technology by having students add and edit web pages to the schools web site. Office Applications teaches students the basics of PowerPoint, Excel, and Microsoft Academy: Access. In the Web 2.0 class, students learn about Digital Citizenship and online presentation resources, such as: Voki, Animoto, Wordle, Blabberize, and Comic Creator. They also work with the more creative side of PowerPoint by learning how to add borders, picture groupings, color, and adding hyperlinks. The Digital Media class offers students the opportunity to work with videos and images. A T.V. studio and yearbook are all aspects of this course in which students are able to participate. Lastly, students learn all about the marketing side of business in the Business class. They learn how to use Photoshop, Adobe software, and Graphic Design. Using this

9 software, students create flyers and posters to market upcoming school events such as dances and sports events. Each of these four classes has about 30 desktops set up for students to use. Desktops were chosen as opposed to laptops because the parts are easier to replace on a desktop. In the Journalism class, 8th graders update the school web site and use I-pads to take pictures for the site. The 7th graders taking this class use Microsoft Publisher. All their projects are done on desktops. One of their big projects is creating public service announcements that air on the schools morning show. The 6th grade class creates a school newsletter which is released once every nine weeks. The journalism classroom does not have a one-to-one desktop to student ratio like the four technology classes, so students work in pairs on desktops throughout the classroom to complete projects. The journalism teachers goal is to get students interested in whats going on and share it with others. This teacher would someday like to have surface tablets for all students and perhaps collaborate with the marketing teacher to post the advertisements created by students in the business class on the schools web site.

VI. Evaluation
Judgment The first goal of the middle school deals with providing teachers with professional learning opportunities focusing on differentiating instruction and increasing student engagement. However, as a result of multiple interviews, it is evident that none of the professional learning focuses on the use of technology or how to implement it to effectively impact student learning. The understanding is that teachers will figure out what they need to know on their own. Smart boards, document cameras, student response systems, and all other types of technology that exist in the school have been implemented with no training provided to the staff. The only training that has been provided has been for those interested in the online learning management system, Instructure Canvas. This training was provided online and was expected to be done outside of the school day, not during a designated professional learning time. This training was also not required of all staff. Only those who were interested participated. According to an interview with one of the Media Specialists, there is an insufficient amount of I-Pads and I-Pods for Social Studies department to share. Everyone in this department relies on these as a source of information for their students. In the Media Center, there are 30 Kindles

10 available for individual students to check out, but the Media Specialist said there is not a set of Kindles for classroom use. With regards to the first goals mention of differentiation, the student response systems that are available to teachers provide a fast and effective way for teachers to collect data on an individual basis to see who needs more assistance. However, according to the Media Specialist, the clickers, as theyre affectionately referred to, are the biggest technology issue for the Media Specialists as they are known to frequently malfunction. The school, along with the rest of the district, is working towards a one-to-one device initiative. At this point, the school is in the early stages of this goal. As of this year, the middle school does not yet have devices for each of its students. However, nine out of the 10 classrooms that were observed for this report had a device for every student. The tenth classroom did have desktops, just not enough for every student. Only two teachers in the entire school allow their students to take home their laptops at this point. By working towards a one-to-one ratio, however, the school is indeed in the process of achieving a way to engage its learners and improve differentiation. A few of the roles within the organizational chart seemed a bit murky. No one was quite sure of the exact role of the Instructional Technology position or the responsibilities that were associated with the role. Also, it did not seem as though all staff understood the chain of command when a technology issue arose. Considering three different technology roles can be present at any given time, between the Technology Specialist, Technology Technician, and Media Specialists, sometimes staff go directly to the top instead of using the proper channels. The Media Specialists are supposed to be called upon first for minor technology issues, but sometimes staff skips over them and either goes directly to the technician or even the specialist. This causes project productivity of the technicians and specialists to suffer. According to an interview with the schools Technology Technician, the procedure for software evaluation is vague. The administration apparently has a large leeway when it comes to choosing which software to purchase for the school. This can cause a multitude of problems. For instance, students could end up using ineffective software, which would, in fact, be a waste of the middle schools resources, both in terms of time and money spent.

11 Recommendations to Improve the Operations of the Center

Monitor the bandwidth used to see what may be needed in the future to prepare for the oneto-one initiative. Offer technology training to staff as a professional learning opportunity. Improved communication regarding specific technology roles needs to be established. Considering there are no textbooks available to use when I-Pads or I-Pods are not available, there needs to be an increased amount of devices for the entire Social Studies department to use.

Software evaluation and purchases should be required to go through the technology department.

VII. Part B: Monthly Report

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VIII. References
DMS Title 1 Design Team. ( 2012, October 30). Title 1 Plan. Retrieved from http://s139428.gridserver.com/images/uploads/school_dms/docs/2012_Title_Plan.pdf (2013). Dalton Middle School. Retrieved from http://dms.daltonpublicschools.com/ (2013). Dalton Public Schools: Our Schools. Retrieved from http://daltonpublicschools.com/our- schools/

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IX. Appendices
Appendix A: Teacher Interview Questions: 1. What are the ways you are using technology in your teaching? 2. What types of technology are students learning about when they take part in your class? 3. How many devices do you typically use in your classroom on a regular basis? 4. How many devices do you have assigned to your particular classroom? 5. What are some limitations, if any, that you are experiencing with regards to technology? Appendix B: Student Interview Questions: 1. What are the ways you are using technology in your learning? 2. Do you use this same technology any at home? 3. Do you prefer to use technology in alignment with your learning? 4. What are the pros and cons of using technology in the classroom? Appendix C: Observation Checklist Class Observed -

Number of students

Number of devices

Types of devices

Number of students using devices

Programs/software being used

Amount of time spent observing