Running head: CORLEY ELEMENTARY NEEDS ASSESSMENT 1

Corley Elementary Needs Assessment

Lauren E.H. Gurley

University of West Georgia

June 23, 2018

CORLEY ELEMENTARY NEEDS ASSESSMENT 2

Abstract

Needs assessments are used to inform individuals or groups of any improvements needed to

improve an organization. For this needs assessment I focused on educational technology at

Corley Elementary. This upcoming school year I will be the Technology Coordinator and part of

my job will be improving technology. This needs assessment informed me of areas that have

deficits and also areas that are strengths. For this assignment I focused primarily on the

technology tools and resources available to the staff at Corley. This needs assessment allowed

me to understand the current stake of Corley and their use of educational technology. Following

this assignment I will be going into my new role more educated on the current state of the school

and how to help improve the technology.

CORLEY ELEMENTARY NEEDS ASSESSMENT 3

Introduction

My name is Lauren Gurley. This upcoming school year I will be the Local School Technology

Coordinator for Corley Elementary School located in Gwinnett County. My role will be to support pre-k

through fifth grade teachers with integrating technology into their classrooms. I will serve as a technology

coach guiding teachers through new technology resources as well as our eClass platform supported by

D2L. I will be required to provide teachers with professional development as well as model proper use of

technology integration throughout the school year.

Description of Needs Assessment Process

For the needs assessment I began by researching what exactly a needs assessment is and the

intended outcome of a needs assessment. I started by using the resources provided by the professor. I have

never done a needs assessment prior to this so it required a lot of time. O’Reily (2016) explains that there

is a push for technology integration but the reality is today’s teachers represent a diverse cohort when it

comes to effectively deploying technology tools. It is important to conduct a needs assessment to see what

current technology and resources are available to teachers and what the need is for teachers moving

forward. Since I know that there is limited funding available for the technology in the building I focused

more on the way teachers utilize technology more.

Before beginning to create a survey and an interview to give to a selected group of employees at

the school level, I evaluated the current technology plan that is in place. The technology plan focuses on

the ways teachers will implement technology at different grade levels. I decided that since I am new at

this role I would use my experience as a teacher, the technology plan, and the ISTE standards to guide my

creation of the survey and interview. Each stakeholder in the school plays a different role with integrating

technology in the building. Fortunately, these standards break down the way technology is intended to be

used at the different levels.

Description of the Needs Assessment Process

When creating the needs assessment, I considered the possible needs of the school. Since this

school is new to me, I had the current Technology Coordinator email me the schools’ current technology
CORLEY ELEMENTARY NEEDS ASSESSMENT 4

plan. It seems that the school is well equipped with technology, it is just that the teachers are sure how to

effectively use the technology to enhance instruction. I spent the beginning of my time analyzing the

current technology plan. Then I dedicated my next step to figuring out what questions would be important

to ask teachers to help guide me, at the beginning of the school year next year. The questions that I asked

were questions that I will be able to have an impact on next year. These are things that will be in my

control to change next year.

For the administrator and the media specialist interview I asked questions that were aligned to the

ISTE standards. I wanted to see how well they were following the current practice in place. I also wanted

to get an idea of how I can be of support to them and teachers next year. I was very curious to know the

administrators’ perspective with technology since she is an evaluator. My priority is to provide teachers

support so that they are maximizing the use of technology in the classroom. It was important for me to

understand what administration would like to see when they come into classrooms.

When developing the report for the needs assessment, I analyzed any commonalities between the

survey for teachers and the two interviews. I started to recognize that the teachers in the building are

using technology but they are lacking the variety. It seems that teachers would truly benefit from

coaching, modeling, and professional development in ways to maximize their technology use. I

considered ways that I could support teachers in incorporating technology standards into their classroom

instruction.

Available Technology

Corley Elementary is a title one school which allows for extra funding in regards to technology.

All classroom teachers are provided with a ladybug document camera, three kindle fire devices, and

clicker set. Kindergarten teachers get seven iPads each. The rest of the grade levels get laptops; first six

each, second 8 each, third seven each, fourth eight each, and fifth eight each. There are two STEAM

classes that have six Chromebooks each. Each resource teacher has four devices. The parent center has

three laptops that parents have access to check out. There are also two labs in the building and each lab

has twenty-four computers.

CORLEY ELEMENTARY NEEDS ASSESSMENT 5

All teachers in the building have access to checkout project carts. There are a total of 64 devices

on all four of the project carts. Each classroom in the building has an interactive Mimio or Smartboard.

Overall, I feel that Corley Elementary provides teacher with an adequate amount of technology. Based on

my survey results it seems as if teachers could still maximize their use of the technology in their

classroom. I feel the best way to maximize the use it to model for teachers ways to use the different

technology provided to them.

Needs Assessment Participants

My needs assessment survey participants were a bit random. Since I will be transitioning to

Corley next school year, I do not really know any of the teachers that well. I have met about two already

so I sent them the survey and then asked them if they could forward it to their team. I ended up receiving

the survey from eleven participants. All of the participants are classroom teachers at Corley Elementary.

Their years of experience vary from one year of teaching to more than eleven years of experience. All of

these participants were valuable because it was a variety of grade levels so I was able to get an idea of

where the school is currently in regards to technology.

For the interview I interviewed the current Media Specialist as well as the part-time

administrator. The Media Specialist will be completing her final year in her career next year. She has a lot

of experience with teaching about technology. She is someone I will work closely with next year. She is

in a white female in her late fifties. She teaches three grade levels technology specials. I valued her input

for this interview because she has been working at Corley for a long time and has seen it evolve. She

understands what the pros and cons are with technology in the building. She also knows the staff well

enough to know what they may need to be successful.

The administrator is a part-time white administrator in her sixties. She is in charge of title 1 and

second grade. She is responsible for evaluating teachers as well as documenting any title 1 funding and

paperwork. Her input was beneficial for me because she has been an administrator for quite some time.

She has also been at other schools and knows the difference from school to school in Gwinnett. She also
CORLEY ELEMENTARY NEEDS ASSESSMENT 6

is in classrooms teachers often evaluating and knows how teachers implement technology in their daily

practice.

Major Outcomes

After analyzing the data, I recognized that the teachers, media specialist, and administrator do

feel well equipped with technology. The fact that everyone feels that they have the technology is a great

first step. It seems that the teachers feel pretty comfortable with using technology in their classroom but

they are struggling with the extension. Six teachers felt neutral and disagree that they use technology to

support authentic learning through a variety of digital tools that extend others’ learning. This would be an

easy fix, exposing teachers to technology tools that they can implement into their classroom. Six people

do not feel like they also explore technology. Teachers lack time to learn new tools so this one did not

surprise me. This is why throughout the school year that technology professional development will be

important.

The last question on the survey for teachers asked which technology tools they were familiar

with. I noticed that not that many teachers use Front Row, Weebly, and eMaze. Front Row is a great Web

2.0 tool that is aligned to math curriculum that would be great for teachers to use in stations. Weebly and

eMaze are both great sites for students to create products. This past year I used Weebly and eMaze with

my students and they were able to truly extend their learning. I think that teacher teachers new tools will

improve their teaching practice as well as the student achievement levels.

The media specialist seems to need support in regards to students conducting research. I can help

support this by providing teachers with professional developments on ways to incorporate Project Based

Learnings’ in the classroom. Everything that the media specialist relays to teachers is valuable to the

students’ education. It seems like a lot of information is delivered to teachers and then expected to be

passed down by word of mouth. I may figure out a way to ensure that the messages are relayed by posting

information into a newsletter.

After analyzing the administrators’ survey it seems that the main need is for teachers to branch

out on the type of technology they use. The school has an adequate amount of technology provided to
CORLEY ELEMENTARY NEEDS ASSESSMENT 7

teachers. It seems that teachers do utilize the technology in their classroom but they may benefit from

using the technology available for check out in the school. The teachers could check out the MUDD cart

and incorporate more project based learning within the classroom. It seems teachers need lessons modeled

with ways to incorporate a variety of technology. Also, teachers may benefit from me coaching them.

Priority Needs

It seems that the priority needs for this needs assessment is providing professional development

for Web 2.0 tools, teachers using a variety of technology in their class, and professional development for

researching. According to the administrators’ survey they do not use a variety of technology tools.

Teachers seem to primarily use technology for Web 2.0 sites rather than students creating products. This

upcoming school year I can provide professional development to teachers in order to introduce them to

the research tools available for them and their students. I can also model lessons which require students to

research. Throughout the year I can also continue to provide lessons for teachers that require students to

research.

NEED CAUSES CONSEQUENCES DIFFICULTY TO

CORRECT (LOW,
MEDIUM, HIGH)
Professional Lack of time for Not maximizing Medium
development of teachers technology tools to
technology tools or support student
Web 2.0 tools to learning.
support education

Teachers using a Teachers do not know Students are not being Low
variety of technology in how to use certain tools exposed to multiple
their classrooms in the building types of technology

Professional Lack of time for Students are not Medium

development for teachers researching and
research tools teachers are not
adequately preparing
them to be college and
career ready.

Action Plan
CORLEY ELEMENTARY NEEDS ASSESSMENT 8

For this action plan I picked three areas of needs. It is apparently that teachers are not maximizing

their use of technology tools in the classroom. Although teachers are provided with an adequate amount

of technology, they are lacking the variety. To resolve this issue, I will try to make time during their

planning to provide professional development to introduce them different Web 2.0 tools that they can

incorporate in the classroom. This will not only benefit the teachers but also the students.

Next, the data led me to believe that not all teachers use all of the technology provided in their

classroom. Given the technology the teachers have, the teachers could be using all tools daily. The

ladybug, or document camera, can be used daily when modeling strategies in education. The laptops can

be used for stations and the SmartBoards can be used for interactive tools. Students need to familiarize

themselves with multiple different types of technology.

Finally, teachers need to be conducting research daily in order to adequately be college and career

ready. The media specialist provides support in the area of research however, I can provide additional

support by modeling lessons for teachers. By modeling research lessons for teachers they will be able to

better integrate students researching into their daily instruction. The administrator models proper use of

technology in the classroom. Since administrators are the primary evaluators it may be ideal for me to

meet with the administration team in order to see what their technology expectations are.
CORLEY ELEMENTARY NEEDS ASSESSMENT 9

References

O'Reilly, E. N. (2016). Developing technology needs assessments for educational programs: An

analysis of eight key indicators. International Journal of Education and Development

Using Information and Communication Technology, 12(1), 129-143.

Appendix

Interview with the Media Specialist:

Questions
1) What is your name, current title and how
long have you worked on this job?
2)How do you inspire and lead development
and implementation of a shared vision for
comprehensive integration of technology to
promote excellence and support
transformation throughout your school?
3)Do you assist teachers in using technology
effectively for assessing
students learning, differentiating instruction,
and providing rigorous,
relevant and engaging learning experiences
for all students? If so, how?
Answers
Jamie Nobles. Media Specialist. 15 years
I try to find out about new technology and
share it with a few teachers and work with
them. These teachers then talk about it with
other teachers and the word spreads. I also
use the technology when I teach specials. I
work closely with the LSTC to know areas I
need to focus on with the teachers. Most of
the teachers are receptive to new ideas. I will
often share ideas when they come in the
media center looking for ideas.
Yes, I do show them some of the resources
we have online that make it easier to
differentiate activities. Our county provides
many resources and many of the teachers are
not aware of most of them. I usually do this
on an individual basis and I am always glad to
have the teacher bring in his/her whole class.

4)How do you create and support effective
digital age learning environments to
maximize learning of all students?
5)Have you ever delivered professional
development to the staff? If so, explain your
most successful one.
Our computers in the media. Enter are
available for teachers to use. I often help
teachers with their projects when they are in
the media center. I also help small groups
with their projects in the media center.
I work with our new teachers to show them
the resources that are available.
CORLEY ELEMENTARY NEEDS ASSESSMENT
6)How do you support teachers to directly
impact instructional practice?
7)How do you promote digital citizenship?
8)What do you use to guide you to model
professional knowledge, skills, and
dispositions with technology?
9)What technology or software do you
encourage teachers to use the most and why?
10)What change would you like to see with
technology in your setting?
11)What is something you want to work on
this upcoming school year to promote the use
of technology?
Interview with the Administrator:
Questions
1)What is your name, current title and how
long have you worked on this job?
2) How do you inspire and lead development
and implementation of a shared vision for
comprehensive integration of technology to
promote excellence and support
transformation throughout your school?
3) How do you create, promote and sustain a
dynamic, digital-age learning culture that
provides a rigorous, relevant, and engaging
education for all students?
10
I am available to work with teachers and
students with projects. I teach the students
and the teachers assist with these activity.
I talk to the students about the internet and
that everything on the internet is not true.
Since we are an elementary school we limit
the sites our students can access. We talk
about the importance of logging on and off
and to report things that aren’t right.
We use the ISTE standards and a lot of
common sense. We try to stop problems
before they happen.
We use the online research sites. They are
not search engines but databases.
I would like for the students to be able to
utilize the resources. Many of them are not
able to do research because they cannot
inference. I wish technology could be used
for accessing background knowledge and not
for programs that are used to teach math and
reading.
Students that are able to research to verify
facts. Students need to be able to do more
than read an article. They need to be able to
discern the facts and make sense of the
information they are reading.
Answers
Tammy Knox, Assistant Principal, 6 years.
As an Admin team, we work with the
Technology team to develop a technology
integration plan. Time during the school day
is provided for the Tech team and the grade
level tech leaders to work on the plan that will
be shared with their team members.
We use the eCLASS learning management
system to create and deliver lessons for
students. In order for teachers to feel
competent in using the LMS, they also
CORLEY ELEMENTARY NEEDS ASSESSMENT 11

participate in using eCLASS to complete

Professional Development and to work
collaboratively with their grade level.
4) How do you promote an environment of Professional learning is embedded in their
professional learning and innovation that collaborative learning teams, the new teacher
empowers educators to enhance student cohort meetings and staff development
learning through the infusion of contemporary days. The PL focuses on using technology to
technologies and digital resources? enhance student learning through the use of
Web 2.0 tools that allow for student creation
to demonstrate their learning.
5) What type of digital age leadership and The Admin team uses eCLASS and other
management do you implement at the local digital resources to deliver PD and to gather
school level to improve the effective use of data to determine student
information and technology resources? achievement. Teachers are in the "student"
role when this occurs so that they can
experience both the teacher and student role
of using technology.
6) How do you model and facilitate The Admin team models these responsibilities
understanding of social, ethical, and legal with their use of technology with teachers and
issues and responsibilities to related to an students.
evolving digital culture?
7) What technology is currently available in Laptops, chromebooks, iPads, Kindle Fire
your building? devices, SMART boards, Mimio interactive,
response clickers, Ladibug, ceiling mount
projectors, wireless microphones, MUDD
cart, Polycom system, video & digital
cameras.
8) Does the staff at your school currently I'm not sure that they maximize their use of
maximize their use with technology? What technology, but they are using technology in
technology do they use most often? What their classrooms. The student devices -
technology would you like to see them use laptops, chromebooks, iPads are used most
more? often. The other collaborative tools - MUDD
(Multi user display device) and Polycom
system should be used more.
9) What funds are provided to improve Title I and local school funds are used to
technology at your school yearly? improve technology.
10) What processes are in place to encourage It is an expectation that there is technology
the use of technology in the classroom? integration in the lesson plans. It is part of
our teacher evaluation process to gauge where
teachers stand on the GCPS transformed
classroom scale.
11) What change would you like to see with I would like to see students using technology
technology in your setting? for creation and demonstration of
understanding instead of just to do activities
and computer enrichment/remediation
CORLEY ELEMENTARY NEEDS ASSESSMENT
12) What is something you want to work on
this upcoming school year to promote the use
of technology?
12
I plan on working with teachers on
implementing the data in their formative
instructional practices through technology use
and Schoolnet. The use of the graphs and
charts will illustrate how their students
performed and show them what they still need
to work on.