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Meeting Details: 3:30-4:30pm at the District Registration Center Conference Room Schools Represented: Bemis, Carter, Curtis, Eisenhower, Kucera, Myers, Trapp New Year: New committee members were welcomed and encouraged to familiarize themselves with the meeting minutes from last year (available on this blog) and the new District Educational Technology Plan available on the committee's website. One of the primary goals of the committee this year will be to continue reviewing gradebook programs and develop a recommendation for districtwide adoption.
Gradebook Program Review - Easy Grade Pro: Brent Copeland, teacher at Kucera, demonstrated how he uses Easy Grade Pro for standards-based grading. The following provides a brief synopsis of the functionality. More details and a demo version can be downloaded from the company website. - Standards-based Grading: In addition to traditional point/percentage grading, EGP supports grading by standard. An assignment can be identified with one or more standards and the score for each of these standards can be entered. The resulting student report shows each standard, the assignments that addressed that standard, the score for each assignment, the overall score on the standard, and the overall score across all standards. Key standards can be weighted within the overall score for the class.
- Management: the student roster can be copied from one class to another; a student and his/her grades can be moved from one class to another (in the case of a student changing periods); teacher can hide/show dropped students; an assignment can be copied from one class to another
- Reports: a variety of reports are available with many options to customize each of them. The list includes a student progress report by standard, missing assignments, roster sheet, and more.
- Compatability: does have the ability to interface with student information system (eSchool) to auto-enroll students; can import from assessment software (DataDirector, student response systems); can export traditional grades (not standards-based grades) into eChalk.
- Additional Features: includes seating chart, attendance tracking, behavioral notes. Has an optional web-publishing subscription to provide parent access to
grades; also has a web-based version of the gradebook program (with yearly
subscription fee) that allows teachers to enter scores from any
computer.
Committee members suggested also reviewing GradeQuick and SnapGrades. Cyberbullying: All certificated staff will be expected to complete the online Cyberbullying course in the Keenan SafeSchools program. This course was selected by the committee last year to address the need to train staff in how to identify and address cyberbullying. The course takes 25 minutes to complete and can be done through any Internet-connected computer. Committee members recommended principals set aside time during a staff meeting to allow their staff to complete the course; a completion date of 1/1/2010 was agreed upon. An announcement via email will provide directions on how to access the training. eChalk Expectations: All teachers, counselors, and administrators need to activate their eChalk account so they are listed in the Faculty & Staff directory on the school homepage. As part of the activation process, they need to verify the email settings are configured to forward mail to Outlook. Teachers are also strongly encouraged to establish a class page with a copy of their parent letter/syllabus; this class page can then be used to support technology integration and parental involvement. Schools are also expected to post their school events on the school calendar which will be used to automatically generate a districtwide calendar of school events. Each site has an eChalk site manager to assist staff in achieving these goals.
Next Meeting: October 1st, 3:30-4:30, District Registration Center Conference Room
I shared the following thoughts with the Board of Education this evening. Good evening, my name is Noelle Kreider, and I’m the District Technology Integration Coach and the parent of a Carter High School student. I’ve attended recent board meetings and what I’ve heard is we must focus on what is essential as we deal with the current economic challenges. We are in survival mode – what are the things we must have? Indeed, this question is being asked in many households throughout our community. But in education, survival thinking must also be proactive, forward thinking. We cannot forget that we are preparing students to graduate every year and face the challenges of this 21st Century world with the skills we have provided them. So, what do we deem to be essential for our students? The historical response to that question has been reading, writing, and arithmetic. Indeed, the accountability measures we face from the district, state, and federal levels reinforce this. Yet, I would argue that these are no longer sufficient to prepare our students for today’s society, or their future. The US Department of Labor estimates that today’s learners will have 10 to 14 jobs by their 38th birthday. Half of today’s workers have been with their current employer less than 5 years. So, when we ask ourselves what is essential for our students, we must be very cognizant of how our own experiences differ from what is happening beyond our classrooms. Technology plays an ever increasing role in every aspect of our society. Technology is no longer an option – it is the vehicle through which the skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic are used in today’s colleges and workforce. So we must ask ourselves, does the learning environment we provide our students reflect the learning and work environment they will face the day they step out our doors? The technology expenditures of our district have focused on tools that increase efficiency and effectiveness of our employees. At the classroom level, we’re equipping teachers with computers, projectors, document cameras and interactive whiteboards. Yet, if you ask students how they use technology on a daily basis in our schools, you’ll find the majority of responses are for programs like Accelerated Reader, Ticket to Read, etc. What is far less common is student use of technology for higher-order thinking skills as required by NCLB – research, productivity, and communication. These are the essential skills we must integrate into our students’ learning experiences on a daily basis. eChalk provides the tools to make this possible in the classroom. Nearly 700 people responded to our online survey requesting feedback on eChalk – 83% said they think it is a valuable tool for our district. So I urge everyone to re-evaluate how you define what is essential for today’s students who must compete in a global, technological workforce. My daughter will be a 3rd generation Rialto Unified graduate. But unlike her mother and her grandfather, she will not be competing with students from Redlands, San Bernardino, and Fontana for her place in college and the workforce; she will be competing with students from around the world for many different jobs in her lifetime, most of which don’t exist yet. We must seize this opportunity to refine our vision of what is essential for our students and look to their future in doing so. Thank you.
Location: Preston, Room P2
Schools Represented: Bemis, Boyd, Casey, Fitzgerald, Henry, Morgan, Morris, Myers, Preston, Simpson, Trapp, Werner
Inventory & Professional Development Participation: - Noelle provided a site printout of the current/missing inventory #'s. Please send missing RUSD/Serial numbers to Noelle asap.
- Site printout also indicated the number of hours teachers have participated in eSTELLAR activities so far. Please contact those teachers who have little/no participation and remind them of training dates.
Preparing for Mid-Year Data Collection in January: a mid year report is due in February which requires us to indicate our progress toward all benchmarks. Please do the following to prepare your site for this. - Please verify your participating teachers have a class page with resources for parents, such as the beginning of the year parent letter, links to websites, etc.
- Be sure all students in the target group know how to access Grolier. (The target group is all eSTELLAR classes at Round 6 schools and only lead teacher's classes at Round 7 schools.)
- Laptop Cart Checkout Log: use it! Download from Lead Teacher folder on the eSTELLAR group page.
Other: - Please post lessons! Leads and participating teachers can get eSTELLAR pay if they share a lesson in the eChalk lesson planner that integrates teacher or student use of technology in science. (Round 7 schools may not have Lesson Planner yet - email lessons to Noelle.)
- Leads can claim eSTELLAR time for providing parent training at your school site on the use of online resources. Parents from eSTELLAR classes must be included; science must be addressed.
- Please encourage participating teachers to implement the use of science notebooks. This is where they collect the information from their online research, record reflections about their technology-based learning, etc.
- The Public Library is willing to visit your class to show how to use their online reference databases. See Noelle for contact info.
- Funding for Round 7 has still not arrived. Due to state budget issues, the district cannot spend this money before it is received.
- We reviewed how to access the online math textbook. Directions are posted on the Elementary Math page in eChalk.
- All students in the target group should have eChalk accounts to store their work, turn it in electronically, and participate in class discussion boards. The student handout is available on the eSTELLAR page and tutorials are available for teachers in the Professional Development System.
WIFTS: (What I Forgot To Say) - Administrators at Round 6 schools should be doing one classroom observation per month in each eSTELLAR classroom. Teachers are encouraged to invite administrators to their class when they are doing a lesson integrating teacher or student use of technology in science.
- Don't forget to update your iGoogle lead teacher log!
Location: Preston, Room P2
Schools Represented: Curtis, Garcia, Morgan, Morris, Preston, Trapp - Laptop carts:
- The new laptop profile allows students to save files to the laptop's hard drive in the My Documents folder. This requires students to have the same laptop the following day (unless they save their file in their eChalk account).
- Noelle will provide stickers to label the side of the laptops with numbers so students can easily retrieve the same laptop the following day.
- Schools should develop a cart rotation schedule that works best for the eSTELLAR teachers. All eSTELLAR teachers should incorporate student use of technology at least once a week, on average.
- Carts can be used after the school day for other site purposes such as parent training, staff development, or after school programs. The site lead should work with the site administrator to determine protocols that will ensure appropriate use and security of the equipment.
- eChalk:
- Lead teachers should have the Manage Site function in their eChalk account so they can assist other teachers and address site issues promptly. If you don't have this button in the left sidebar of your eChalk account, contact Noelle.
- All student accounts were uploaded into eChalk on 8/8/08. All eSTELLAR teachers need to enroll their students in their eChalk class pages so they can use these accounts effectively.
- Noelle and Debbie Genz are working on lesson plans that introduce the various functions of students' eChalk accounts including class discussion board, student email, submitting work to the homework drop box. The lessons will be available in the eChalk Lesson Planner under the Shared Lessons area.
- New eSTELLAR Teachers:
- Of the 41 teachers in the eSTELLAR program at Round 6 schools, 14 (34%) are new to the program in this second year of the grant. Site leads need to meet frequently with these teachers to assist them in rapid implementation of the program.
- Noelle will post the teacher role description and grant overview presentation on the eSTELLAR website for new teachers to access.
- Lead Teacher Role:
- This year the school Science Lead Teacher (previously called Science Specialists) and the eSTELLAR Lead Teacher are one-in-the-same. The eSTELLAR Grant will cover the extra-duty for attending the monthly lead teacher meetings. Ed D'Souza has asked the principals to fund an additional 20 hours of time for you to address K-3 needs and site level tasks related to the performance assessments.
The Public Policy Institute of California recently released their latest study of California's Digital Divide. According to the study, Latinos across the state have the lowest rate of Internet use at 48%, compared to over 80% for White, Black, and Asian groups. Additionally, the Inland Empire ranks 4th out of 5 regions for Internet use, at 70% compared to the high of 77% in the San Francisco Bay Area. So, how is Rialto Unified addressing the digital divide? Several thoughts come to mind:
- We aggressively seek funding so we can increase students' access to and use of technology. In fact, we were just awarded another round of the highly competitive Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) Grant! As a result, all elementary schools will participate in Project eSTELLAR to integrate technology in science at 4th and 5th grade. This is an extension of the previous middle school grant in which all 6th through 8th grade science classrooms were equipped with modern technology.
- Students are encouraged to access technology before and after school in their school library, the After-School Education and Safety program provided by the City of Rialto, and at the two Rialto branches of the San Bernardino County Public Library, one of which is conveniently located on Carter High School's campus.
- Rialto creates high value and purpose for a home connection by providing district, school, and class level webpages that increase home-school communication. Parents can use these resources on our eChalk websites to be more involved in their children's education and students can use them to extend learning beyond the school day. A built-in translation tool allows visitors to view these webpages in 22 different languages!
- Parents are provided technology training at many school and district events. At Back-to-School Night, teachers demonstrate how to access their class webpages and email addresses. At Family Science Night, parents and students learn together how to do online research and create a report. Parent meetings at school sites often involve the demonstration and hands-on learning of technology resources targeted to parents' and students' needs.
In a district challenged to address the achievement gap of our diverse population, the digital divide is not ignored. Instead, these issues are addressed in tandem to support student success. Providing a high-quality, 21st Century education for every student is the top priority of our district. As we work to revise our District Technology Plan in the coming months, we will be collecting data to more accurately identify the digital divide in Rialto and other issues related to ensuring our students are prepared for today's digital world.
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