T3 Report April 1, 2010
by Jerrod Pickering
April 10, 2010
T3 Grant Progress Report
March 31, 2010
Both Lorenzo and Floydada ISD grant managers have attended the required T3 meetings. Select teachers and administrators attended the ASCD conference and the TCEA conference, both of which highlighted technology immersion in the classroom. In addition, all administrators attended the Technology Conference at Lubbock Christian University in March.
Lorenzo ISD
All Promethean Electronic Whiteboards, Wireless slates, and student response systems have been installed into all classrooms across the district and basic introductory training has been provided to all teachers. Promethean originally was going to provide further training over the summer and early August 2010. However, the Region 17 Service Center, has recently signed a contract with Promethean to become an authorized trainer. Now training can be conducted with our teachers as a part of our regular technology contract. We can now use professional development funds to target other areas of technology integration.
All science probes have been ordered from PASCO with some training scheduled for late May and during the summer. Our teachers and students, however, have already conducted several experiments using the probes. In fact, our 11th grade Chemistry students wrote a lab utilizing the probes and took them over to the elementary and taught our 5th & 6th graders various lessons using the probes.
The Mobile ITV unit has been the slowest area to make ready. The equipment arrived in November, however, a technician to install the equipment did not become available until mid-March. The equipment has been put together and plans are being made to integrate that unit into the classrooms.
In February, the Principal and Grant Manager issued a needs-assessment survey to his teachers. The results came back requesting further help on intervention and assessment strategies. Combined with these survey results, upcoming End-Of-Course exams, recent workshops introducing the EOC and STAAR exams, and information presented at the ASCD conference it is becoming apparent that formative assessment is going to be critical for student success. In preparation of the new exams it was decided that, beginning in May of 2010 through May of 2011 Lorenzo ISD will begin transforming their campus to include technology-based formative assessment. Dr. Cathy Box of Lubbock Christian University and Ty Duncan from the Region 17 Service Center will be on campus teaching these concepts. The trainings will be based upon the writings of Dr. Robert Marzano and Jan Chappuis. Their formative assessment strategies will be coupled with technology integration ideas to form a new type of formative assessment not typically discussed in the literature. Data will be collected by Lubbock Christian University and the results will be published through the combined efforts of LCU and Lorenzo ISD. Teachers from Floydada will also attend these trainings and report back to their campus to determine the needs of their district. The contracts have been written, the training materials ordered, and dates have been set.
Floydada ISD
An interactive board order for 29 boards was placed with Data Projections in November of 2009. The 29 boards were on backorder and arrived on Monday, March 29, 2010. The boards are being installed now. The payment has not been sent to Data Projections due to a discrepancy in the billing address and we are waiting to hear from Data Projections. We contacted them again on Monday. Currently, FISD has installed 4 interactive boards at the high school campus that are part of a pilot with our board vendor and will be purchased at a significantly reduced cost through local funds after the pilot program. Training for the use of all boards was secured by Mr. Vaughn, Superintendent, through our board vendor for no cost (or very little cost). Initial training took place at the beginning of March. Participants included all technology immersion staff, high school teachers with installed boards, administrators, and Curriculum Department staff. Additional training is scheduled for May, June, and July. The board trainers will also serve as trainers during our 7th Annual Technology Camp in August, at which all teachers are required to attend.
An additional 11 boards were ordered in February after approval was received from TEA for our amendment to the grant. The boards are backordered and we have not received a shipment date at this time.
Lorenzo ISD and Floydada ISD are working collaboratively to plan professional development to meet the needs of the teachers. Professional development is scheduled throughout the summer and is also being offered online through the educational service center. Stipends are available to teachers who complete coursework outside of their required contract days. FISD completed a “Professional Development Request” document to be provided to our external evaluator, Dr. Mahan, on April 1, 2010. All requests were based on data - student achievement data, as well as teacher feedback from surveys conducted. The majority of the stipend money and professional services money will be spent during the summer months as professional development is conducted and attended by teachers.
To date, the only problem we have encountered was the boards being on backorder for a considerable length of time.
