Mission
The mission of the Methow Valley School District’s Technology Committee is to heighten student learning through the integrated and innovative use of technology.
Vision Statement
Technology is a huge force in changing our world. We aspire to harness the power of technology to create more dynamic teaching and learning every day in every classroom. By doing so, we will break boundaries for students and teachers alike. We will find new ways to explore the world, deepen our thinking, and build connections.
District Technology Overview
The Methow Valley School District is committed to the integration of technology into teaching and learning. We believe that technology can spark thinking by offering students different ways to approach the acquisition of knowledge and skills. We also believe in the power of technology to break boundaries – both in regards to time/distance and in regards to student learning styles.
On the teaching front, we see technology as a tool to enhance student engagement and ownership of learning. Technology does not take the place of effective teaching; it is merely a resource to deepen the connection for students.
In March 2010, almost every teacher in our school district uses a computer, document camera and projector. Several teachers are newly introduced to document cameras. Their feedback regarding this technology has been very positive.
Our plan calls for a two-tier approach to instructional technology. First, we aim to build the capacity of every teacher in the system in using our existing technology. This will translate to more advanced training opportunities, through the ESD or in-house coaches, with document cameras. We will devote time at staff meetings or on teacher collaboration days during the school year to do this work.
The second tier is to develop a group of advanced technology users among staff. At present, two staff members are grant recipients in technology (Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century [TL21], peer coach). Other teachers are applying for TL21 this year. Our April 2010 technology levy envisions four “technology-rich” classrooms that will serve as a pilot program. These classrooms will be outfitted with a Mimio, tablets, and clickers. The teachers in these classrooms, along with the grant recipients, will form a technology Professional Learning Community that participates in summer training, regularly reviews research on technology integration, and works with the technology committee to organize district-wide trainings for staff in Tier 1.
Our schools already follow a “Professional Learning Community” (PLC) model that brings together teams of teachers to collaborate on problems of practice. Tier 2 tech teachers will work within their PLCs at all schools to connect technology integration to the discussions around various subject areas and how best to support student learning. These teachers will use Robert Marzano’s Using Technology with Classroom Instruction That Works and Wiggins & McTighe’s Understanding By Design as a research base.
A further strategy in using technology to improve teaching and learning will be to adopt a standards-based grading system, such as Easy Grader Pro, to monitor student achievement. Adoption of such a system will include all-staff training.
In regards to students using technology, our plan calls for an increase in courses at Liberty Bell High School to include digital photography and video productions. These will be added to presently offered courses such as Microsoft Office User Specialist (MOUS), design technology, and computer refurbishing. In addition, we will encourage student innovation by drawing on Marzano’s research and discussing student work in our PLCs.
Another part of our vision is to create a technology-rich high school library in which students read, think and create. Our goal is to develop an innovative library committee by 2011 to begin planning for a potential redesign of the existing space. Future technology or capital levy measures could include such a project.
Technology innovation includes not just teachers and students in our district, but administrators and board members. The board recently went paperless in board meetings. Their discussions around teaching and learning center on innovation and how to support engaged, creative, deep thinking classroom activities districtwide. Two board members and the superintendent sit on the district technology committee.
In summary, the vision for technology integration is aligned in Methow Valley School District – from the board to administration, staff, and students. The resources provided by the technology levy will allow us to develop the hardware and professional development to increase technology integration, literacy and proficiency across the system. As a district, we are committed to seeing this vision take hold.
Action Item 1: Technology Literacy of Eighth Grade Students
Goal
As a result of the Student Technology Literacy Self-Assessment taken in February, 2010, we aim for students to develop the skills to move from one tier to the next. Our goal is to reduce the number of students in Tier 1 to 10% and 90% will be in Tier 2 or above by spring of 2011. By 2013, 80% of our students will be in tier 3.
Strategy
By ensuring all staff have the necessary equipment and focused ongoing training, teachers will be able to support students in progressing from one tier to the next
Rationale
ACOT’s research demonstrated that the introduction of technology into classrooms can significantly increase the potential for learning, especially when it is used to support collaboration, information access, and the expression and representation of students’ thoughts and ideas. Realizing this opportunity for all students, however, required a broadly conceived approach to educational change that integrated new technologies and curricula with new ideas about learning and teaching, as well as with authentic forms of assessment. http://www.apple.com/education/k12/lrsfrtdhip/acot/library.html
Evaluation Procedure
The summative evidence will include data from the Measurement of Student Progress and the Student Technology Literacy Self-Assessment.
Activities & Tasks
- Students will participate in virtual field trips.
- Students will deliver presentations with graphics and sound.
- Students will prepare video presentations using digital technology and software programs.
- Students will brainstorm and share ideas using word processing programs and software such as Inspiration.
- Students will collaborate and communicate using web-based tools such as wikis, discussion boards, web blogs, journals, and other resources.
- Elementary students will complete writing assignments on the computer.
- Students will exhibit legal and ethical behaviors when using information and technology.
- Students will evaluate the accuracy and relevancy of information from electronic resources.
- Students in 3rd and 4th grades are required to take a keyboarding class.
- Students in 7th grade are required to take an entry-level computer class.
Professional Development
- The district will provide ongoing training in integrating the above described technologies and activities into the curriculum for all district staff.
- Technology training and support will be incorporated into Professional Learning Communities.
- A Technology PLC will be established.
Monitoring Effectiveness
We will use assessment strategies such as observation, anecdotal notes, journal reflection, student self-assessments, goal-setting, student presentation, and other formative assessments.
Who Is Responsible
The principals, media specialist, and the Technology PLC, along with the classroom teachers, will lead the activities and ensure that students do the work.
Timeline
Our forecast is that we will reduce the number of students in tier 1 to 10% and 90% will be in tier 2 or above by spring of 2011. By 2013, 80% of our students will be in tier 3.
Resources
- In the fall of 2010, our district, pending passage of a technology levy, will hire a media specialist who will be responsible for planning staff training, overseeing the Technology PLC, and supporting staff and students with technology integration.
- Create a standard configuration of hardware and software in K-8 classrooms.
- Use the district’s website to create a portal for online resources for teachers and students.
- Library Media Center
Cost & Funding Source
- $75,000 – Media Specialist
- $20,000 – Professional development over two years
Possible funding sources:
- 2011-2013 Technology Levy
- Technology Budget
- Grants
Action Item 2: Technology Integration Skills of Teachers
Goal:
Increase integration of technology in the classroom by providing computer hardware and software throughout the district for teachers and support staff to promote student engagement and learning.
Strategy
Ensure all staff have the necessary equipment and training to successfully integrate existing technology with instruction by providing professional development to support instructional staff to move to the next tier, per Appendix VI of the Tiers of Technology Integration for Teachers (2009 Legislative Report: Educational Technology Plan for K-12 Public Schools in Washington State).
Rationale
The district technology survey shows that the majority of the instructional staff is currently at Tier 1. Research shows that “professional development for teachers and easy access to the Internet for students and teachers enhance the learning effectiveness of instructional technology.” (Effects of Using Instructional Technology in Elementary and Secondary Schools; What Controlled Evaluation Studies Say,2003 http://sri.com/policy/csted/reports/sandt/it/Kulik_ITinK?-12_Main_Report?.pdfResearchers: Kulik, James (SRI International).
Evaluation Procedure
The summative evidence will include data from the Measurement of Student Progress and the teachers’ Classroom Technology Integration Survey.
Activities & Tasks
- Integrate the use of LCD projectors, document cameras, laptops, and interactive whiteboards into classrooms throughout the district.
- Upgrade obsolete computers currently operating on Windows 98 to be Windows XP/7 capable.
- Incorporate teacher web pages into the District Web Site.
Professional Development
- Train staff in the use and integration of presentation devices and all future technology acquisitions.
- Train staff in the creation, maintenance, and instructional opportunities of teacher web pages.
Monitoring Effectiveness
- Incorporate teacher technology goal setting and technology self-reflection into professional growth plans for Professional Learning Communities.
- Inventory computers currently available in classrooms.
Who Is Responsible
The media specialist, principals, Technology Professional Learning Community, and teachers will lead the activities and do the work.
Timeline
The activity will be completed by spring 2013.
Resources
Currently we have:
- Desktop computers in most classrooms
- Some laptops
- 2 interactive white boards
- 1 Mimio tablet
- Digital cameras and 1 flip camera
- Document cameras and projectors in most classrooms
- Skyward
- District website
Resources we will need:
- Media Specialist
- Provide laptops for all teachers
- Easy Grader Pro or other grading software
- 4 Interactive white boards
- 8 Mimio tablets
- 16 flip cameras
- 4 sets of student response systems
- Student response systems for graphing calculators
- Student response systems for foreign language classrooms
- 16 digital cameras
- Adobe Creative Suite site license
Cost & Funding Source
$75,000 – Media Specialist
$20,000 – Professional development over 2 years
Possible funding sources:
- Tech Budget
- 2011-2013 Technology Levy
- Grants
Action Item 3: Technology Proficiencies of Administrators, Teachers & Teacher-Librarians
Goal
Increase technology proficiency of all administrators, teachers, and teacher-librarians so they will move to Tier 3 by spring 2013.
Strategy
Ensure that the district provides time for the staff to collaborate, plan, and learn together to become proficient in technology. Technology leaders will model the effective use of technology.
Rationale
Conditions must be met for technology to have a positive effect on teaching and learning in primary and secondary grades. Conditions include sufficient access to technology, adequate teacher preparation, effective curriculum, supportive school/district administration, and supportive family/community. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=GUIDE&dl+ACM
Evaluation Procedure
The summative evidence will include the Classroom Technology Integration survey, the Administration Proficiency and Librarian/Media Specialist Proficiency Survey.
Activities & Tasks
- By attending focused ongoing professional development for technology, staff will move up to Tier 3.
- Staff will know and understand how to seamlessly use standard technology anywhere in the district.
- Create support systems consisting of two staff members who will participate in paired learning and mutual support.
- Train staff in the use of all present and future technology acquisitions.
- Create a culture in which staff members provide mutual support for solving technology challenges.
- Administrators, teachers and teacher-librarians will monitor student outcomes by self-assessing, observing, jounaling, reflecting and receiving peer feedback.
Who Is Responsible
Administrators, teachers and teacher-librarian will lead activities and do the work.
Resources
We plan to provide focused, ongoing staff development during planned professional days and staff meetings.
Cost & Funding Source
$20,000
- 2011-2013 Technology Budget
- Technology Levy
- Grants
Timeline
This activity will be completed by spring 2013.
Monitoring Effectiveness
We will use assessment strategies such as observation, anecdotal notes, journal reflection, administrator self-assessment, teacher self-assessment, teacher-librarian self-assessment, and goal setting.
Professional Development
- The district will provide focused, ongoing training for administrators, teachers and teacher-librarians in the effective use of technology.
- Technology training and support will be incorporated into Professional Learning Communities.
- A Technology PLC will be established.
Annual Technology Survey
Methow Valley School District has completed the current technology survey and will continue to complete the survey annually.
Network and Telecommunications Plan
Full Summary
The Methow Valley School District has experienced an increasing need for voice and, more importantly, data communication within our buildings and with the rest of the world. Our goal is to provide students, staff and the community with steadily improving services that will support existing and new activities.
The district will continue to provide conventional PBX telephone service within buildings at the main campus. The telephone system controller for the main campus was upgraded in late 2009 and provides voicemail capability as needed. Telephone service at the Independent Learning Center / Transportation Office will continue as conventional POTS (plain old telephone service) lines. Telephone service budgeted at $16,500 annually in the district general fund budget.
Long distance service will continue to be provided for all district locations and is budgeted at $2,500 annually in the district general fund budget.
Cellular telephone service will continue to be provided for administrators and is budgeted at $2,000 in the district general fund budget.
The district will continue to access the Internet via the State of Washington K-20 network at the main campus. The service was upgraded to 10 megabit fiber in early 2010. The cost should not be impacted by this upgrade. Internet access at the Independent Learning Center is provided by a local ISP. K-20 network access is budgeted at $3,000 in the district technology budget. Network access at the ILC is budgeted at $650 in the district technology budget.
The district recently upgraded the network switches to gigabit with improved connections between the two buildings on the main campus. We plan to upgrade the consumer-grade wireless capability to enterprise-grade by the end of the 2011 school year. This will provide seamless, high-speed network access for the increasing number of wireless devices being used in teaching and administration, including netbook/notebook computers, tablet computers and wireless-enabled devices such as smartphones and handhelds. The upgrade is budgeted at $20,000 in the 2011-2013 Technology Levy.
Teachers in some classrooms have requested an increased number of network-connected computers for students to use in their rooms. This will give students quick access to research and presentation tools in the classroom rather than moving to a dedicated computer lab. Electrical and network wiring will need to be improved to accomplish this. It is budgeted at $10,000 in the 2011-2013 Technology Levy.
At present, servers and network switches are sharing a mechanical room which has no air conditioning and which has conventional water sprinkler fire protection. We plan to build a dedicated server room in an adjacent space to provide a more suitable environment for network equipment. The budget for this is $10,000 in the 2011-2013 Technology Levy.
Maintenance of the internal wired and wireless networks and servers is done under a personal services contract and is budgeted at $24,000 annually. It is expected that this will be an ongoing need that will likely increase over time.
Short Summary
- Equipment and services we plan to acquire:
- D-Link wireless “N” access points, approximately 20 per building with D-Link wireless controllers.
- Network and electrical wiring upgrade in selected classrooms to accommodate more computers.
- Construct a dedicated server room in available space in the second floor of the high school. Space will be air-conditioned and use a non-water fire suppression system.
- Broadcast telephone notification system.
- Funding sources and amounts:
- Funded by the 2011-2013 Technology Levy, $20,000.Installation and maintenance will be done by MVSD tech.
- Funded by the 2011-2013 Technology Levy, $10,000.Electrical power installation by licensed contractor. Network cable installation by contractor or MVSD tech.
- Funded by the 2011-2013 Technology Levy, $10,000.Design and construction will be by outside bid. Transfer of equipment will be done by MVSD tech. Room will be approximately 12’x12’
- Funded by the 2011-2013 Technology Levy, $1,500 per year. Provided by outside contractor.
- How these services support our learning goals:
- Wireless upgrade: An enterprise-grade, high-speed, wireless network will allow students and staff to take advantage of the existing and emerging need for mobile communication and computing. Wireless devices including notebook and netbook computers, handhelds like the iTouch or PDAs will be able to utilize the network efficiently.
- Network and electrical wiring upgrades: TBD
- Server Room: This upgrade will make the physical environment for our servers more compatible with computer systems and less susceptible to a failure. The existing server room has no heating or cooling control. The proposed room will be self-contained in an adjacent space, making the transfer of equipment relatively straightforward. An architect has been consulted. The air-conditioner will be a conventional off-the-shelf split-system. The fire suppression system will be an off-the-shelf self-contained unit.
- Broadcast Telephone System: The broadcast telephone notification system will be contracted to an existing outside vendor and will be used to inform parents and the community of emergency situations, snow cancellations or late starts, upcoming events, etc.
District Technology Standards and Budget
Classrooms Technology Standards:
- Desktop computers:
- minimum Pentium IV 2.4 GHz or Mac G5 1.9 GHz
- gigabit network card
- Windows XP or Windows 7
- MS Office 2003 or 2007 or equivalent Open Office
- Video projector: ceiling mounted, minimum 1024×768 resolution
- Document camera: connected to projector and computer
- Interactive whiteboard: Mimio with wireless PC connection and Mimio wireless tablet
- Computer labs:
- desktop: minimum Pentium IV 2.4 Ghz, dual core
- laptop: minimum Pentium IV
- gigabit network card
- Windows XP or Windows 7
- MS Office 2003 or 2007 or equivalent Open Office
- Network switches: gigabit to all rooms.
- Wireless: B/G
- Printers: shared laser printers
- Videoconference equipment: Polycom standalone or desktop PC
Budget
Budget will be supported by the 2011-2013 Technology Levy (total approximately $250,000 per year).
Infrastructure
- K-20 Internet access fee: $3,000 annually
- Emergency phone system service fee: $1,500 annually
- Wireless upgrade: $20,000
- Electrical and network wiring upgrades: $10,000
- Server room upgrade: $5,000
Staffing
Technology manager: $50,000 annually
Teacher-librarian/media specialist: $70,000 annually
Instructional technology
- 4 Mimio interactive whiteboard systems, $6,000 per year until implemented in all classrooms
- Video production and digital photography equipment (cameras and Mac computers) and staff, $39,000 per year for two years.
- 50 flip cameras for classrooms, $7,500
- 24 notebook computers with cart for mobile lab, $12,000
- 4 sets of responders (clickers) for tech-rich classroom pilot program, $10,000
- Graphing calculators to act as responders, $5,000Technology-related professional development: $10,000 annually
Technology Plan Review and Update
Full summary
Strategies for Evaluation & Update
Review the district and school technology plans. Identify progress and plan for annual modifications. (Technology Committee)
Use surveys and assessment tools to evaluate the level of technology integration at the classroom level on an annual basis. (Technology Committee)
Use PILOT to gather data on student technology literacy. Analyze the results and make changes to district curricula. (Technology Committee)
Assess student skills – academic + technology – based on the Washington State Standards for Educational Technology. (Digital media specialist)
Analyze the data that returns from the annual technology survey. Modify district and building plans where necessary. (Technology Committee)
Use PILOT to gather data on the technology proficiencies of certified teachers, teacher-librarians and administrators. Analyze the results and make changes to the district’s PD plan. (Digital media specialist)
Review the district-level professional development plan. Make sure there are ample opportunities for technology integration training. (Technology Committee)
Review evaluations from PD courses. Make modifications — trainers, courses — if needed. (Digital Media Specialist/Technology Committee)
Meet staff development goals. Review evaluations of the training experience. (Digital Media Specialist/Technology Committee)
Timeline
March 2010. District Board of Directors approves the district technology plan.
June 2010. Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction approves the plan.
November 2010. Technology Committee reviews/updates the plan.
March 2010. Discuss 2010-2013 Technology Plan status with School Board.
November 2011. Technology and Learning Committee reviews/updates the plan.
March 2011. Discuss 2010-2013 Technology Plan status with the school board.
November 2011. Begin to develop the new three-year technology and learning plan or update existing plan.
March 2012. Complete the new plan. Get approval if necessary.
