Casey Watson W540

TECHNOLOGY PLAN Description of district/schools technology policies:

The use of various computer and related technologies can have a positive impact on overall student achievement. As such, computer and related technologies are Tools for Learning. The Jefferson County Pu lic !chool "JCP!# $istrict has esta lished a ten%point vision, &eyond '000( A Promise to )ur *outh+A ,uarantee to )ur Community. )ne of the ma-or points of this vision is technology. The first part of the Technology Component is that every student .ill have access to a computer, .hen necessary to achieve Learning ,oals. This is currently defined y the /entuc0y 1ducation Technology !ystem "/1T!# as one computer for every si2 students in each school "see Appendi2 3444#. A second part of the Technology Component stipulates that every student .ill ac5uire the necessary technology s0ills as documented in the JCP! /%6' Computer !0ills Continuum. Therefore, computer technologies also are Tools to &e Learned. JCP! has put into place an annual assessment of these student s0ills to determine progress to.ard this goal. The third part of the $istrict7s Technology Component calls for every classroom to e net.or0ed to the $istrict and state net.or0s and to connect schools .ith fi er optic .ide%area net.or0s. These local%area and .ide%area net.or0s ma0e possi le access to the rich instructional resources of the 4nternet, high%performance video conferencing, and the sharing of information via e%mail and file transfer. The use of JCP! $istrict%o.ned hard.are, soft.are, and net.or0s is for the sole purpose of conducting the educational usiness of the Jefferson County Pu lic !chools. Any other use is strictly prohi ited. 4n order to help ensure relia ility of the technologies to serve as tools for learning, as .ell as tools to e learned, the follo.ing policies and procedures have een esta lished. This manual is divided into t.o ma-or sections. The first section contains important information for technology users. The second section contains information a out ho. the JCP! net.or0s and technologies are to e structured and maintained. While this second section is primarily for $istrict technical staff, it is included for those .ho are interested in 0no.ing more a out ho. the technology resources of JCP! are designed and managed. Lin0 to JCP! Technology Policy and Procedures

Analysis of Classroom:
o Student Populations and socio-economic status/factors
8amsey is located in southeast Jefferson County, /entuc0y near the ,ene !nyder 9ree.ay and &illto.n 8oad. The school is located in a community that is a su ur of Louisville 0no.n as Jeffersonto.n. The community is comprised of a diverse economic ac0ground. 9amilies range from poverty level through upper middle class. The school is comprised of 56.:; White, <=.<; &lac0, 5.4; >ispanic, '.?; Asian, and '.@; )ther. The school has a free and reduced lunch population that ma0es up 5?.?; of the population "!chool 8eport Card, '06'#. )ver the course of the past three school years,

Casey Watson W540 8amsey has added a population of students that are used appro2imately one and a half to t.o hours each .ay to school.

o Pros and cons of technology resources

The pros of the technology are that each classroom has 5 student computers .ith Windo.s = as the operating system. The school also has t.o computer la s .ith <' student computers. Teachers have a ta let computer and access to !mart&oards and !martAote oo0 soft.are. The school also has t.o sets of <' !martClic0ers for use .ith !mart soft.are. The school has access to five !mart!lates as .ell. 1C1 teachers have access to 8ead, Write, ,old on their classroom computers for reading te2t to students. 1very teacher also has a pro-ector in the classroom. The school has si2 document cameras for chec0 out in the li rary. 1ighth grade students use 1asyTech from Learning.com to prepare for the district technology assessment. !tudents and teachers have the a ility to use all of the current technology resources in the uilding. The cons of the technology at 8amsey are that the students and do not have daily access to the computer la . 8amsey does not currently offer any specific technology courses as an option for students. Bany !mart oards are not aligned properly .ith the pro-ectorC therefore some features are not readily availa le for use during class. Another con is that the eighth grade does not have a computer la dedicated to the grade level, so the eighth grade must split time .ith the seventh grade classes.

o Adaptive/assistive hardware and software that assist students with special needs
8amsey currently utiliDes 8ead, Write, ,old .hich reads te2ts to students. The school also uses 1asy Tech from learning.com, .hich teaches the eighth grade students different technology s0ills for use on district technology assessment. 8amsey also uses !martClic0ers for alternative assessment. The teachers also can use their !mart&oards to provide alternate activities for students to participate outside of normal instruction. The school also uses !tudy 4sland for students scoring Aovice on the state assessment. Another means of intervention availa le is the Enderstanding Bath computer program in math classroom.

o Technology resources that affirm diversity and address cultural and language differences
8amsey does not currently utiliDe any additional technology resources for affirming diversity or addressing cultural and language differences.

o School or classroom management strategies

At the eginning of the school year, the teachers create a seating chart for students in each computer la . The seating charts are 0ept in a la inder along .ith the la 0ey. At the eginning of class students enter the la , the teacher allo.s a student to pass out headphones to each computer station. At the end of the final class, the headphones are collected and stored in the la . The computer la is scheduled through the li raryFmedia specialist. Priorities are typically determined y necessities of the uilding. Esually the la is used for !84 "reading# testing, 4ndividual Learning Plans "4LP7s#, district generated 1%!chool "course recovery#, eighth grade 1asy Tech lessons, and

Casey Watson W540 finally teacher instruction. !tudents only receive access to the la outside of regular class meetings during designated 1%!chool sessions efore or after school. The rules designated in the computer la are that students should only .or0 on assigned activities, students are not allo.ed food or drin0 in the la , and students may not .atch or listen to youtu e videos or music that is not related to course of study. The fire.all provided y the district eliminates must inappropriate sitesC ho.ever, teachers must monitor the content on the students7 computer.

o Wide area networks (WAN) for school districts

When school districts are faced .ith determining WAA services, the district has many factors they must consider to ade5uately service the offices, schools, compounds, and employees. !ome of the factors administrators must consider are( staffing across the district, LAA "local area net.or0s# .ithin the district, current availa ility in the district, employee .or0stations, infrastructure that must e developed, and cost to uild or maintain the net.or0. The Jefferson County Pu lic !chool maintains the net.or0 through a com ination of the follo.ing( !TC "site technology coordinator#, a lot of times this is a media specialist, Computer 1ducation !pecialists, and the >elp $es0 "4nformation Technology Consultant#. The districts uses the WAA to push most updates or soft.are installs. When an update or install is e2pected, the !TC coordinates .ith employees at the site to leave devices on and connected to the net.or0. The push is then made during non%instructional hours in an effort to minimiDe net.or0 disruption. The !TC and Computer 1ducation !pecialist also can install on employee .or0stations or ta lets.

o Analysis of Needs
The main resource 4 thin0 that my school, 8amsey Biddle, needs to address is ma0ing our technology resources a tool to address diversity and special needs in the classroom. Currently, .e are not using any soft.are or hard.are on a regular asis that .ould 5ualify in this area. 8amsey has een struggling during state assessments to help students in these categories achieve at the levels e2pected. 4f .e could utiliDe some resource for these students to ma0e etter connection to the content, or if .e could aid these students .ith the support of technology, then .e may increase their self%confidence and improve learning. 8amsey is currently loo0ing into investing in a ro otics program to egin ma0ing applications and connections to the Common Core, ho.ever, my school is not actively see0ing out technology resources that .ill improve our needs in diversity or special needs. As a result of this technology plan, 4 am planning on ringing these concerns to the !TC at 8amsey and egin to loo0 into finding the resources that our school can use to supplement the learning e2periences for all of our students.