Valuable Use of the Building Technology
Test scores had risen!! The local newspapers reported that the school district’s Superintendent stated “For the first time, all district elementary schools have made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) as defined by the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test.” For a huge semi-urban district, this was quite an achievement.
One reason given for the increase in scores is how technology is used. The following were points from the district’s press releases. (The italics are mine)
--- This year all the elementary and middle schools in the district will be using the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessment to provide teachers with the student data they need. The MAP is a computerized assessment that can be given to students several times a year to help teachers track the progress of each student and make student-focused decisions. The validity of the MAP tests is also enhanced by the fact that they are aligned with the Illinois State Learning Standards.
--- Over the past several weeks, all students in grades three through eight have taken their first round on the MAP test. It is our intention to have all second grade students take this test later in the year.
--- MAP tests are unique in that they are adaptive tests that children generally take in their school computer labs.
--- Never before have educators had so much student data available to them.
--- The advantage of using a computer-based test is that it makes valuable use of the building technology that taxpayers have funded.
“Valuable use of building technology” is high praise for a program. It led me to wonder what other uses of technology are there in the district’s schools.By doing some research, I found the application “Skills Tutor” is in every school in the district and is touted on many schools’ web sites. According to the Skills Tutor web site, “Skills Tutor is delivered online and can be used as a teacher-aided instructional tool or as a one-on-one tutoring resource with minimal guidance.”
Another use of technology is that some schools have an application called READ 180. According to its web site, READ 180 is an intensive reading intervention program… using technology, print, and professional development. … The program directly addresses individual needs through adaptive and instructional software, etc.
Middle schools also teach Computer Applications and Computer Exploration in both 7 & 8.All in all, it looks like the technology resources of the district (the vast majority of instructional-designated computers in the district are located in computer lab sites) are being well used with success.
A dilemma with all this is that teachers have confided in me a difficulty scheduling time to use technology with their students. The computer labs are tied up for weeks at a time with the above mentioned applications. Some labs are tied up during different time periods of the day, so that a teacher can schedule some classes in the labs, but have to make different lesson plans for those classes that are locked out. Some schools have put a time limit on teachers signing up the labs, which makes access fairer but which severely curtails many of the teaching approaches that I recommend as a consultant and as a graduate course instructor. David Jakes answered the question "What factors contribute to the sustainability of an innovation in the classroom?" on the Techlearning blog. The very first point he mentions is that there is a high degree of organizational readiness for the innovation: hardware and software had to be in place and be functional, implying it's available. If availability is restricted, it would put a roadblock into sustaining innovation.
There are ways to get around the restrictions and limitations in using instructional technology. One is to promote the purchase of laptops on mobile carts. The use of laptops to help students learn means that teachers might not have to worry about the computer lab being open in any particular time of the day. (Of course, some schools may preempt the laptops for testing and drill anyway.) Other ways are to use instructional grouping techniques, such as making sure students with Internet access at home are paired with those who don’t. Another approach is to have half of the student in a group do research using books, etc. and half online; then the students can compare findings. Elementary school teachers might set up a computer station as one of the rotations. For other instructional ideas see Nuts & Bolts: Meaningful Classroom Integration of Information Technology.
Research Links for Engaged Learning and Technology Applications has shown that engaged learning using technology has many positive benefits including increasing standardized test scores as well as turning students onto learning. It is frustrating to teachers when you know certain teaching approaches work better than others but, due to the lack of availability of resources, you have to settle for less effective means.
It must also be frustrating when the bottom line for “success” defined as increasing standardized test scores. Will Richardson wrote in Owning the Teaching…and the Learning “Today, in our parent conferences, I asked my daughter’s teacher if there were opportunities for her class to work on extended projects, projects that in the end would have a purpose beyond the grade and the classroom. Projects that, to quote Marco again, would “have wings.” The response I got was this: with all of the objectives that must be met for the state tests coming up in the spring, there just isn’t time for it. When I asked my son’s teacher whether she had read his blog, her answer was that blogs were blocked at school and so, no, she hadn’t. And so I am frustrated, and I am wondering what will it take to make our classrooms places of learning rather than places of teaching.”
As I said, it is frustrating when the bottom line for “success” is defined as increasing standardized test scores to satisfy the federal No Child Left Behind Act, when the aspirations and ideals we could be basing success on, i.e. “makes valuable use of the building technology”, could be so much more.
Test scores had risen!! The local newspapers reported that the school district’s Superintendent stated “For the first time, all district elementary schools have made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) as defined by the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test.” For a huge semi-urban district, this was quite an achievement.
One reason given for the increase in scores is how technology is used. The following were points from the district’s press releases. (The italics are mine)
--- This year all the elementary and middle schools in the district will be using the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessment to provide teachers with the student data they need. The MAP is a computerized assessment that can be given to students several times a year to help teachers track the progress of each student and make student-focused decisions. The validity of the MAP tests is also enhanced by the fact that they are aligned with the Illinois State Learning Standards.
--- Over the past several weeks, all students in grades three through eight have taken their first round on the MAP test. It is our intention to have all second grade students take this test later in the year.
--- MAP tests are unique in that they are adaptive tests that children generally take in their school computer labs.
--- Never before have educators had so much student data available to them.
--- The advantage of using a computer-based test is that it makes valuable use of the building technology that taxpayers have funded.
“Valuable use of building technology” is high praise for a program. It led me to wonder what other uses of technology are there in the district’s schools.By doing some research, I found the application “Skills Tutor” is in every school in the district and is touted on many schools’ web sites. According to the Skills Tutor web site, “Skills Tutor is delivered online and can be used as a teacher-aided instructional tool or as a one-on-one tutoring resource with minimal guidance.”
Another use of technology is that some schools have an application called READ 180. According to its web site, READ 180 is an intensive reading intervention program… using technology, print, and professional development. … The program directly addresses individual needs through adaptive and instructional software, etc.
Middle schools also teach Computer Applications and Computer Exploration in both 7 & 8.All in all, it looks like the technology resources of the district (the vast majority of instructional-designated computers in the district are located in computer lab sites) are being well used with success.
A dilemma with all this is that teachers have confided in me a difficulty scheduling time to use technology with their students. The computer labs are tied up for weeks at a time with the above mentioned applications. Some labs are tied up during different time periods of the day, so that a teacher can schedule some classes in the labs, but have to make different lesson plans for those classes that are locked out. Some schools have put a time limit on teachers signing up the labs, which makes access fairer but which severely curtails many of the teaching approaches that I recommend as a consultant and as a graduate course instructor. David Jakes answered the question "What factors contribute to the sustainability of an innovation in the classroom?" on the Techlearning blog. The very first point he mentions is that there is a high degree of organizational readiness for the innovation: hardware and software had to be in place and be functional, implying it's available. If availability is restricted, it would put a roadblock into sustaining innovation.
There are ways to get around the restrictions and limitations in using instructional technology. One is to promote the purchase of laptops on mobile carts. The use of laptops to help students learn means that teachers might not have to worry about the computer lab being open in any particular time of the day. (Of course, some schools may preempt the laptops for testing and drill anyway.) Other ways are to use instructional grouping techniques, such as making sure students with Internet access at home are paired with those who don’t. Another approach is to have half of the student in a group do research using books, etc. and half online; then the students can compare findings. Elementary school teachers might set up a computer station as one of the rotations. For other instructional ideas see Nuts & Bolts: Meaningful Classroom Integration of Information Technology.
Research Links for Engaged Learning and Technology Applications has shown that engaged learning using technology has many positive benefits including increasing standardized test scores as well as turning students onto learning. It is frustrating to teachers when you know certain teaching approaches work better than others but, due to the lack of availability of resources, you have to settle for less effective means.
It must also be frustrating when the bottom line for “success” defined as increasing standardized test scores. Will Richardson wrote in Owning the Teaching…and the Learning “Today, in our parent conferences, I asked my daughter’s teacher if there were opportunities for her class to work on extended projects, projects that in the end would have a purpose beyond the grade and the classroom. Projects that, to quote Marco again, would “have wings.” The response I got was this: with all of the objectives that must be met for the state tests coming up in the spring, there just isn’t time for it. When I asked my son’s teacher whether she had read his blog, her answer was that blogs were blocked at school and so, no, she hadn’t. And so I am frustrated, and I am wondering what will it take to make our classrooms places of learning rather than places of teaching.”
As I said, it is frustrating when the bottom line for “success” is defined as increasing standardized test scores to satisfy the federal No Child Left Behind Act, when the aspirations and ideals we could be basing success on, i.e. “makes valuable use of the building technology”, could be so much more.
posted by Rich Levine | 2:33 PM
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