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 Smallville School Distrct Technology Mission Statement Our mission is to integrate technology into all grade levels of the curriculum, incorporated with learning strategies in order to promote student engagement and academic growth. Technology Mission Statement Our mission is to integrate technology with existing curriculum, services, and learning strategies to promote student engagement and success in the classroom. Technology will be used to increase productivty, allow for creativity, and prepare our students for their future in post secondary education and the 21st century workforce. We have a strong commitment to provide teachers with the resources they need to integrate technology in their classrooms and offer ongoing support to ensure that our investment is used wisely and its potential is maximized. District Goals: Technology Literacy Goal:

Technology Integration Goal:
 * Student learn learn to be responsible members of the digital community.
 * Teachers will become more literate through professional development and outside training opportunities.
 * Learning is differentiated to accomodate various learning styles and multiple intelligences.
 * Technology based instruction is aligned to state and national standards.
 * Instruction is student centered and data driven.
 * Technology will be used to enhance communication between various stakeholders.

Goal 1: All students will be masterful of 21st century skills and be able to use them in the community, work place and in our global society.

Goal 2: All educators, including administrators, will acquire the 21st century skills and knowledge necessary to effectively integrate educational technology in order to enable students to achieve the goals of the core curriculum content standards.

Goal 3: Smallville School District will create and maintain the technology infrastructure necessary for all students, administrators and staff to access digital information on demand and to communicate virtually.

** Purpose **
 * Public Relations **

The Smallville School District Public Relations Director in co-operation with the Technology Planning committee, the District Superintendent of Schools, and the district legal representation is responsible for: Communicating in ways that reach the technology connected and unconnected.
 * 1) Communicating the technology plan with the Smallville community.
 * 2) Communicating the technology plan with the Smallville administration, faculty, and staff.

The director will make the plan available to both the community and the district prior to its approval for input and then again after the plans approval for evaluation. In the process the director will highlight the positive changes that were made to the plan to bring 21st Century technology to the students while protecting them from the dangers of technology.




 * Assessment of the** **Current** **State** **of Technology**

The Technology Planning Committee conducted a series of surveys in preparation for creating a three year Technology plan for the Smallville Area School District. They focused on teacher’s comfort level using technology, teacher’s frequency in using technology in the classroom, student’s computer availability at home, and student’s computer use. The results of the surveys provide a snapshot in time of the current state of technology use in the Smallville Area School District.


 * [[image:Slide3.JPG width="432" height="324" align="left"]]The Teacher Technology Comfort Level** **Survey** (Appendix ) speaks to district Public Relations needs and/or Professional Development needs. The survey showed that as a district overall our teachers are comfortable using word processing, PowerPoint, Internet search engines, and setup/use of multi media carts. Our weaknesses are in having a comfort level using personal response devices (Turning Points), spreadsheets, and databases. Technology comfort levels are higher in the secondary buildings where it is more readily available than in the elementary schools. Our most recent training initiative through our Multi Media Center was on using Internet search engines as effective resource tools for lesson planning and student research. Eighty-five percent of the teachers in the district are now at a moderate or above comfort level. As the committee planned they reviewed the teacher apprehensions and looked at how to use Public Relations and/or Professional Development to help teachers overcome their apprehensions.


 * [[image:Slide4.JPG width="432" height="324" align="left"]]The Teacher Frequency of Technology Use Survey** (Appendix ) speaks to how frequently teachers apply technology and reflects back on teacher Professional Development and Teaching and Learning needs. As a district producing print documents, presenting with PowerPoint, and using Internet search engines for planning and research are our most frequent use of technology. Our weak areas are in spreadsheets, databases, and specific use hardware such as Turning Points and Smart Boards. Fifty-nine percent of the teachers are currently conducting Internet searches at least weekly for planning and student research, again a direct effect of the recent training initiative. Teachers may need additional training to increase their comfort level or training to provide applications for integration specific to their curriculum and activities. Both of these surveys were used to help plan and develop a district plan for Professional Development with an emphasis on technology integration.


 * [[image:0708_STEE_Presentation.jpg width="432" height="324" align="left"]] The Student Computer Availability at Home Survey** (Appendix ) assisted the committee in planning technology based Public Relations communications and student at-home distance learning opportunities. As a district we have eighty-six percent of our students with computers with high-speed internet connections to the Internet. This percentage increases in the secondary schools and is lower in the elementary schools. As a result of the survey the committee concluded that technology based communications and services could be the primary programs but alternative programs still need to be provided for the fourteen percent of students who do not have Internet access at home.

Twenty-four percent of Smallville students use technology at home using Web 2.0 tools for print, audio, and video communication. Thirty-nine percent use the Internet for research. Twenty-four percent use computer software and/or Web 2.0 tools for photo and video editing. The Planning Committee incorporated these skills the students already possessed when planning Professional Development sessions on 21st Century skills integration.
 * The Student Computer Use Survey** (Appendix ) provided statistics the committee used to help develop a Professional Development plan for integration of 21st Century skills into the classroom. Teaching students how to apply technology skills they already use to life long learning is a strategy for increasing students’ level of engagement and success in the classroom.

The final step is the assessment process is to assess the progress and effectiveness of this technology plan as it develops over the next three years. The Planning Committee has included administrative surveys, parent surveys, teacher surveys, and student surveys at strategic benchmarks in the action plan. These surveys will be uses to evaluate the progress and success of the plan for evaluation and adjustment in order to create “Educational Excellence for Super Students” in Smallville.

Professional Development

With the ultimate goal of professional development being to raise student achievement, it is necessary for professional development in the area of technology to occur for educators and administrators. Smallville School District has support from school officials and leaders to implement a technology initiative that will promote student centered learning. Well-planned professional development for teachers has been proven to be effective and essential for educators to be able to use technology to enhance learning for students across the curriculum. When teaching teachers how to use the different types of technology, it is important not only to teach the teachers how to use the technology, but how to integrate it into the curriculum.

Professional development encourages teachers to be more comfortable and more likely to use the available technology. Teachers should use best practice when implementing technology into the curriculum. Currently, technology professional development is provided for educators and administrators, but is not mandatory. With this technology plan, these areas of professional development will be mandatory for both teachers and administrators. It is important and necessary for students to learn the 21st century skills. In addition, it is essential that teachers are up to date on the ISTE standards for their grade level or subject being taught. This technology initiative is an ongoing process. With the different professional development opportunities, technology staff and technology facilitators will be available for support. At least one facilitator will be in each building.

Professional development will be done in a variety of forms: • Mentoring • Modeling • Ongoing workshops • Special courses • Structured observations • Summer in-services • In-services throughout the school year

Professional development is needed based on our research of teachers in the Smallville School District. Here is a chart of the use of technology in education in the classroom. Based on the data, 64% of teachers have developing skills in the area of technology. With the professional development being offered, teachers will continue to become more comfortable incorporating technology into the curriculum.

Insert Chart!

Technology Professional Development Schedule: Teacher Professional development

Class Time SmartBoard Training Summer 2009, Fall 2009, Spring 2010 CPS Clickers Fall 2009, Spring 2010 SmartAirliners Summer 2009, Fall 2009, Spring 2010 TAC Training Summer 2009 Web 2.0 in the Classroom Summer and Fall 2009 NETS Training Summer 2009, Fall 2009, Spring 2010

Provided by: technicians, technology facilitators, and trained trainers

Infrastructure rought draft follows, Jared:

Infrastructure Section 9: Technology Inventory 9.1 Quality of Technology Resources Smallville School District has invested significant money in recent years to uprade its technology infrastructure. In order to maximize the value of our investment, a plan was established in which computer labs in the high school would be replaced every three years. The old computers will be moved to the middle school labs. Elementary school labs will be outfitted with NetBook computers which don't have to be replaced as often because they are powered by servers. The servers at each elementary school will be replaced every two years. A similar procedure is in place for teacher laptops. After three years of use, a teacher will receive a new laptop upon turning their old one in. Each year, new laptops will be ordered in accordance with the number of teachers who are in their third year of use. Old laptops will be reimaged and distributed to new teachers. The laptops of those teachers who leave the district before their third years will be distributed on the basis of seniority to any teacher requesting a newer laptop computer. Software purchases are divided into three categories. Level I purchases purtain to individual teachers requiring software for a specific need within their classroom. Level 2 purchases are those pieces of software that will be used within an entire department or building. Any piece of software that will be deployed throughout the district is considered Level 3. Before any purchase is made, evidence must be presented that software has been researched and evaluated by a reputable source. Rationale for the use of the software must be provided and its compliance with the Acceptable Use Policy must be confirmed before any purchase can be made. 9.2 Quantity of Technology Resources As of July, 2009, all faculty members and administrators had laptops with wireless access. The inventory completed that year showed that there were 500 desktop computers and servers in use within the district. On those computers there were 150 different software packages and and four different operting systems. Currently, district computers are running Windows XP(SP3), Windows Server 2003, Ubuntu Linux 8.0, and Mac OS 10.5. 9.3 Distribution of Technology Resources Every regular education classroom within the district has three desktop computers, a teacher workstation, an LCD Projector, and a SmartBoard. The desktop computers all use Windows XP(SP3) and they are hard wired into the network. Within each building there are additional computers installed based on the specific needs of the programs they offer. In addition to desktop computers, the elementary schools also have 25 NetBook computers in each lab running Ubuntu Linux 8.0. Below is a summary of each building.

Elementary: Clark Elementary - There are 80 desktop computers in use at Clark and there are 40 different software packages installed. Kent Elementary - There are 70 desktop computers in use at Kent and there are 35 different software packages installed. In addition, there are 10 computers being used in a Pilot program being implemented by the Special Education department. Green Elementary - There are 60 desktop computers in use at Clark and there are 30 different software packages installed. Lantern Elementary - There are 90 desktop computers in use at Clark and there are 30 different software packages installed.