School Evaluation Summary

This assignment was quite interesting. I found the survey to be much like a grading rubric and tried to keep my assessments of all the categories objective and unbiased. It was somewhat difficult to do because I have great faith in my school and its possibilities, but I also see where we are very deficient.

An example that comes up in almost every category is that only 25% of our staff routinely uses any technology. We still have some staff that can't make a folder on their desktop or even make a copy of a document. Every year though we are able to encourage maybe one or two more educators to take the plunge into using our Google Apps or even take their classes to the lab consistently.

Fault Line High School is one of two continuation high schools servicing a huge inter-city district. Every year and intake period always tops out with a waiting list of students needing to get in. Student eligibility comes down to need of/lack of credits. Over 90% of students are socioeconomically disadvantaged  and 94% qualify for free or reduced lunch programs. Out of 733 students, 70% are Hispanic/Latino with 42% second language learners. 16% of the student population are African American and 9% are white. The schools suspension rate is 27% and the drop out rate is 20% compared with the states 14%.

Students at Fault Line are inter-city. They come from very broken/limited backgrounds. Many are appointed to us from County Schools and Juvenile Hall. A large percentage of students also have gang affiliations. There is a student day care on the premisses so we have a large percentage of teen moms, some even have 2 children already. Student attendance is a huge issue every year and we try and find ways to encourage and offer incentives to increase attendance.

Overall, the school falls within the Islands criteria in the Technology Maturity Model. There were a few exceptions where things were more integrated and other areas that seemed more emergent. We definitely have areas that could be stressed more this year. I know one of our goals this year is to get more teachers on board routinely using the technology we have.

Survey Sheet

Evaluation Sheet

Tech Use Planning Overview

Effective technology planning can be looked at as determining the need and the how it is going to make everyone more productive, making it, "output based, not input based." See says that just like you figure all the costs of everything into a business’ budget, do the same for technology. Plan the budget around the technology and make sure it is for a short duration so it can be rethought if tech changes.

The National Education Technology Plan is an effective and powerful resource for technology use planning because it is giving districts the go ahead to invest in technology. The technology plan is pushing for innovation using technology so districts can’t ignore this. We can use this to leverage our cause when facing the school board. In my VoiceThread from last week I quoted the NETP, it wants to create “lifelong learners” “calling for a revolutionary transformation” “powered by technology” “by bringing state-of-the art technology into learning to enable, motivate, and inspire all students.” The NETP recognizes the need to bring collaboration and practical life skill applications into our classrooms, our districts need to focus on this as well.

I agree with See regarding technology plans needing to be short term. Technology changes so fast. Look at what happened in this class. The instructor went from using Xtranormal and then it was suspended and he had to use another. This is always happening. It happens with equipment and all applications of technology.

I find that "effective technology plans focus on applications, not technology," true as well. Why do you want to spend thousands of dollars on Microsoft Office when you could get the same applications using Google Apps for Education. Why do you want to spend twice as much on Apples when you can do the same things using Chromebooks. It is just a name.

I have been on the outskirts of tech planning. I have not had any real, practical experiences yet. We have tried to convince our tech department that Chromebooks would be a good answer, however, for whatever reason, they won’t approve them. I am hoping to get more involved with the tech planning this year. See pointed out how technology that is bought just because, ends up on a storage shelf somewhere. I have seen this first hand this year and was disgusted by it. Things like this happen when someone needs to spend $500,000 before such and such date. This does not help our staff or our students.

Digital Inequality

The digital divide/digital inequality has always been present. I never really paid too much attention to it, although I knew it existed. The video by Aleph Molinari: Bridging the Digital Divide forced me to see the examples within my own schools. My favorite analogy Molinari used was that the digital divide is the new illiteracy. I thought this was a great video and shared it with my fellow teachers via Twitter. There are specific areas within the district I teach at and the district my own children attend which definitely have gaps related to the haves and have nots. In the San Bernardino District the majority of our schools are above 93% of the students qualifying for free or reduced lunch programs. Many of my students do not have internet access at home. Ninety percent of my students do have some type of mobile device, however, they may not have a data plan. They have access to public libraries, if they can get transportation. I have a classroom lab, but not all of my teachers do. We are increasing the labs and tablets every year though. In the Rim of the World School District, where my children will be attending, there are haves and have nots, but I think the biggest gap for my own children is the availability of technology in the schools themselves and the lack of trained, new blood. The district here is holding on to teachers that should be retired. They don't like their job, they don't like the children anymore, burn out is evident, but they continue to hold on for a better retirement package. Most of the classrooms have one computer and nobody knows how to use it. It drives me crazy. We know the gaps are there, now how can we help to close them? At my school, I would like to see more labs opened up to students after or before school. There are grants that will fund ideas like this. Also, my principal and I have been playing with the idea of Neighborhood Outreaches. How can we educate those around us, our parents, our students, our communities? If we reach out and try and involve and educate our parents then maybe our children will take more responsibility for their own learning as well.

EdTech Challenges

The top challenges I get discouraged by are the lack of teacher training and the "system". Educators can't even begin to look at a flipped classroom approach or personalized learning using technology without some training and without the District's support.

Everything I use in my classroom I learned by other educators at conferences, not my District. My principal has been a huge support and will say, "Why don't you try this?" He puts out suggestions and then I play with them and realize the potential. If I see a technology fair or conference coming up I hit him up for it and he sends me. Conferences led by other educators have been essential to my professional development.

I have had many conversations with my principal on why our IT or even our Research and Technology Department do not go to these conferences. Isn't it their job to know the latest and be able to train their teachers? This drives me crazy. The "system" is our biggest set back. If we don't have the support from the top, then it is very difficult to see the potential.

This past year, I started training other teachers. First, it was training specific to Google Apps and then it branched out into other programs like Prezi, Poll Everywhere, Quizlet, and a multitude of other online programs we can incorporate into our learning environment. I also became involved with our District's Research and Technology Department and have been training other teachers from my District in using Google Apps for Education. I hope I can inspire and motivate this department to want to know more. I know the more I feed the teachers at my own school the more their excitement grows.

My hopes for this upcoming year are to create a team of several other like-minded educators.  I have already spoken with 3 others: an elementary teacher, my principal, and a member of the Research and Technology Department. All of us are on the same page and have the same goal in mind.  We hope to present to the School Board, the endless learning possibilities and financial savings that technology can bring to our schools.