School Evaluation Summary EDTECH 501 Spring 2012 Travis Ceniga Castle Point Elementary

Demographics
Castle Point Elementary Total Students: 664 Total Teachers: 33 Student/Teacher Ratio: 20.12:1 Total School Days: 167 Hours per School Day: 6 Free and Reduced: 31% Ethnicity White 89% Hispanic 6% Black 2% Native American 2% Asian 1%

Administrative Filter
Policy Category
Behavioral: Integrated Appropriate technology use is formalized and embraced in many parts of the school. School recently installed document cameras in all classrooms. Teachers very excited to explore and find ways to use document cameras in class. Resource/Infrastructure: Islands Some policy exists, loosely articulated and mostly informal, with no formal approval.

Planning Category
Behavioral: Islands Formal planning takes place, but is isolated to specific projects with some connection to other planning efforts. Resource/Infrastructure: Emergent Informal plan. There is not a formal plan in place at the school level. The building principal believes there is a formal plan at the district level, but has never seen or read through that plan.

Budget Category
Behavioral: Integrated Technology budgeting process with high priority, multiple budgets considered, but longterm budgeting is not. Resource/Infrastructure: Islands Specific technology budget is provided, but other budgets not considered for technology.

Administrative Information
Behavioral: Intelligent The daily use of electronic systems is required for support activities; paper systems are replaced. Resource/Infrastructure: Intelligent Administrative systems are available to all administrators and staff.

Overall Administrative Filter rating

Overall rating for Administrative Filter would be between Islands and Integration. At the school level, there is not a formal plan, therefore policy is loosely put into place. At the district level, although teachers are unaware, I believe there is a more formal plan and policy in place. That is why I would say we are operating at the Islands rating at the school level, and an Integrated rating at the district level.

Curricular Filter
Electronic Information
Behavioral: Integrated Students and staff are very dependent upon information resources, and utilize them regularly. Resource/Infrastructure: Integrated Resources are daily comprehensive providing depth or diversity, but not both. Access is available to most.

Assessment
Behavioral: Islands Used by many of the staff and some of the students for the evaluation of work and selfassessment. Resource/Infrastructure: Islands

Some reporting and assessment tools are available, with a focus on traditional assessment measures.

Curriculum Integration
Behavioral: Islands Curriculum is somewhat dependent of technology and used in multiple ways. Resource/Infrastructure: Integration Technology and related resources are available for most curricular areas.

Teacher Use
Behavioral: Integrated Daily use by teachers for administration and curriculum. Resource/Infrastructure: Integrated Most teachers have access to appropriate technology in their work area.

Student Use
Behavioral: Islands Students use technology often, but in limited ways. Resource/Infrastructure: Islands Some students have consistent and regular access to appropriate technologies.

Overall Curricular Filter rating

The overall rating for the Curricular filter would also fall be in the Integrated range. When looking at this from the teachers perspective, resources are available and utilized by staff members for curriculum and assessment. The areas that would score in the Islands range are mostly in student use. Student use of technology, although readily available, is limited. As teachers are given different technology tools to use, they need to look not just at how they can use the tools, but how students can use and learn from these tools.

Support Filter
Stakeholder Involvement
Behavioral: Emergent Some of the groups are aware of the planning and implementation procedure, but few are engaged in the process. Resource/Infrastructure: Emergent Few groups are represented in the planning and implementation process. Many of the tools given to staff for implementation end up on our doorsteps with little to no input.

Administrative Support
Behavioral: Islands Peripheral involvement by the administration in planning, practice, and implementation. Resource/Infrastructure: Islands Little formal administration, time and support allocated to the planning and implementation process.

Training
Behavioral: Emergent Few staff members participate in technology training activities. Due to very little formal training, most staff members do not participate in voluntary training. Resource/Infrastructure: Emergent Limited formal training. Due to recent budget cuts, staff development and training for new technology tools is few and far between. Most training is self taught by staff members on their own time.

Technical & Infrastructure Support

Behavioral: Integrated Most staff utilize formal and informal support. Resource/Infrastructure: Integrated Formal technical assistance provided through staff release time, hired help, and/or formal district support. District provides technician that gives assistance to a number of schools. Technician is on school site once a week.

Overall Support Filter rating

Overall support filter rating would be an Islands rating. For this to improve, district must start providing formal training for the technology tools they are given. More formal training would lead to better implementation by all staff, and more consistent and regular student use.

Connectivity Filter
Local Area Networking
Behavioral: Integrated Staff use is limited to data, but is extensive and sophisticated. Voice and video(skype) not available. Resource/Infrastructure: Integrated High-speed networking with access to all working environments.

District Area Networking

Behavioral: Integrated Staff use is limited to data, but is extensive and sophisticated. Voice and video (skype) not available. Resource/Infrastructure: Integrated District area networking infrastructure with dedicated, high-speed lines; several data services are available.

Internet Access
Behavioral: Islands Many staff and students use the Internet frequently, and curriculum integration is limited. Resource/Infrastructure: Intelligent Direct Internet access to all locations.

Communication Systems
Behavioral: Islands E-mail is used often, but has no significant on the communication process. Resource/Infrastructure: Emergent E-mail is available to some staff, and few or no students. E-mail is available to most staff members, but no e-mail services are provided to students.

Overall Connectivity Filter rating

The overall rating for the connectivity filter would be an integrated score. I would like to see students have e-mail availability, and also have voice and video services. Networking is available to all locations in school through ethernet cable.

Innovation Filter
New Technologies
Behavioral: Islands New technologies are accepted by many staff members, although opportunities for experimentation are limited. Resource/Infrastructure: Integrated New technologies are readily accepted by the staff with moderate implementation.

Comprehensive Technologies

Behavioral: Integrated Technology is fairly comprehensive, but lacks more advanced techniques. Resource/Infrastructure: Islands Available technology utilization is limited to one or two types of technology for most staff and students.

Overall Innovation Filter rating

The overall rating for the innovation filter would be Integrated. School was recently given document cameras for all classrooms. Staff readily accepted the new technology and is excited to get going with it. More formal training would help with integration. As the economy recovers and budget outlook starts to improve, Im confident more technology will be purchased and integrated into the school.

Conclusion
After completing the technology evaluation for Castle Point Elementary, I would conclude that the school is now in the islands state, but is moving towards the integrated ranking that could be completed more quickly with a few policy changes. The first change that needs to be made would be for the district to communicate more with the schools and teachers what their technology plan is. After finding out that our school does not have their own plan, it is imperative that a plan is created and shared with the staff. I am currently discussing with my principal the steps we need to take to create a technology team that will work to create the plan. Once the plan is made, the technology team will work with staff members to implement the plan. Another change that needs to be made is for the district to provide more formal training and time to experiment with new technologies given to staff. I have not seen or heard of the district technology plan. I assume there is a plan in place. I would recommend part of the technology plan includes funding for staff development. Funding is the primary reason staff development is missing. Earmarking some money in the technology fund for training would ensure the technology they are buying and putting in the classrooms are used to their fullest potential. A byproduct of receiving formal training for the technology tools would be for staff to learn about and understand how to get students to utilize the technologies, and not just the staff members. Currently in our school, students have at their disposal access to a computer. Each classroom has five computers to share among all students in the classroom. There is also a computer lab with 40 computers, but time in the lab is limited to 30 minutes a week. We need to find a way to get more technologies in the hands of the students in a more regular basis. Getting technology for the students to use will naturally lead for curriculum and technology to be more connected. From what I can see from the evaluation, Castle Point Elementary still has some work to do when it comes to implementing technology in the classroom. There are areas of strength for Castle Point, specifically the Teacher Use category in the Curricular filter, and the Connectivity filter in general. There are also some areas that need to be addressed, like creating a school plan and the Support filter. If we can improve in the areas that need proving, our school will be ready to teach the students of tomorrow with the latest technologies today, to prepare students to be successful in the future.