Future View of Education:

Manchester Public Schools

By Alexander W. LaForest
 Illing Middle School Past and Present
Illing Middle School was founded in 1960.
It is home to 800 7th and 8th graders
36% Caucasian, 29% Hispanic, 23% African American, growing population of Asian and
Middle Eastern Students
Implementation of classroom Smart boards during renovations in mid 2000s
One-to-one Chromebook program with Google Classroom
Inclusive mindset focused around freedom of speech and self-expression. (Open
Mic/ Freestyle Fridays)
 Illing Technologies
BYOD (Johnson et al., 2016)
Students are provided with Chromebooks
for School and home use, dissolving the
digital divide (Cook, 2017).
Chromebooks are loaded with educational
tools for the students.
Students are encouraged to utilize online
resources in class; Socrative, Manga Math,
etc.
Online Teaching (Adams et al., 2016)
Teachers utilize Google Classroom, with
Drive, Docs, etc.
Students are allotted access to class
materials for class and home use.
During absent days student have online
resources to make up missed work.
Enrichment and Supportive materials are
linked in the drive; Khan Academy,
Pearson, Youtube, etc. (Fenton, 2017).
 Scenario
Use data-driven intelligence and results of assumption analysis to develop four scenariosscenarios should range
from a very desirable future to an undesirable or even catastrophic future (Sobrero, 2004, p. 1).

Pros
Multiple scenarios a created stemming around
potential issues
This allows for procedures to be put in place
Each procedure should have multiple plans as well
Scenarios allow for almost all issues to be covered
During implementation scenarios should and can
be updated
Scenarios promote hypotheses of breakthroughs
and pitfalls
Cons
Scenarios can either be too vague or rigid
Vague scenarios allow for plans to get off track
Rigid scenarios do not allow for evolution during
execution
Scenarios are limited by one perception
Team bias also limits scenarios
Time conducive
Creating scenarios is important, but they are al hypotheses,
there is still the chance everything is wrong, and all plans
must be forfeited
 Scanning
Social, economic, political, environmental, and technological changes are analyzed using existing county, state, and national data centersturning data into
usable information gives the organization true data-driven intelligence that can inform scenarios, forecasts, and issue briefs (Sobrero, 2004, p. 1).

Pros Cons
Scanning allows for research into past plans Scanning is limited to available data
execution If the past has not been recorded accurately, all
scanning could be a loss
Helps to promote later scenario development
Scanning only notes the changes, its continued
Socio-economic factors are considered monitoring that recognizes effectiveness
during formulation to better support
execution If scanning is not done properly, then scenarios,
forecasts, and briefs will all be inaccurate
Trends in development are highlighted to Scanning for brand new ideas can be extremely
better anticipate reception difficult, if resources are limited
 Technology Trends
Teaching Naked
Jos A. Bowen, [Teachers] often lean on the
slide-display program as a crutch rather using it as
a creative tool (Young, 2009, p. 1).
The classroom should be an experience and
provide more depth than online learning
Teachers need to step away from PowerPoint and
Prezi and convey the material.
Presentation methods should not detract from the
content
Graduated Technology
Necessity vs. Luxury
Do we need it? or Do we want it?
K-3: Tablets; 4-8: Chromebooks; 9-12: One-to-
one with Google classroom (Pogue, D., Paul, S.,
Nguyen, T., Bjerede, M., & Clark, T., 2014).
Technology geared towards classroom content
opposed to content geared towards technology
Students develop time management skills
 Policy Trends
Post-Secondary Online Learning Pros
Helps to provide accessibility to post-secondary
content to everyone
Increases availability to students schedule
Many policymakers and postsecondary leaders
believe that online or distance education is a cost-
effective way to deliver postsecondary education
(Education Commission, 2011, p. 3).
Colleges reach to students becomes
national/international
Post-Secondary Online Learning Cons
Students must have good time management skills
Social interaction is mainly non-existent
Students enrolled in online courses are less likely
to complete courses than students who take
traditional courses studies have not found a
measurable difference in student learning between
online and traditional courses (Education
Commission, 2011, p. 3).
 Policy Trends Cont.

Salary Disparity
In 1965, young college graduates earned $7,499
more than those with a high school diploma.
today it has more than doubled to $17,500 among
Millennials ages 25 to 32 (Taylor, Parker, Morin,
Fry, Pattern, and Brown, 2014, p. 3).
Education becomes less attainable
Survival becomes top concern, pushing post-
secondary studies aside
Perpetuates poor school funding cycle for districts
based on household income
 Demographic Trends
Increasing Age
The number of persons aged 65 and older had
been steadily increasing and reached 35.1 million
persons, representing 12.4% of the U.S.
population (Shrestha and Heisler, 2011, p. 17).
Overturning of generations within neighborhoods
Potential school closures if there is no overturn
Districts with community polls could have skewed
results based upon generational make-up
Ethnicity
America has seen an ethnic boom in the last
30-50 years
Minority has become majority in school
population (Gordon, 2012).
Schools must start to increase cultural
understanding to promote classroom equity
Through online learning and instructional
tools equality for instruction can be fostered
 In Five Years
In five year Manchester Public Schools will have an integrated online learning
option. Most likely this will be an accelerated pilot program. Students will have
the option throughout sixth grade to enroll into the program, afterwards testing
could be performed for middle school students who wish to participate. The
program can be tri-tiered with a different paths for Advanced, Proficient, and
Struggling students. Utilizing and Online Learning environment can be
Manchesters method for implementing a differentiated Gifted and Talented
curriculum for K-12.
 Plan for Change
1. Provide access to technology for all students in district.
2. Help teachers find resources for Gifted Education
Provide methods for immediate feedback and redirection
3. Plan districtwide implementation of Google classroom
4. Provide parents with understanding of Google, and increase classroom interaction
through: Google, Moodle, Dojo, Twitter
5. Implement measures to track students progress and determine paths: Advanced,
Proficient, Struggling.
Provide students with the ability to cater lessons for enrichment
 Call to Action
Manchester Public Schools is already based off of a Google format, teachers have
been provided the resources, now they just need to learn how to utilize them. Teachers
should receive support and training on how to use the different capabilities that
Google has to offer. Secondly, parent involvement or access needs to be increased. All
teachers need to take the initiative to provide parents with some sort of glimpse into
the classroom. This can be done through Google, Moodle, Twitter, Classroom Dojo,
but parents need to have a transparency with teachers, and vice versa. If online
education is ever going to make its leap to becoming accessible 24/7 by the student,
then the parent and teacher need to provide an environment that promotes learning
both at school and home.
 References
Adams Becker, S., Freeman, A., Giesinger Hall, C., Cummins, M., and Yuhnke, B. (2016). NMC/CoSN Horizon Report: 2016 K-12 Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.
Cook, K. (2017). Computers in the Classroom. Computers In The Classroom Research Starters Education, 1.
Education Commission of the States. (2011, August). Higher Education Reform Next-generation models to increase success and control costs. The Progress of Education Reform, 12(4), 1-4.
Fenton, W. (2017). Google Classroom Could Bridge a Gap in Online Learning. PC Magazine, 27.
Gordon, D. (2012, November 3). Retrieved October 04, 2017, from http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-20187325/the-changing-state-of-us-ethnicity
Johnson, L., Adams Becker, S., Cummins, M., Estrada, V., Freeman, A., and Hall, C. (2016). NMC Horizon Report: 2016 Higher Education Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media
Consortium.
Pogue, D., Paul, S., Nguyen, T., Bjerede, M., & Clark, T. (2014, March 21). CoSN 2014: Culture Shift: Mobile Learning. Retrieved September 20, 2017, from
https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/video/cosn-20
Shrestha, L. B. & Heisler, E. J. (2011). The changing demographic profile of the United States[Electronic version]. Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service. 14-culture shift-mobile-
learning
Sobrero, P. M. (2004, June). The Steps for Futuring. Retrieved September 22, 2017, from https://joe.org/joe/2004june/comm2.php
Taylor, P., Parker, K, Morin, R., Fry, R., Pattern, E., & Brown. A. (2014, Feb 11). The Rising Cost of Not Going to College: Overview.
Young, J. R. (2009, July 20). 'Teach Naked' Effort Strips Computers From Classrooms. Retrieved September 20, 2017, from http://www.chronicle.com/article/Teach-NakedEffort-
Strips/47398/