FRONTIER
REGIONAL/UNION#38 SCHOOL DISTRICTS
TECHNOLOGY PLAN
2007-2011
Adopted - July 1, 1996
Revised - July
1, 2001
Revised - January 1, 2004
Revised - January 1, 2006
Revised - January 1, 2007
Revised - June 7, 2007
Mission Statements.............................................................................................. p.2
Vision, Beliefs, and Rationale............................................................................. p.3,5-6
I.
Benchmark
1 – Commitment to a ...................................................... p.4
Clear Vision and
Mission Statement
II.
Benchmark
2 – Technology Integration............................................. p.6-7
III. Benchmark 3 – Technology
Professional........................................... p.7-8
Development
IV. Benchmark 4 – Accessibility of
Technology...................................... p.8-10
V.
Benchmark
5 – Infrastructure for Connectivity................................ p.10
Appendix 1............................................................................................................. p.
11
STAR
Chart........................................................................................... p.
12-18
Appendix 2............................................................................................................. p.
19
Staff
Survey............................................................................................ p.
20-22
Appendix 3............................................................................................................. p.
23
FRS/Union#38 Acceptable Use Policy.......................................... p.
24-30
Appendix 4............................................................................................................. p.
31
NETS
for Students.............................................................................. p.
32
NETS for
Teachers.............................................................................. p.
33-34
Technology Standards for Administrators..................................... p.
35-36
21st
Century Skills.................................................................................. p.
37
MISSION
STATEMENTS
FRONTIER REGIONAL MISSION
STATEMENT
The mission
of the Frontier
Regional
School
is to provide the highest quality education which values the individual,
emphasizes community, builds a strong foundation for life-long learning and
reflects the changing needs of society.
CONWAY MISSION STATEMENT
The mission
of the Conway
Grammar School
is to be a mutually dedicated staff, community, and student body that work
together within a safe, supportive, respectful, and challenging environment to
develop confident life-long learners who value individual differences and are
responsive to global needs.
DEERFIELD MISSION STATEMENT
The Deerfield
Elementary School
promotes the joy of lifelong learning.
SUNDERLAND MISSION STATEMENT
To enable
our children to realize and attain their full potential in a positive school
environment that values individual differences and meets their diverse needs.
WHATELY MISSION STATEMENT
The Mission
of Whately Elementary School is to prepare our students in a supportive school
and community to be confident, life-long learners.
VISION, BELIEFS AND
RATIONALE
INTRODUCTION
Student
learning is at the heart of what we do in the Frontier Regional/Union#38 School Districts. It is our
belief that student learning is improved with the use of computer
technologies. This plan begins with a
vision for student learning, a statement of beliefs, and a rationale for
creating and continuing to build networked learning environments. Benchmarks
derived from the Massachusetts State Chart (appendix 1) provide guidance,
development, and integration of technology into the school environment.
In
1996, educators and community members created a plan to implement the use of
computer technologies in the Frontier Regional/Union#38 School Districts, based on increasing student skills in
communication, information processing, and productivity. Since then, considerable work has been
accomplished. Students and staff work
within a networked environment in which classrooms, labs and library/media
centers are equipped with networked computers.
All computers are equipped with a suite of applications that include
Microsoft Office used by all members of the learning community. All staff and students have network
accounts. The districts are linked by a
wide-area network.
In
order to be eligible for E-Rate discounts, as well as federal and state
technology funding, every school district is required to have a long-range
strategic technology plan approved by the Department of Education.
The
district recognizes the importance of reaching the articulated goals set forth
by the U.S. Department of Education:
·
All students
and teachers will have access to information technology in their classrooms,
schools, communities, and homes.
·
All teachers
will use technology effectively to help students achieve high academic
standards.
·
All students
will have technology and information literacy skills.
·
Research and
evaluation will improve the next generation of technology applications for
teaching and learning.
·
Digital
content and networked applications will transform teaching and learning.
Benchmark 1
Commitment to a clear Vision and Mission
Statement
- The district's technology plan contains a
clearly stated and reasonable set of goals and implementation strategies
that align with the district-wide school improvement plan. The district is
committed to achieving its vision by the end of the school year
2010-2011.
- The district has a technology team with
representatives from a variety of stakeholder groups, including school
committee members, administrators, and teachers. The technology team has
the support of the district leadership team.
- Needs Assessment
- The district assesses the technology
products and services that will be needed to improve teaching and
learning.
- The technology plan includes an assessment
of the services and products that are currently being used and that the
district plans to acquire.
- The district has a CIPA-compliant Acceptable
Use Policy (AUP) regarding Internet and network use. The policy is updated
as needed to help ensure safe and ethical use of resources by teachers and
students.
- Budget
- The district has a budget for its local
technology plan with line items for technology in its operational budget.
- The budget includes staffing,
infrastructure, hardware, software, professional development, support,
and contracted services (including telephone services).
- The district leverages the use of federal,
state, and private resources.
- For districts that plan to apply for E-rate
reimbursement, the technology plan specifies how the district will pay
for the non-discounted portion of their costs for the services procured
through E-rate.
- Evaluation
- The district evaluates the effectiveness of
technology resources toward attainment of educational goals on a regular
basis.
- The district's technology plan includes an
evaluation process that enables it to monitor its progress in achieving
its goals and to make mid-course corrections in response to new
developments and opportunities as they arise.
BELIEFS
- Our schools must prepare students for today’s
workplace and the workplace of the future.
- Our schools must prepare students to be
lifelong learners, who are responsible for their own learning, skilled in
accessing and processing information, confident in using technological
tools, able to solve problems alone or collaboratively, capable of being
creative and innovative, and able to communicate locally, nationally, and
world-wide.
- Our schools must stress the importance of
ethical use of technology.
- Students need to be able to use a wide
variety of technological tools to enhance their future success as students
and workers.
- It is imperative for all students to have
access to information via technology as a basis for lifelong learning.
- It is essential for all learners, including
educators, to process and manage information through the skillful use of
technology.
- Skillful use of technology supports the
development of process skills such as flexibility, adaptability, critical
thinking, problem solving and collaboration which are essential to success
in our rapidly changing information age.
- Networked technology systems permit efficient
and effective communications within and outside the district.
- Technology allows us to better serve the
diverse learning styles of our schools.
- Technology maximizes productivity and
efficiency and enables schools to better prepare students for future
learning.
RATIONALE
To accomplish our vision
for successful technology integration and use in our schools, our plan includes:
Benchmark 2
Technology Integration and Literacy
- Technology Integration
- Outside Teaching Time - At least 85% of
teachers use technology every day, including some of the following areas:
lesson planning, administrative tasks, communications, and collaboration.
Teachers share information about technology uses with their colleagues.
- For Teaching and Learning - At least 85% of
teachers use technology appropriately with students every day to improve
student learning of the curriculum. Activities include some of the
following: research, multimedia, simulations, data interpretation,
communications, and collaboration (See the Massachusetts Recommended K-12
Instructional Technology Standards).
B.
Technology Literacy
- At least 85% of eighth grade students show
proficiency in all the Massachusetts Recommended PreK-12 Instructional
Technology Standards for grade 8.
- 100% of teachers are working to meet the
proficiency level in technology, and by the school year 2010-2011, 60% of
teachers will have reached the proficiency level as defined by the
Massachusetts Technology Self-Assessment Tool (TSAT).
- Staffing
- The district has a district-level technology
director/coordinator.
- The district provides one FTE instructional
technology teacher per 60-120 instructional staff.
- The district has staff dedicated to data
management and assessment.
Benchmark 3
Technology Professional Development
- At the end of three years, at least 85% of
district staff will have participated in 45 hours of high-quality
professional development
that includes technology skills and the integration of technology into
instruction.
- Technology professional development is
sustained and ongoing and includes coaching, modeling best practices,
district-based mentoring, study groups, and online professional
development. The professional development includes concepts of universal
design and scientifically based, researched models.
- Professional development planning includes an
assessment of district and teachers' needs. The assessment is based on the
competencies listed in the Massachusetts Technology Self-Assessment Tool.
- Administrators and teachers consider their
own needs for technology professional development, using the technology
self-assessment tools provided by the Massachusetts Department of
Education or similar tools.
Frontier Regional/Union#38 School
Districts support a culture of continuous learning for
staff that:
- Provides introduction to networked systems.
- Supports using the basic network software.
- Develops school-based technology planning and
learning.
- Builds online learning opportunities.
- Incorporates learning new curriculum (math,
writing, etc.) with technology applications.
Frontier Regional/Union#38 School
Districts support instructional change that:
- Facilitates access to collegial support and
best practice information from a wide variety of resources.
- Expands the variety of teaching tools and
strategies to support diverse learning styles.
- Supports productive and efficient management
of student assessment and portfolio data.
·
Increases
support for emerging instructional strategies: inter-disciplinary,
collaborative, active learning options, and brain based layered curriculum.
- Enables curriculum, instruction and
assessment to be developed and aligned with each other.
- Provides a system that helps students,
parents and teachers work together to support educational outcomes. (Mass
One)
- Pilots new teaching strategies, technologies,
and instructional resources.
- Investigates emerging possibilities for
electronic learning resources such as: e-books, wireless technology,
personal digital assistants, scientific probes, video conferencing,
on-line learning and streaming video.
- Uses Community Cable Access to improve
communication and offer learning opportunities within our communities.
In the last several
years, much has changed in the world of technology and in our understandings
about literacy, teaching and learning.
Our district goal is that there be a program of studies of 21st
Century curriculum to include: rigor, relevance and relationships; each
enhanced by technology use. The Frontier
Regional/Union#38 School
Districts have adopted Technology Standards for all
students. These new standards emphasize
communication, expands expectations for students to be responsible and ethical
users of technology, uses technology for thinking, learning, and producing, and
develops problem-solvers and effective users of information based on the
National Education Technology Standard for Students, Teachers and
Administrators. (Appendix 4)
Benchmark 4
Accessibility of Technology
A.
Hardware Access
- The district has an average ratio of fewer
than five students per high-capacity,
Internet-connected computer. The Department will work with stakeholders
to review the capacity of the computer on an annual basis. (The goal is
to have a one-to-one, high-capacity, Internet-connected computer ratio.)
- The district provides students with' access
to portable and/or handheld electronic devices appropriate to their grade
level.
- The district maximizes access to the general
education curriculum for all students, including students with
disabilities, using technology in classrooms with universal design
principles and assistive technology devices.
- The district has procurement policies for
information and instructional technologies that ensure usability,
equivalent access, and interoperability.
- The district provides classroom access to
devices such as digital projectors and electronic whiteboards.
- The district has established a computer
replacement cycle of five years or less.
- Internet Access
- The district provides connectivity to the
Internet in all classrooms in all schools including wireless
connectivity, if possible.
- The district provides bandwidth of at least
10/100/1 Gb to each classroom. At peak, the bandwidth at each computer is
at least 100 kbps. The network card for each computer is at least
10/100/1 Gb.
- Networking (LAN/WAN)
- The district provides a minimum 100 Mb Cat 5
switched network and/or 802.11b/g/n wireless network.
- The district provides access to servers for
secure file sharing, backups, scheduling, email, and web publishing,
either internally or through contracted services.
- Access to the Internet Outside the School Day
- The district works with community groups to
ensure that students and staff have access to the Internet outside of the
school day.
- The district web site includes an up-to-date
list of places where students and staff can access the Internet after
school hours.
- Staffing
- The district provides a network administrator.
- The district provides timely in-classroom
technical support with clear information about how to access the support,
so that technical problems will not cause major disruptions to curriculum
delivery.
- The district provides at least one FTE
person to support 200 computers. Technical support can be provided by
dedicated staff or contracted services.
Benchmark 5
Infrastructure for Connectivity
A.
The district encourages the development and use
of innovative strategies for delivering
specialized courses through the use of technology.
B.
The district
deploys IP-based connections for access to web-based and/or interactive video
learning on the local, state, regional, national, and international level.
C.
Classroom
applications of e-learning include courses, cultural projects, virtual field
trips, etc.
D.
The district
maintains an up-to-date web site that includes information for parents and
community members.
E.
The district
complies with federal and state law,
and local policies for archiving electronic communications produced by its
staff and students. The district informs staff and students that any
information distributed over the district or school network may be a public
record.
APPENDIX 1
STAR CHART