One of the biggest hurdles any decision-maker in education has to face is the budget. Striking a balance between maintaining costs and providing the tools students and teachers need to be successful can be daunting, but it is not impossible.

Here we speak with Caroline Lightfoot, CTO of Dickinson ISD in Texas, about her efforts to build equity within her 12,000-student district by providing proper tools and programs to all schools and utilizing Schoology for blending learning.

Lightfoot was recently recognized as Most Innovative CTO at a Tech & Learning Regional Leadership Summit with an Innovative Leader Award.

Upgrades Across The Board

Some days it can seem impossible to keep up with the tools that will make the greatest impact on education. However, by organizing your resources to provide proper tools and programs to every student and teacher within a district (regardless of how old the campus is), all can enjoy the same levels of education. Lightfoot explains how she approached this goal in her own district.

“We have a tendency to fund our new campuses for technology, and they are able to get the latest, greatest tech,” says Lightfoot. “So when I became the executive director of our department, we really wanted to start getting that out to all campuses and not just our new buildings. So we looked at the age of devices and where the work orders were and we started pecking away at it from there.”

Lightfoot and her team were able to update half the campuses last year, and plan to have everyone on board by February, with the exception of a few teachers at the high school.

Why was it so important to make this shift within the district?

“All of our teachers deserve the latest, greatest technology,” Lightfoot says. “Also, we have a little bit of a push because we have many older desktops that are not compatible with the systems we replaced. We needed to replace those anyway. This was a great opportunity to be able to do that and get some more portable, brighter technology in our classrooms.”

Challenges of Updating Tech

Taking on challenges comes with the territory when education is involved. Lightfoot experienced her own obstacles in reworking her district’s technology.

“We are in Texas,” Lightfoot says. “And, like many districts I know around the nation, we’re in that education funding crisis. We have to get pretty creative with some funding. So we funded at first with our technology budget, but we also asked [for money from the federal programs] to help with our teachers.”

The challenge then becomes spending the money to best support learning goals.

“Like so many other districts, we’ve been moving toward that blended learning model,” Lightfoot says. “We’re definitely there, but Schoology happens to be our learning management system of choice here in Dickinson. We’ve got lots of procedures in place to make things easier for teachers. After COVID, people were on board with online learning. It’s really been great to see them grow and thrive and integrate different tools within Schoology that we have in our district here as well.”

A Focus on Equity

Ideally, all schools, teachers, and students should have access to the same tools and programs to provide the same level of education across the board. Many districts struggle with maintaining a level of equity that would empower these goals.

“It’s just making a point that [achieving equity] is what needs to happen, and getting all the people in your district on board with it,” says Lightfoot. “It’s time that all educators realize that there are occasional funding things that get in the way, but we’ve been able to standardize on equipment as well so that things aren’t as hodgepodge. It makes things easier and more efficient.”

Bringing equity to a school district doesn’t always mean breaking the budget to put the latest technology in your schools, but having the mindset that you want to elevate the schools in your district equally can help advance the tech you have while not breaking the established budget. It also means that getting everyone in your district on the same page can make a big difference in agreeing on how to move forward.

• Innovative Leader Award
• Regional Leadership Summit

Keeping school devices running can be one of the most important tasks an IT technician can have. But, as Timothy Jaw states, it isn’t all about just focusing on the hands-on aspect with IT. Catering to the human side of IT can also go a long way in establishing and maintaining meaningful relationships within a school environment.

Jaw, Technology Coordinator at Warren Hills Regional School District in New Jersey, was recently honored with an Innovative Leader Award at a recent Tech & Learning Regional Leadership Summit for his IT work.

Your Call Is Very Important To Us

Dealing with customer service can be stressful for many, as it involves trying to resolve an issue or solve a problem that you cannot do on your own. Sometimes it requires you explaining an issue to another live individual, and this can result in varying outcomes based on a number of factors. Most importantly, you never know what kind of individual you will be dealing with and whether you’ll get your issue solved or not.

Jaw maintains that the way to make the customer service approach work in an educational setting is to begin by showing patience and understanding. Exhibiting qualities that mark excellent customer service can be very helpful when others look to you for answers to their technical questions. With the amount of tech we use in schools, just one device not working can derail an entire day. As Jaw puts it, showing empathy and compassion can go a long way.

“It starts with me, right?” Jaw says. “If I don’t conduct myself with that level of patience, customer service, empathy, and compassion that I expect the people that work in my department to exhibit, then it’s not going to work. The first step is starting with me and making sure that I’m doing that. From there, when I onboard people, we would go over our values, we talk about what’s important to us and try to come up with a shared set of values.”

Involving people who come to work in IT from the beginning mitigates potential pushbacks.

“It doesn’t take a lot of arm-twisting,” Jaw says. “If we are not there serving the people who work in the school community, what are we doing?”

Making Customer Service the Standard

Customer service normally invokes images of business, not education. However, as Jaw says when asked how other schools and IT departments can follow his lead to revamp their own offerings, it costs nothing to change a mindset.

“I would say that people are the most important thing,” Jaw says. “It’s just how we conduct ourselves, how we communicate, and how we operate that brings that success. It’s not due to a system. It’s not due to a product. It’s what we do on a day-to-day basis, who we are as people, and what we bring to the school community every day that makes the biggest difference. [If another school wanted to follow suit] that is what I see as having the biggest impact.”

But what happens if there is pushback to a customer service-oriented mindset?

“Everybody has different experiences and different personalities,” Jaw says. “I think that if we expect ourselves to have that level of understanding and patience and empathy toward the stakeholders that we serve in the school community, then we should have that toward each other as well. When there are people who are having a bad day or have something going on, I let my people know that I’ll take that call. I’ll help that person. I’ll make sure that it’s done the way that we want the department to be perceived in the school community. We have each other’s backs.”

Making the extra effort to help those in need, no matter what they may be dealing with, can help make an IT department go from a dreaded environment to the superheroes of the school.

• Regional Leadership Summit
• Innovative Leader Award

Bringing AI to the education environment will require IT leaders within the school environment to pave the way with the right kind of infrastructure. After all, any AI system is only as good as the fundamental technology that supports it. This all starts with data.

It’s an old mentality in IT, but one that still holds true: get your data in order and everything else will follow. AI models simply can’t operate effectively without the right kind of quality data, both in the training stage and when models perform inference in the field. 

If you’re looking to implement AI models in a school environment, these will need to have been trained on secure data and fine-tuned to limit any unwanted outputs. But on a more fundamental level, schools looking to use AI in any capacity will need to make sure that their digital record-keeping is as good as it can be to get the most out of their AI services.

In practical terms, this means investing in sufficient data infrastructure.

Building a Fit-for-AI Infrastructure: What to Know 

Establish a rigorous data governance model that takes into account the current and short-to-medium-term demands on your data. Depending on the level of digital transformation your institution has already undergone, this may also involve heavy digitization efforts, all of which will help smooth AI integration.

Data should be processed, labeled for ease of use, and stored in a scalable environment to meet future data expansion. In the short term, this will be ideal for any school looking to use AI to derive insights from their data using data analytics. If the need arises for a school to train an AI model based on its own data, for example, to be used in internal communications, properly structured and annotated data will help data scientists to give the model the most relevant information.

Private sector businesses are largely turning to the cloud to meet these needs and this is something that the public sector would also be well-advised to pursue. One of the chief benefits of investing in cloud infrastructure is that it’s inherently scalable, so can expand or contract to match the changing needs of any organization.

Proper data management is a high priority given the kind of data schools will be collecting and storing. At the same time as any educational administrator considers the ethical impacts and limits of using AI in their school, they will also need to question the extent to which their current data storage solution can keep student and staff data secure. 

If there’s any question of exposing sensitive information to a third party for AI training purposes, leaders will have to add extra protections to their tech stack. This could mean investing in privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs), which allow organizations to analyze data without moving or exposing it and also to generate synthetic data on which a Large Language Model (LLM) can be trained. This would theoretically allow a school to train an LLM on example answers in a test, for example, without exposing students’ real answers.

Be ready to add new hardware specifically designed to support AI. AI hardware is in hot demand right now – it’s hard to see graphics processing units (GPUs) and neural processing units (NPUs) dropping much in price while AI interest remains high. Luckily, even the largest schools are unlikely to need to invest directly in AI hardware and can instead bring their data to specialized hardware via the cloud.

Managed service providers (MSPs) can help here too, with ready-made frameworks for AI hosted in the cloud and backed up by hardware accelerators built by the likes of AI specialist Nvidia. MSPs can provide bespoke model training or inference needs depending on the outcome a school is seeking and replace up-front CapEx – a headache for any school leader looking at their budget – with OpEx linked to the actual usage of AI on a day-to-day basis.

Be aware that future-proofing AI infrastructure for any school is anticipating future demand. Additionally, while current innovations in the AI space might make it seem like schools will be forced to keep up with constant changes and leaps forward with AI technology, this is unlikely. The latest models are already reaching a balance between power and parameter size, which could offset initial concerns that organizations such as schools will be kept from harnessing AI due to high running costs.

Ultimately, if you’ve worked out a plan for exactly how you want to adopt AI in your school or have an outline for what needs to be set up to allow for future adoption, you’re actually already well on your way. 

Once the initial AI infrastructure is in place, scalability and efficiency improvements will allow you to make incremental improvements without the associated costs of lifting and shifting your systems more regularly.

• 5 Key Policy Considerations for Regulating AI in Classrooms
• 4 Lessons From California’s Teaching with AI Guidance

Sandra Paul became an educator thanks to a happy accident. She was a computer technology major at the University of the Virgin Islands and was asked to assist professors in the education department switch from Macs to PCs. After Paul helped these educators learn about their new computers, the dean of the education department was impressed with her abilities as an educator.

“She told me, ‘You'd make a very good teacher,’” Paul recalls. 

Paul decided to combine her passion for technology and her new passion for education and pursue a career in edtech. She has worked in the field since the early 1990s and is currently the Director of Technology for Township of Union Public Schools in New Jersey. She recently was honored with the Innovative Tech Director Award at Tech & Learning's Innovative Leader Awards during a Regional Leadership Summit in New Jersey.

As a woman of color in a white male-dominated field, Paul has had to overcome obstacles because of racism and sexism in addition to the standard challenges faced by technology directors, including limited funding for technology access for all. She's also had to conquer the many issues all school IT departments face, such as cybersecurity threats. 

Paul offers advice for those starting their careers in edtech.

1. Tips for New Edtech Professionals: Find a Mentor 

Paul advises those entering the edtech profession to look for someone who they believe will provide mentorship. 

Paul never had a mentor herself, but feels connecting with one early in her career would have made things easier. “There was many a tough time that I've had to deal with a difficult technology issue, and I had to deal with it on my own,” she says. Not being able to call someone on the phone and brainstorm technical solutions can be overwhelming. Finding someone who can be relied upon to provide guidance and counsel is invaluable.

2. Get Involved With Professional Organizations  

“Joining organizations is very helpful,” says Paul, who has been a member of ISTE and other education professional organizations since the 1990s. These give her access to presentations, white papers, discussions, videos, and best practices for handling the myriad situations and challenges modern edtech leaders face. 

“All those things add a lot to your plate, but also encourages you and gives you some guidance on how to move forward,” she says. “Any new person who wants to get into this field – they should not handle it by themselves. It's a little bit more overwhelming than it was when I was just connecting printers or fixing PCs.” 

3. Get Creative To Get Funding 

Funding, or a lack thereof, is something every edtech leader will likely have to deal with during their career. “Because of financial constraints, you're not able to impact as many kids as you wish you could,” Paul says. 

To overcome this in her own career, Paul says she had to look beyond the district’s budget by asking, “'Is there alternative financing that I can look at?' For example, grants or donations or that type of thing.” 

Getting creative in this way can help bring more access to technology to more students, even when school budgets are tight, which, let’s face it, is pretty much always. 

4. Model Success for Students 

If you are a woman or minority working in education IT, your success can help encourage students to follow your path, and potentially even let them know that there is a future for them in a lucrative STEM field. 

Paul has not lost sight of that in her career and it is one of the things that has motivated her through difficult periods. “I'm not giving up because I see that it's important for female students and minority students to see me as a model of working in the field of IT,” she says. 

• A Data-Driven Approach to Personalized PD in “The Faculty Room”
• 5 Cybersecurity Tips from CoSN’s CEO and a Digital Security Expert

When it comes to tech in the classroom, an integral part of a successful system is putting together an unstoppable leadership team to guide the process. 

Bobby D. LaFleur, Chief Technology Officer at Spring ISD in Houston, Texas, and a recent Tech & Learning Innovative Leader Award winner for Innovative Chief Technology Officer, discusses how he builds and supports his own IT leadership team. 

Using EQ to Develop Great IT Leaders 

The first step in building a great IT leadership team is to develop great leaders. This could mean mining for natural talent and finding those with skills to offer, but who might not be the first to raise their voice or take charge.

“When I talk or think about leaders, I am talking or thinking about the technology department as a whole,” says LaFleur. “I see everyone having leadership skills and qualities. They just need to be nurtured.”

While LaFleur’s position as IT leader might seem he would focus more on the nuts and bolts of computer systems than people, he would disagree. 

“I see my job as both a creator of leaders and ensuring customers are satisfied with the services provided,” he says. “Emotional intelligence encompasses a considerable number of skills that I use every day. The skills that are vital for me are empathy, respectful listening, accountability, and honesty.”

LaFleur focused on observing and learning from other leaders to improve his own toolkit, but he quickly decided what he was seeing might not be the most effective way to truly take charge. He felt his responsibilities went beyond just being a manager of people and tasks — that relationship management was key.

“I am constantly communicating with people and trying to ensure they are mentally healthy by making them laugh and smile,” he says. “I try to speak or say hello to everyone I am in contact with to show them that they are important by acknowledging them. Doing this makes it easier for them to open up, and I can learn about them on a personal level. As a leader, I wanted to succeed, but I didn't want to do it alone. I wanted to bring others with me.”

Building From Within 

LaFleur believes a true leader values their team's opinions and success. This has led to a somewhat unconventional method of pulling together a team. 

“When I was the Director of Application Support and needed to bring on a new team member, the interview committee would consist of other directors,” says LaFleur. “The choices didn't always work out. I had to pivot and let my team have an opinion in choosing their team members.”

That shift helped the team thrive and always go above and beyond expectations. 

“In allowing them to select their team members, they chose individuals they could be friends with and care about,” says LaFleur. “I sit back and marvel at how they collaborate and work as a team even when the situation isn't in their job function.”

5 Steps to Developing an Unbeatable IT Leadership Team 

For anyone looking to develop a long-term, successful IT team, LaFleur suggests: 

1. Set a Leadership Example — Staying in control, even in challenging situations, ensures a team knows their leader believes in them and their abilities to do the job.
2. Empower — Empowering leaders to make choices and take calculated risks can help them build confidence and gain experience.
3. Mentor — Creating opportunities for leaders to make decisions and take ownership creates a positive environment for people to be their best.
4. Provide Feedback — Create an entrepreneurial and empowered environment and then support the team’s efforts with thoughtful feedback in a collaborative way.
5. Encourage — Being an encourager helps individual team members think outside of the box when finding solutions to a problem.

Growing the Next Generation of IT Leaders 

Internships are a significant part of career research, so one day each year, LaFleur’s technology department presents to the students in conjunction with the Career and Technical Education (CTE) department. 

“We discuss various career opportunities they may explore within the technology field,” says LaFleur. “This program allows CTE students to apply for our summer internship program to experience paid on-the-job training. The summer jobs are lower-level jobs that fall within the Technical Services team.”

This opportunity offers more than just lip service. In fact, of LaFleur’s current staff, ten members came through this program. They now participate in the presentation and explain to current students how the internship, job exposure, and discussions with staff members during their time in the program helped in choosing an academic and career path to secure a position within the department.

“After their high school and college careers, they joined our technology team and now represent the three different technology teams,” says LaFleur. “Every summer, we have three or four CTE students in our program.”

• Tech & Learning Innovative Leader Award
• How to Develop a Diverse School IT Staff

Whether database administrators, network analysts, or site technicians working directly with teachers and students, the increased reliance on technology demands dedicated and knowledgeable IT staff. Juxtaposed with a decrease in available applicants – more than 49% of public schools responding to a recent National Center for Educational Statistics reported at least one non-teaching staff vacancy – this is a recipe for staff and students being unable to reliably access technology tools when there is a shortage of tech staff.

Regardless of why shortages occur, retaining valuable employees who are already part of the team is a critical approach. Unfilled technology positions and high absentee rates leave help desk tickets unaddressed or delayed. Teachers who are unable to receive timely support for a malfunctioning projector or for connecting a laptop to the internet increases frustration and forces on-the-fly changes to great, tech-rich lesson plans. And if they can’t rely on their technology, they often give up, returning to low-tech learning experiences for students, further exacerbating learning loss. 

Taking the time to conduct stay interviews can be especially beneficial to a school district.

How Stay Interviews Can Help 

Honoring the voices and contributions of staff is an important component of any equity initiative. To help learn why great staff stay, leaders in the Mt. Diablo Unified School District (MDUSD) Business Services Department have embarked on a series of stay interviews. Modeled after the traditional exit interview, we asked ourselves, “Why wait until great staff leave to find out how we can motivate them to stay?” 

During these interviews, small and large group discussions connect staff with department leaders to gain insights into what they like about their jobs and why they stay in the district (and what would make them leave). Suggestions to better recruit, welcome, and onboard minority employees are also gathered. 

Maximizing attractors and minimizing detractors is the name of the game–knowing what these are is the first step. 

The MDUSD Process 

Stay interviews are hosted after the work day in local restaurants with appetizers and a welcoming atmosphere. Including a half dozen department leaders and 20 to 30 employees, events incorporate low-stress but structured activities that anonymize and randomize participant feedback. 

During the 90 minutes, participants from IT and other Business Services departments consider questions that prompt discussion and written responses, such as:

• What do you love about your job? 
• If there was something you could change about your job, what would it be? 
• Why do you stay in this position/district? 
• When you think back to your onboarding, is there anything that could have been different to improve the transition onto our Business Services team? 
• What is one thing your leaders are doing really well to make you feel welcomed, appreciated, and valued? 
• If you identify as part of a "minority" (person of color, LGBTQ+, etc), do you feel welcome in MDUSD? Follow up: What could MDUSD do to better recruit people from under-represented groups and/or make them feel more welcomed and cared for? 

Chart paper on walls, sticky notes on tables, and a low-stress environment allow participants to contribute honest answers.  

What We Learned and Next Steps 

One of our ‘Aha’s’ was that open, effective communication is what keeps our employees engaged and feeling like they are part of the organization. For instance, our IT staff reports: “Keep us informed of what is happening in our department and bigger district news, even if you think we might not be interested.” 

IT team members say they stay with our district for various reasons, including the proximity to home, outstanding benefits, the belief that they make a difference, and their overall joy and satisfaction of helping our students and staff. They acknowledge that historically their colleagues in the IT department have not been as diverse or representative of our student population as they would like, and have offered suggestions as to how to hire with an equity mindset and to intentionally hire qualified staff who look like the students and staff they serve.

Best Practices for Facilitating Stay Interviews 

- Start by selecting participants who have been in the district for three to nine years. These individuals are still fairly new, have a greater ability to move to another district, and may not be fully vested into the retirement system. If there aren’t a lot of staff in this experience range, include others from operations departments to ensure a safer environment and broader feedback.  

- Encourage attendees to be open and honest. Start with a 15-20 minute brainstorming on sticky notes, with each idea having its own sticky note to gather multiple ideas. Once sticky notes are affixed to their corresponding question page, have a facilitator group the ideas into columns of similar suggestions and share each one out loud to validate every idea, while also seeking clarification when necessary.  

- Take time to acknowledge the sharing, and talk about next steps so employee suggestions can result in deliberate leadership actions.  

- Be open to letting your team tell you how you did. In a recent stay interview, one staff member shared, “I felt valued and cared for, not to mention taking me to an inexpensive place with good food.” Another added, “I appreciate being asked my opinion and feel I was really listened to.” 

While there’s never a single approach to hiring and retaining great staff, adding stay interviews to our arsenal has helped us better connect with staff to learn why they stay and how we can continue to value their amazing contributions.  

• How to Develop a Diverse School IT Staff
• How Districts Are Recruiting & Retaining Teachers & Staff

For Michael Marassa, the key to running a good technology department at a school is creating a culture in which your team prioritizes the needs of others. 

“Our job as technology leaders is to really facilitate the wants and needs of our teachers, our administrators, and our students,” says the chief technology officer at New Trier High School District in Illinois. “It's not what's best for the technology department.” 

Marassa recently received the Innovative Chief Technology Officer Award at Tech & Learning’s Innovative Leader awards in Illinois for helping steer his district through this turbulent era in education with impactful use of technology. 

QR Codes and Clear Sound 

During the height of the pandemic, Marassa led two initiatives that helped earn recognition. 

The first was a QR-code based health screening and entry system for the entire district.  Student and staff members were regularly tested for COVID using a saliva test. They would also take a health screener each morning before attending school to indicate they were symptom-free. The results of both this screener and test were linked through an app to unique QR codes for each student and staff member. If someone’s COVID test came back positive, they would be notified immediately. In the event that they still showed up to school after their QR code was scanned, they wouldn’t be admitted. 

“It got to be quite a sophisticated logistic system but it was what worked and what we felt did our best to minimize the virus getting into the building and helping people to feel safe while returning to school,” Marassa says. 

Secondly, Marassa helped the district prepare for hybrid learning by installing nearly 200 classroom audio systems to facilitate communication between teachers and students and remote learners. Today, those systems are still used to videoconference in remote presenters. 

New Challenges Post COVID  

While the QR-health screening system is a thing of the past, many other aspects of school have changed since the pandemic. Prior to March 2020, parents did not receive access to the grade book for their children’s LMS and not every class even utilized an LMS. Now, Marassa says, “We really have become unified in using the same learning management system and also giving access to our parents.” 

This change came after the district realized the need to be more student- and parent-centric in its approach, and to get better at recognizing when students are struggling. 

“The students that we have today, even without COVID, are more complicated and are facing all kinds of additional stressors,” Marassa says. “So the more information we have, the more that different leaders of different aspects of an organization can intervene earlier.” 

Refresh and Communicate  

Marassa advises others working in IT to have a plan for refreshing the district’s tech. “Sometimes we are reactive instead of proactive,” he says. “I’ll use the examples of our homes. We have all kinds of things in our house that eventually they're going to break, and we need to fix them. Like our air conditioner, our furnace, our refrigerator, our washer, and dryer.” 

But waiting until something goes wrong doesn’t fly with edtech. “That kind of mindset, when you are a CTO and you're managing an organization where there are so many technology systems that need to run, it's just not an acceptable practice,” he says. “Really work on being a systems thinker, and stepping back and looking at all aspects of your infrastructure, and in putting together a lifecycle plan that you can work out financially with your CFO and superintendent so that they can plan financially to make sure that your district remains reliable high-performing and secure.” 

For technology school leaders, communication with different stakeholder groups is also essential. “First and foremost, with those people that are on the ground that work with you and for you as a leader, you just need to be engaged in relationship-building with them and getting to know them,” Marassa says. “Because they can really make or break the culture of your department. So it's really important that you establish those relationships, and make it clear with your messaging, that you're a student-centric and a student-first kind of leader." 

• How One Edtech Leader Supports Equity
• Tech & Learning Celebrates the 2022 Winners & Finalists of the Innovative Leader Awards at New Event
• How to Encourage Literacy with Digital Books & Resources

For about as long as he can remember eighth grader Tra Gaston has had a passion for fixing tech devices.

“My dad used to fix phones and he taught me how to hard reset them and stuff like that,” Gaston says. 

As he got older he began experimenting more and more with fixing old devices. Now he does this in an official capacity with a student tech team at Crawford W. Long Middle School.

“He's one of my tinkers,” says Renee Dawson an education technology specialist who oversees Tra’s student tech team. “If I have something that's just not quite working, right, he'll tinker with it until he gets it to work. Sometimes better than it did before.” 

The student tech team is part of the Verizon Innovative Learning Schools Program, which is a collaboration between Verizon and Digital Promise that seeks to equip every student and teacher at select middle and high schools across America with a device and internet access. The program also requires students to be involved in providing tech support. This is a win-win for districts because it helps tech staff while also providing students an opportunity for on-the-job training, says Michael Mades, technical project director at Digital Promise.

“It really decreases the burden on the district IT, and the school IT, to have a student provide that tier one troubleshooting,” says Mades, who helps oversee the Verizon Innovative Learning Schools program. “Once [districts] identify the students who can really take this and go with it, then they can advance their skills into more of the higher level troubleshooting and support.” 

 Student Tech Teams: Learning Leadership  

Part of the mission of these tech teams is to recruit a diverse group of students. “We have students from all walks of our campus,” says William Page, Verizon Innovative Learning Schools Instructional Coach at Thomas Starr King School in Los Angeles.  “We have students who are in our special ed program. We have students who are identified as gifted. We have students who have had discipline issues in the past. I was very purposeful in targeting a very diverse group of students, and also students who aren't necessarily tech-inclined but who have an interest in growing as leaders.” 

Part of what makes teams successful are the ways in which students work together and learn from one another as they make video and slideshow tutorials and engage in other outreach efforts around technology in their school, Dawson says. “It's students working with students, which is really empowering for all of them because it's not just an adult telling them what to do; it's one of their peers.” 

Resetting More Than Just Devices 

The student tech teams can also provide an opportunity for those who have not found their niche in other areas of the school. One student on Williams' team has been identified as on the autism spectrum while others struggle with being shy. "We're trying to make sure that we are normalizing as much as possible, and being as inclusive as we possibly can, so that students see brilliance in in all," he says. 

Students regularly go to Dawson’s office to talk and relax, away from the pressures and stressors they might encounter elsewhere. “I actually become their safe space in the building,” Dawson says. 

Tra is among those students who regularly stops by even when he’s not fixing any tech. “There's always the days that he comes to me just because he needs to reset himself, and we talk and get reset in a better headspace,” she says. 

Starting A Student Tech Team at Your School 

Educators interested in learning more about starting their own tech team can find more tips here and learn more about the Verizon Innovative Learning Schools Program here. 

Tra says participating in the program as a student has been rewarding. “Every time we work on stuff, I learn something new,” he says. His advice for those thinking about starting a program or joining a team is short and to the point: “If they're interested, come on!” 

• Student Tech Teams: 5 Tips for Having Students Work and Learn on the Job
• How A Director of Technology Keeps Students Connected

There is nothing quite like on-the-job training, which is why many schools have launched student tech teams that allow young IT enthusiasts work alongside district IT professionals. 

These student tech supporters have different functions at different schools but many help with everything from tier one troubleshooting to more advanced hardware deconstruction and reconstruction. Participating students gain valuable work skills and, in return, can help take the strain off districts that might be struggling with staffing. 

“It really decreases the burden on the district IT, and the school IT, to have a student provide that tier one troubleshooting,” says Michael Mades, technical project director at Digital Promise. Mades helps oversee the Verizon Innovative Learning Schools program, which is a collaboration between Verizon and Digital Promise that seeks to equip every student and teacher at select middle and high schools across America with a device and internet access. Participating schools are also encouraged to develop these student tech teams. 

Mades has experience mentoring students in these teams as a former district IT leader and has also worked with many districts in his current role to help launch similar student tech teams across the country. As such, he's gained valuable insight for undertaking such an effort.

1. Treat It Like a Real Job 

“We really encourage [student tech team facilitators] to treat this like a job for these kids,” Mades says. “So have them apply, have them get letters of recommendation, have them do an interview, provide them with training so that at the end of the day the students have a real-life experience here that will give them skills that they can then take and potentially advance into a tech career down the road.”  

2. Remember: The Program Doesn’t Have to Cost Anything 

Students who participate in the program don’t need to get paid. Instead, their participation can be part of a work studies program. This is how the program worked when Mades was a district IT director. 

“The 'pay' the students were getting was the credit, and they were also getting knowledge and skill,” he says. However, Mades still required his students to take their positions seriously. “They showed up every day, they had expectations, they had jobs and tasks they had to get done. And they left  with employability skills after high school, they could become a tech anywhere because they had that foundation,” he says.  

3. Recruit Students Who May Be Overlooked 

Student tech teams provide an opportunity to encourage success for a student who may not have been successful in other school programs. 

“We say, don't take those rock star kids that are in everything. Find those students in your school who haven't found a place yet, those students who need a place to shine,” Mades says. 

The program can be an opportunity for students who have creativity but haven’t found the right outlet for it yet. “In some of our schools, they do promotional videos, they do training videos, they do teacher workshops and parent workshops," Mades says. 

4. Seek Out the Hackers  

“Find those hackers, those kids who are causing trouble in your network and bring them on board, because when they find out their job is now to protect the network, they're now working with you and supporting you, and there'll be your eyes and ears in the schools,” Mades says. “They'll actually work for you and make you better, once you've earned their trust.”  

5. Make the Work Meaningful  

Tech teams that Mades works with through the Verizon Innovative Learning Schools program have different makeups and different approaches based on their school and district needs. However, he says the successful ones all provide challenging and fulfilling work opportunities for the students. 

“It isn't just coming in and wiping off the computers in the computer lab once a week, it has to be something that's going to provide the students a chance of feeling like they've accomplished something," he says. The work should make students feel fulfilled, help them gain skills, and show them they have the potential for growth at the school.

• How A Director of Technology Keeps Students Connected
• 5 Tips for IT Leadership From an Award-Winning Director of Technology

Schools are an indispensable part of our society, deeply tied to the economy, with an undisputed role in building the nation’s future. One thing the Great Recession of the mid-2000s taught us is that an infusion of federal stimulus funds may have been helpful, but when those funds dried up, state and local revenues declined, leaving districts in a quandary. Economically, the housing bubble burst, local governments suffered from loss of property taxes, and state governments saw declines in income tax and sales tax revenue, so the Federal government provided a lifeline with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), supporting states with funding for public education since most spent at least half of their budgets on education. 

All indications are that we are headed into another challenging time for public education budgets. While student learning may not be affected directly during a recession, non-instructional services often are notably impacted, including transportation, utilities, student services, student activities, and technology. Why? When budgets are tight, leaders endeavor to keep cuts as far away from the classroom as possible. Thus, reductions are made in “nice to have” programs and projects, such as new technology, equipment upgrades, supplemental programs, professional development, and non-classroom staff, many of which are the backbone of the technology department. 

Don’t be fooled: the recent boom in demand for technology services during distance learning will not exempt technology departments from difficult budget conversations. 

What can school technology leaders do to recession-proof their departments and programs? 

Be transparent about the costs of maintaining technology. Tech is expensive, but it’s more expensive without a plan. Establish and communicate clear, written standards, and maintain a clearly budgeted refresh cycle for all standard equipment. This empowers strategic investments in the hardware and software needed, and helps to leverage any bulk buying discounts.

Identify positions as essential. Many positions will be evaluated when funds get tight, so proactively reviewing all technology department roles and their impact on essential services to students and school sites is critical. Consider creating (and sharing with district leadership) a matrix of responsibilities to clearly identify which positions support which programs. This will help demonstrate the impact of any future budget cuts. 

Tie spending to essential student programs. COVID taught us that the use of technology is a critically important learning tool. Whether used to deliver core instruction with digital materials or to deliver an assessment system, technology budgets should be positioned by their support for essential student learning. For example, keeping to a refresh schedule may be much less expensive than the cost of additional tech support positions to maintain outdated equipment.  

Consider multi-year contracts. During a recession, vendors may experience increased costs and pass these on to districts. Carefully negotiated, multi-year contracts can help lock in subsequent years at a reduced or stable rate. Contracts that should be explored include assessment programs, student information and data systems, core IT systems, and supplemental instructional programs used until a curriculum adoption takes place. Money up front can be a bargaining chip for reduced rates into the future to stay with those providers, assuming that any indirect cost to change to a competitor don’t outweigh the savings.

Reduce overhead through cooperative agreements. If you haven’t already joined a co-op, a board resolution with a commitment to participate starts the process. The advantage is that competitive prices can be obtained without a lot of haggling or time-consuming negotiations. 

Cross-train IT staff. When the cuts do come, make sure you’re ready. Identify all services that keep your operation running, and do the best you can to apply the 1+2 rule: one system owner with primary responsibility, and two individuals trained who are ready to step in if necessary. Consider entering a “just-in-case” ad hoc services contract with a partner vendor or managed service provider. Responsible vendors will work with you on this at no cost until you need their services to get you through a tough time. 

With a recession comes uncertainty. After the last two-and-a-half years of COVID-induced challenges, money remains a hot topic in public education. Recession-influenced spending cuts can significantly impact a technology department. Because the ill-effects of a recession through reduced spending can be felt for years to come, proactively protecting positions, investing in refresh programs, and maximizing remaining funds through long term contracts and partnerships are great ways to mitigate the consequences.

• Securing & Future-Proofing Your School IT
• Do’s and Don'ts with One-Time Funds

The Stanfield Elementary District in Stanfield, Arizona, serves K-8 students spread across 600 square miles. Twenty percent of the students live on a Native American reservation, and some have a daily bus ride that is longer than an hour. 

Largely because of this commute-to-class time, chronic absenteeism has long been high in the single-site district. 

“We average between 10 and 12 percent absenteeism rates,” says Superintendent Dr. Melissa Sadorf. “This year our numbers are even higher, we're at about 15 percent.” 

Across the country many school districts are experiencing the same trend: pre-existing absenteeism being exacerbated by the pandemic. 

“What we are seeing is an increase in chronic absence in all the states that have recently reported chronic absence data,” says Hedy N. Chang, executive director of AttendanceWorks.org, which offers guides and other resources to help schools increase attendance. 

While national data on chronic absenteeism has not been released recently, and states have different definitions of what constitutes an absence, state data on chronic absence is just starting to be released from last year and a few places are starting to share attendance at the beginning of this year. For instance, one report using data from districts within 17 counties in California found a 9.4 percent increase in chronic absences from last year to the first few months of this year. 

These absences generally tend to heighten existing inequities. 

“Chronic absenteeism is an issue that is more likely to affect low-income students and disadvantaged students, disabled students, and a lot of students who are struggling to fit in at school or have barriers to getting to school, like transportation or health or issues,” says Phyllis Jordan, associate director of FuturEd, an independent think tank at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy. 

ELLs also saw significant spikes in absences at many schools, Jordan adds. 

What’s Driving Chronic Absenteeism This Year?  

“We opened schools at a time when there's a surge in the Delta variant, you didn't have everyone vaccinated, and some kids -- now that's changing -- couldn't get vaccinated. And you have divisiveness around how to keep kids healthy, and safe,” Chang says. “I think people were hugely concerned about the physical health and safety of schools.” 

COVID quarantines are also keeping kids home. “One of the challenges is we didn't come up as a country with a backup plan for how to support kids when they were quarantined,” she says. 

In addition, students who haven’t been socializing as much for a year may be more uncomfortable going to school. Plus, decreased social skills may be increasing the number of fights, resulting in more out-of-school suspensions.

In Sadorf’s district, which has a significant at-risk health population, COVID concerns are a factor. “We're finding that there is some fear around coming to campus,” Sadorf says. “We still have not had outbreaks, because we haven't had to close classrooms or close the school at large, but we do have students who we are quarantining.” 

This is all on top of the prepandemic challenges around attendance. In Stanfield Elementary District, transportation is a big issue because if students miss their bus they frequently live so far from the school that being dropped off by a family member isn’t an option. 

Overcoming Chronic Absenteeism With Relationships and Technology  

Jordan, who is the author of an Attendance Playbook from FutureEd and Attendance Works, says the first step to combating absenteeism is gathering good data on why students aren’t attending school and then having a team in place to help families overcome the obstacles keeping students out of school. 

“In Baltimore, they had something like 250 kids who missed 40 days of school in kindergarten through second grade,” she says. “Over the summer, they sent social workers to every single one of these houses. And they found that a third of the kids had asthma, but they didn't have inhalers. This is something you can fix; it doesn't have to happen.” 

Sometimes the fix is more difficult, but building relationships with students and their families is an important first step regardless. 

Technology can also help. For example, nudges is an evidence-based strategy in which attendance reminders are sent to parents about their students via text or another method. “If you send parents periodic notes about their kid’s attendance and tell them how many days the students have missed, it seems to improve attendance,” Jordan says. 

Building relationships is at the heart of the Stanfield Elementary District’s efforts to improve attendance. “One of the things that we have found is that especially with our parents that don't speak English, they're not very comfortable coming onto campus,” Sadorf says. “So the last few years, we've been very intentional about going to them so that we can build those relationships. But what we found this last year is when we had parent-teacher conferences on Zoom, we had higher rates of attendance at these meetings than we ever have.”

Going forward, these meetings are expected to be held over Zoom or Facetime, or even over the phone, as being flexible about how these events occur helps increase attendance from parents and fosters connection between them and the school. “You’ve got to start with the relationship,” Sadorf says. “If the relationship is not there, they're not going to be as comfortable coming in and telling you why they have issues or barriers to getting to school.” 

Correction, 11/22/21: This article has been updated to clarify that while no recent national data has been released on chronic absenteeism, the issue is studied nationally. The initial absenteeism data from districts within California has also been updated and refers to specific districts within California, not the state as a whole as originally stated. 

• Chatbots in K-12: What You Need to Know
• How to Reconnect with Students Who Have Logged Out

Companies that create a diverse IT staff see greater profitability and creativity as well as stronger governance and better problem-solving abilities, thanks to the variety in perspectives, thought processes, and experiences. 

All these benefits transfer to education and edtech, says Diane Doersch, Director of Technology for the Verizon Innovative Learning Schools Initiative at Digital Promise, and a former director of technology and chief technology and information officer at Green Bay Area Public Schools in Wisconsin. 

“Always the people first,” Doersch says. “You’ve got to take care of the people before the people can do the things you need them to do.”

A school IT staff needs to have a variety of voices around the table to be successful, she says. People from diverse backgrounds offer diverse solutions, so building a structure to support that and in which everyone feels they have a voice -- and that their supervisor has their back -- is important. 

“You have to set the tone for your department, and potentially, your whole school system, on what's acceptable and what's not,” Doersch says. “And that is really going to make a difference on the retention of diverse employees, if you're lucky enough to get them in the door.” 

Diverse School IT Staff: Intentional Recruitment 

Districts have to be intentional about diversity and inclusion in the recruiting processes. They need to consider practices such as compiling lists of professional networks, sourcing from diverse institutions, and attending sponsored technology events to find qualified candidates, says Doersch. 

Competing with private sector salaries is a major concern for school edtech leaders, but the education environment offers other benefits. “Something that we always say about working in a school district versus other IT jobs where you're on call all the time, where it's high stress, where you could be released at any time, is that in education it's pretty stable,” says Doersch. “Okay, maybe we don't pay the best salary, but we have a good community to be part of.” 

If you’re looking to build diversity, the recruiting seeds need to be planted early as the technology field is open to everybody, says Doersch, who encourages districts to invite their own students to see what they do by offering IT tours. “We had a very diverse hardware team, and students actually say, ‘Hey wait I look like him, I could do this.’ Or, ‘Look, she's doing that, I could do this!’” she says. “For me, as the chief, I made sure to get in front of our young women to say, ‘Hey, this is a possibility for you.’ And being an Asian-American was another thing I talked about.”  

Fine-tuning your job description to include more inclusive language is also key as it’s the first thing that a potential employee sees when they're considering working for you. 

Other items to consider regarding job descriptions: 

• Question if existing job competencies are barriers 
• Consider experience vs. degrees as well as all lifestyles 
• Include an equity statement in a job description so potential employees know it’s a priority 
• Eliminate technical jargon 
• Talk about your organization’s culture 

Diverse IT School Staff: Hiring, Onboarding, and Retention

Once the job is posted and diverse candidates begin to apply, it’s helpful to have a diverse interview panel that includes various ages, levels of experience, and cultural backgrounds. Although the process should be standardized, it’s important to not just hire the cultural ‘fit,’ and to model a growth mindset. “Remember, they’re deciding if they want to work for you,” says Doersch.

After a prospect is hired, the onboarding process is crucial to show that your organization has a growth plan, and one in which that employee can see themselves achieving career goals and advancing. Objective criteria and metrics should be clear, as are opportunities for job shadowing, professional learning, and especially, mentorship.    

“We found that we were the strongest when we matched mentors up, so that a person felt that they had somebody to go to to find out procedures or the right person to talk to,” says Doersch. “The people who did end up being those mentors were really out to be helpful, and weren't in it for themselves. They really truly were team players who wanted to make our team better.”

Other actions to consider to boost retention:

• Put people in places to succeed 
• Connect their work with the strategic direction of the district 
• Have high expectations 
• Provide frequent feedback
• Coach employees, focusing on fostering independence, developing critical thinking, improving communication, and stretching their abilities 
• Support their proposals  

As always, listening is key. “I constantly talked to our new employees and our technology integrators because that tends to be a lonely job when you're out working at multiple schools,” says Doersch. “I would check in with them and see how they're doing, see if there's any way to lower barriers for them, etc.”

Improving Your Leadership 

Leaders have to be proactive in their approach to management to support diversity and inclusion. 

It’s also important to make sure your leadership team understands about the potential issues within diverse teams, such as cultural microaggressions. “Teaching your team leaders about microaggressions, and what they are and how to stop them, is going to be key,” says Doersch. “We had monthly staff meetings, so we would talk about these things as a whole group, setting up those guardrails for treating each other respectfully.” Be sure to empower middle-level managers to have the skills to confidently report and address these issues when it happens.

Other leadership points to consider:

• Be supportive by showing authentic interest and building trust 
• Seek different perspectives by inviting ideas from everyone 
• Operate with strong results orientation by emphasizing efficiency and completion and focusing on the important issues and not getting distracted by unimportant ones 
• Solve problems effectively, making sure to gather data before making decisions and resolving disputes fairly 

“In leadership, there are vulnerabilities, and being able to sometimes show your underbelly and be vulnerable shows people that you're human and you're learning right along with them,” says Doersch.

• How to Recruit New Teachers
• 4 High-Impact Tools for School Leaders

It is no coincidence that K-12 organizations have become one of the most targeted sectors for cybercriminals seeking access to confidential data. Most student information systems (SIS) contain sought-after information when the goal is to illegally assume another person’s identity. Student and employee data sets most always include full, legal names, dates of birth, and far too often, social security numbers. 

While still necessary to maintain employee social security numbers for tax and retirement reporting purposes, I believe it is time for schools and school districts to eradicate student social security numbers from both electronic and paper records, if they have not already done so. 

The task may sound simple. However, the reality of accomplishing that feat is complex and must be strategically planned and executed. 

The Greeneville City School District is located in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains in rural, eastern Tennessee. Digital records are now the norm; however, certain paper documents are still maintained in various locations throughout the district. The one warehouse in the district is not environmentally controlled with temperatures soaring during Tennessee summers and dipping throughout the winter months. To preserve these historical records, the district has a goal to digitize it all and has engaged with a vendor-partner to accomplish that task. 

As the current Assistant Director of Schools for Administration, I have also served as the Chief Technology Officer for the school district for the past 27 years and have certainly observed a rapidly shifting landscape in regard to data security and information management. Never has data management been more critical than it is in today’s environment. 

There are so many aspects of data security, privacy, and information management that need to be addressed. Just focusing on the elimination of student social security numbers, the following steps are the ones taken by our rural district and are recommended for others who might be facing this same challenge.

6 Steps to Remove Social Security Numbers from Student Data

1. Assemble a cross-sectional team of stakeholders who have a broad knowledge base. We began by brainstorming and prioritizing what could quickly become an overwhelming project. This is the point in the process at which we identified the importance of eliminating student social security information as our top priority. 

2. Identify all sources of student social security information. While it may be obvious to concentrate on SIS, make sure to account for hard copies of such information that may be inside permanent records or other files. This step in the overall process can be laborious. Allow time for team members to speak with teachers, school leaders, special education experts, school secretaries, and others who will likely have pertinent information to help the project progress.  

3. Communicate plans across the organization throughout the process. Like any project management endeavor, this one will not be fully successful without a robust, streamlined communication plan to keep all stakeholders involved and engaged. Parents and guardians need to know about your effort and understand the reasons behind it. Teachers need to be involved as they might be asked to provide student information when rostering as part of a software pilot project or other similar task. District leadership team members need to receive regular updates as the work progresses. School boards and local media outlets need to be involved. Invite them to serve on data security teams and work together to accomplish your goals.  

4. Develop a strategic plan to address both paper and electronic record scrubbing simultaneously. It is important to have small teams focusing on specific record types. For example, we solicited the help of a couple of great special education teachers to assist our team in purging socials from historical records, which was a substantial task. Our district utilizes PowerSchool as our SIS. Our local PSUG (PowerSchool Users Group) played a tremendous role in developing a plan to begin using a unique pin number in lieu of social security number. They then tested the plan exhaustively in a sandbox environment before moving to the production server. 

5. Involve your state education department information systems team. We reached out to the EIS (Education Information System) team at the Tennessee State Department of Education early in our planning stages. The Tennessee EIS platform is critical because all our state education funding is generated based on the student enrollment and attendance data uploaded by local SIS extracts. Our EIS support team were instrumental in helping us map the data fields and prepare for the transition to the unique pin numbers by which students would be uniquely identified and tracked.  

6. Stay the course. Any school system with a large amount of data (historical and/or current) must acknowledge that the process of removing student social security numbers will be one that requires focus, endurance, and commitment. Team members may leave. New team members may emerge. It is important to have the process documented and a training plan in place by which information and knowledge transfer can happen quickly and thoroughly. 

The Greeneville City School District is now positioned to enroll and serve students without ever seeing or knowing their social security numbers. As a longtime IT professional, I often worry about the fact that many young adults may find themselves applying for college scholarships, seeking a loan to buy that first new car, or filling out an application for a job only to discover that their identity has been stolen as the result of a data breach during their K-12 school years. It gives me a sense of peace to know that social security numbers are not at risk in the district I serve. 

• 5 Ways to Boost School Cybersecurity
• Best Cybersecurity Lessons and Activities for K-12 Education

Working for an embassy or consulate in a foreign country might not be the career path most IT professionals take, but that’s part of what appealed to Enoch Masih, an information technology major at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. 

“IT has so many different options but this is certainly a unique one, getting to travel so far away and also being able to do something that serves your country in a small way,” Masih says. 

Masih is a Foreign Affairs Information Technology (FAIT) Fellow. The program is run by the U.S. Department of State and The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars, and provides students pursuing an IT-related bachelor’s or master’s degree the opportunity to apply to practice their tech skills internationally while serving U.S. diplomacy. 

The fellowship provides academic funding (up to $75,000 for two years), two summer internships with paid stipends, and leads to an appointment in the Foreign Service as an Information Management Specialist for at least five years. 

The program was launched in 2017 with the first cohort consisting of five fellows. Currently, 15 fellows are accepted each year.

“The need for information management specialists is just expanding, and the need for technology in every industry continues to expand,” says Chelsey Jones, senior manager, federal programs Senior Manager for the FAIT Fellowship. “You don't generally think about IT as an international relations, State Department, Foreign Service kind of role, but it is and it will continue to be.” 

International IT Work  

Former FAIT Fellow Ryan Butler is now stationed at the U.S. Consulate in Toronto. When people hear he works in IT at a U.S. Consulate, they sometimes get an image from the movies of computer wizards fending off cyber hackers in a dark room with 15 monitors. 

“It's not like that at all, I've got one monitor,” Butler says. “We read emails. We do all the normal IT stuff.” 

However, the lack of glamor and intrigue doesn’t make it any less appealing. 

“I've enjoyed it,” he says. “Not one day has gone by where I don’t think ‘I love this job. I love what I'm doing.’” 

While Canada is not the most distant country one could be stationed at, Butler says it’s very different from his native Florida. He’ll be moved to a new location in a few years. 

“It's an exciting life, I wouldn't trade this for anything,” he says. He’s planning on working beyond his five-year commitment. “I want to stay here until I have to retire. Until the future secretary or president says, ‘Ryan, get out.’”

What to Know Before Applying  

Applications for the FAIT Fellowship are open through the end of January. 

To apply, one must be a U.S. Citizen studying IT with a 3.2 overall GPA. “No specific degree programs or majors are preferred but a strong application demonstrates understanding of the FAIT Fellowship, clear research into the Information Management Specialist position, and a desire to use IT-skills to support U.S. diplomacy across the world,” Jones says. “The program also values diversity of identity and experience -- women, members of minority groups historically underrepresented in the Foreign Service, and those with financial need, are encouraged to apply.”

An undergraduate track and a graduate track are both available, each with specific timing required for applications. “Folks should either apply as a sophomore or in pursuit of graduate school before they've applied to grad school,” Jones says. 

Unfortunately, exceptions cannot be made for juniors or seniors, or for graduate track applicants who have already been accepted to graduate school, Jones says.

For the application itself, Masih says to focus on the little things, going through each requirement, and making sure every word of the personal statement counts. 

Jones adds that the personal statement is really the best opportunity to make your application stand out. “The panelists who review the applications see a million transcripts, they look at a ton of financial aid information, but the things that they talk about is a good personal statement,” he says. “I would add to that a very personalized letter of recommendation. Those are things that take a good application and make it great.” 

• How Geoscience Students Are Saving Lives Globally
• Best Wireless Keyboard and Mouse for Teachers 2021

Oakland Undivided was launched at the beginning of the pandemic with the mission of ensuring every public school student had three things: a computer, internet connection, and tech support available at their home.

“You really need all three to say that you've served that family equitably,” says Susan Beltz, chief technology officer at Oakland USD.

Oakland has approximately 53,000 students, and at the start of the pandemic only 12 percent from low-income backgrounds -- the majority of whom are Latinx or African-American -- enjoyed consistent access to a computer, internet, and tech support. 

Thanks to Oakland Undivided, more than 25,000 laptops have been purchased along with 10,000 hotspots. Now, 98 percent of Oakland’s low-income students have a computer, access to the internet, and culturally competent tech support. 

Oakland Undivided: The Power of Fundraising 

Oakland USD was able to make so much progress toward closing the digital divide thanks to school officials who made it a priority, effective partnerships, and fundraising efforts. As soon as the pandemic started, education leaders began conversations with the mayor’s office to form a strategy to close the digital divide. Once they got an idea of the scale of the problem, they began fixing it. 

“We started to develop basically an entire business model,” says Curtiss Sarikey, chief of staff for the Office of the Superintendent at Oakland USD. “What's the cost? How are we going to raise the money? How are we going to order all this equipment? How are we going to distribute to kids using all of our different assets, from procurement, to warehousing, to distribution, etc.” 

He adds, “the biggest lift was definitely the fundraising.” 

Mayor Libby Schaaf and her office helped with that and ultimately the effort raised more than $12.5 million. 

Oakland Undivided: Data and Creativity  

To get an idea of what the community’s connectivity needs were, the district conducted a massive survey that was completed by more than 34,000 families. 

“That tech check survey has given us the best landscape analysis of tech needs in Oakland that we've ever had,” Sarikey says. “That's kind of the portal by which we're identifying kids who need computers, and we're tracking who has a computer.” 

As funds and new devices came in, district officials didn’t wait. They began taking classroom computers that were no longer being used in school because the district had gone remote and getting those devices into the hands of students. Most of these devices have since been replaced with devices bought specifically for at-home use. 

Oakland Undivided: The Future of the Digital Divide  

From the beginning, district leaders recognized that though temporary solutions were important, they needed to think long-term as the digital divide existed before the pandemic and would continue after it ended if nothing was done. “We're tracking loss and damage, we have replacements baked into the model,” Sarikey says. “We are committed to closing the digital divide permanently. This wasn't just a COVID response.” 

The district is focusing on using recovery dollars to purchase student devices, and plans to create its own internet are being explored. “It’s a matter of looking at what already exists in terms of fiber throughout the city,” Beltz says. “Historically, any type of public wifi access tended to reside along business corridors. And now you're talking about needing to get those connections into people's homes. So it's a complex infrastructure project to really think through and work on, but it's an area that I think the city and certainly OUSD as well are committing to moving forward on.” 

Connection to the internet from home is vital to student success as well as in other areas of life. “The mayor is always speaking eloquently about the fact that a computer is more than an educational tool,” Sarikey says. In addition to allowing parents to learn about job opportunities and order food, “It’s connected the whole family to telehealth. It’s just that lifeline to basically resources that many of us take for granted in our life,” he says. 

• How Schools Use Drones to Deliver Internet to Students
• Overcoming the Digital Divide: School Districts Create Their Own Wireless Networks

Against my better judgement, I will make the assumtion that you are reading this ditty the old-fashioned way— ink on paper. Of course it could be on your tablet or mobile. Or you may have clicked to it online at techlearning.com. But let’s pretend it’s the dead-tree edition for the sake of argument.

It’s still a great way to read isn’t it? As much as we like to tout the advantages of the paperless this and digital that, browsing through magazine pages is still one of my favorite ways to consume content.

The reason? Curation. While online newsfeeds and social media sites are bursting with edtech ideas and commentary and debate and criticism and insults and downright dreck, you can generally be assured a print publication will have at least made an attempt to give the reader a solid parcel of insight, news, and analysis.

Because of these sentiments the editors have decided to start a new section of the print publication called How It’s Done. These articles are the curated “Best Of ” part of the Tech&Learning mission—providing tools and ideas for edtech leaders. Except these short essays have an addendum—Tools and ideas for edtech leaders by edtech leaders. These aren’t bylined by product managers or PR agencies (not that we don’t like those folks!) that you can find online but by actual administrators and educators working in schools today.

We like to think that this curation of information along with the print-based format of information dissemination continues to be a valuable tool for you and your work. Of course, as always, we love to hear about your best practices, no matter what platform you prefer!

— Kevin Hogan
     Managing Director,
     Content kevin.hogan@futurenet.com

Since 2010, the editors at Tech & Learning have used the June Leadership issue to highlight people we believe are having a powerful effect in the edtech world. In the past, that effect may not always have been positive. More than a few angry notes would work their way into my inbox asking exactly why this Fortune 500 CEO or that Secretary of Education made the list. Sometimes it was the topic that was the problem. How could issues surrounding social media or data privacy be something to be celebrated?

This year we felt a change in semantics was in order. Instead of the most influential people in edtech, we focused on those we find the most inspirational. Contributing writer Sascha Zuger interviewed several of our favorites, including Iran Davar Ardalan, Founder and Storyteller-in-Chief of IVOW, whose mission is to incorporate the use of artificial intelligence to develop culturally conscious data strategies (I’ll leave it for Sascha to explain what that means on page 16); “The Tech Rabbi” Michael Cohen, who challenges teachers and students to find creativity in their work; and our first non-human inductees, Milo and Neo, who are changing the social emotional learning landscape.

We’ll be celebrating these honorees this month at the ISTE show in Philadelphia, along with the winners of our annual Best of Show contest, where our advisors seek out and award the best tech announced at the show. Be sure to follow our coverage online at techlearning.com and follow us follow our ISTE coverage at #MyISTE19.

— Kevin Hogan
     Managing Director,
     Content kevin.hogan@futurenet.com

From the Hindsight is 20-20 file:

One of Tech&Learning’s favorite case studies back at the beginning of this decade was Mooresville, NC School District and the Superintendent Mark Edwards. Mooresville became a poster child of sorts for the 1:1 movement at the time, thanks to a bump in student scores right as implementation of the program began.

But was it all #fakenews? This recent study by academics at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro may indicate as much. Granted, I did not plunk down the $36 to download the entire report but did dig into this synopsis by Jill Barshay at The Hechinger Report, which dampens any continuing hoopla about new tech equaling high scores.

The start of school is always a challenging time in any marriage. Making sure everything is ordered. Getting your kids all the materials they might need. Arguing about who is in charge of what when it comes to being ready for the first day of school.

I’m not talking about a traditional marriage, I’m talking about the struggle that is the marriage between IT and curriculum. Last spring I wrote a post around this very subject. In reflecting on that post, I’d have to say that the beginning of school has the toughest stress on this relationship.

[21 Things Every 21st Century Educator Should Try This Year (2018 Version)]

With more and more resources going digital, determining who is in charge of what can be similar to the night time routine in our house when we debate who wants to do the dishes versus put the kids to bed. While on a much smaller scale, communication and expectation can make something as simple as that discussion take a downward turn. Now ramp that up 1000 degrees and add the pressure of account provisioning, single sign-on, data privacy, version updates, and a wide variety of resource providers and data formats, and it’s enough to make this marriage turn toward breaking dishes, not cleaning them.

So during this back to school time of stress, just remember, we need to stick together….for the kids.

The recent demise of net neutrality could threaten reliable Internet connections by raising prices, slowing downloads, and blocking some content, which could strain district finances and create headaches for teachers who use multimedia resources for teaching and testing. The now-defunct federal net neutrality policy, which ended June 11, barred ISPs from prioritizing web traffic or content. Critics are concerned that deregulation will pave the way for some providers to create “fast lanes” that allow some content to load or stream faster than others or require users to pay extra for some kinds of content. Some advocates have also said that the end of net neutrality could stifle innovation by making it harder for smaller education technology companies to operate and for teachers and students to access their content. Some states, such as New York and Montana, are trying to maintain regulations at the state level through executive orders. Washington state has enacted its own net neutrality legislation that ensures providers treat all traffic and content the same. If they’re concerned about “throttling”—which occurs when content from some sources is delivered intentionally at a slower pace—leaders should specify in their E-Rate applications and contracts with Internet service providers that they require neutral service. Unlike individual consumers, school districts have some leverage to negotiate their terms with Internet service providers. 

https://tinyurl.com/yamz7e75

How do you encourage pupils and students to think critically in the context of educational technology? Although we can devote a lot of time and energy to setting up the "right environment", I can't help thinking that really it all comes down to some pretty simple questions, and very straightforward approaches.

[How to Evaluate Digital Content: A 25-point Checklist]

First, as a general rule, the teacher needs to encourage a critical approach by walking the talk. That means being open to an other-than-expected answer from students. All too often, a teacher will ask a question, and go round the class until they get the "right" answer.

Read more.

Terry Freedman is an independent ed tech consultant and freelance writer based in London, England. He publishes the ICT & Computing in Education website.

If you’ve ever been in an online community you are familiar with the posts that get a lot of attention. This usually also equals a lot of comments. When the comments start to pile in, it is hard to keep track of what’s what. What’s worse, sometimes the information shared is incorrect. Others times the comments go off track.

One of the most annoying thing is when commenters chime in without reading previous comments and repeat information or just share something that is no longer relevant given the context.

In many cases, once many comments come in, there can be a final answer summing everything up and providing a helpful response to the OP (original poster) and other interested parties.

In the past, this was difficult for a moderator to do, because members could sometimes just be chomping at the bit to share their insights and there was no way to end the conversation.

Thank goodness that is no longer the case. Facebook has added a new control that enables moderators to turn off commenting for a post in a Facebook community.

Directions for turning of commenting on a post

The image below shows you how to turn off commenting.

Tips to Turn Off Commenting Effectively

Before turning the commenting off, the moderator should have a summary statement to inform group members what they will find in the thread and the final result.
There may be someone who really feels they have something valuable to add. To address this, the summary statement should include directions to participants on how to contact the moderator should s/he feel there is something valuable to add. If the moderator agrees, they can temporarily turn commenting back on, and allow the person to respond.

Your Turn

What do you think? Have you been in groups where comments went on and on providing no more valuable information? Some group moderators may not even know this option is a possibility. If you find yourself in a group with this issue, now you know. You can send the moderator this article with directions on how to turn off commenting effectively.

Lisa Nielsen writes for and speaks to audiences across the globe about learning innovatively and is frequently covered by local and national media for her views on “Passion (not data) Driven Learning,” "Thinking Outside the Ban" to harness the power of technology for learning, and using the power of social media to provide a voice to educators and students. Ms. Nielsen has worked for more than a decade in various capacities to support learning in real and innovative ways that will prepare students for success. In addition to her award-winning blog, The Innovative Educator, Ms. Nielsen’s writing is featured in places such as Huffington Post, Tech & Learning, ISTE Connects, ASCD Wholechild, MindShift, Leading & Learning, The Unplugged Mom, and is the author the book Teaching Generation Text.

When it comes to technology, sometimes it makes sense to welcome the concept of strategic abandonment. This means providing permission to stop doing things that have proved ineffective or inefficient. It doesn’t matter if you’ve invested millions of dollars and tons of time. If it’s not serving children, let go.

This was one of the ideas that was discussed by a group of innovative district leaders who came together from around the country to explore important issues at the Tech & Learning Leadership Summit in Phoenix, Arizona. When it comes to technology there are numerous examples of this. There are also some ideas to minimize the need to do so.The most notable recent example of this was the iPad debacle in Los Angeles which brought down careers as well as negatively impacted the reputations of Apple and Pearson. On the other coast a few years earlier,New York City schools abandoned their Achievement Reporting & Innovation System due to extremely high cost and its limited functionality. Once the decision was made, just like that it was lights out for a system in which the city paid millions and spent tons of time on training staff and families.

While welcoming strategic abandonment was the right decision for each district, there are some ways to avoid such issues in the first place.

4 Ways to Avoid Strategic Abandonment

1. Remember the why

Explaining the “why” behind the decision to make these investments must be stated upfront and include a clear vision of what it looks like when it is working. You should be able to measure against the why as well. In L.A. it was so students could have access to interactive curriculum on devices. Not all that compelling, but a “why” nonetheless, however, the curriculum couldn’t be accessed effectively, which brings us to the way to avoid strategic abandonment.

2. Partners have skin in the game and penalties outlined upfront

There should be stipulations in the contract up front stating that what the vendor is promising will work and penalties if it does not. For example, in the case of Los Angeles, they could not get the curriculum to work on the devices. It was so bad that most schools just abandoned it. So Los Angeles went to court to seek a multi-million dollar refund from Apple and Pearson because they didn't live up to their promises. In New York City, ARIS did not have the functionality promised, but unlike in Los Angeles, IBM, the vendor was not held accountable for not delivering what was promised.

3. Test your product

In L.A. the curriculum was purchased without seeing a successful deployment elsewhere. That’s because it didn’t exist. Furthermore it only takes a little asking around of teachers using iPads to discover that device management is costly and quite difficult in comparison to Chromebooks.

4. Involve stakeholders

In both cases the school districts had not connected with key stakeholders around what they wanted. Doing so could have prevented the issue. That’s what they did in Denton Independent School District in Texas. They selected a device only after they surveyed, observed, and recorded video interviews of students discussing preferred devices. As a result they purchased Chromebook touch devices. They wanted the keyboard, touch screen, instant on, and long battery life that other options did not provide. Students knew they were a part of the decision which helped them own and have agency in their learning.

Your turn

What do you think? Are there some initiatives where you work where you think it makes sense to welcome strategic abandonment? Were any of the strategies to avoid it part of the reason why it didn’t work out? Do you have a process in place to help ensure success?

Lisa Nielsen writes for and speaks to audiences across the globe about learning innovatively and is frequently covered by local and national media for her views on “Passion (not data) Driven Learning,” "Thinking Outside the Ban" to harness the power of technology for learning, and using the power of social media to provide a voice to educators and students. Ms. Nielsen has worked for more than a decade in various capacities to support learning in real and innovative ways that will prepare students for success. In addition to her award-winning blog, The Innovative Educator, Ms. Nielsen’s writing is featured in places such as Huffington Post, Tech & Learning, ISTE Connects, ASCD Wholechild, MindShift, Leading & Learning, The Unplugged Mom, and is the author the book Teaching Generation Text.

Disclaimer: The information shared here is strictly that of the author and does not reflect the opinions or endorsement of her employer.

This FREE buyer's guide, "Building an Optimal CTE Program for K-12 Districts," can help. Inside this guide, you'll learn:

• Why an online or blended learning CTE solution makes financial sense for schools.
• Nine features to look for in a high-quality online solution.
• Key questions to ask when evaluating options.
• Four critical lessons in choosing the right solution for your school or district.

Click here to download.

Whether they’re using an adaptive product to offer some blended opportunities or are redesigning the entire day to deliver a comprehensive blended experience, many schools are seeing positive results from combining online and offline instruction. Here are some of their stories.

A BLENDED APPROACH LEADS TO IMPROVED PERFORMANCE

Mesa View students enjoy their center-based instruction.

At Mesa View Middle School in Farmington, New Mexico, the focus is on center-based instruction. “The whole key, which we knew going in, was to set our teachers up to be successful,” says Principal Jay Gardenhire. “You can’t just say you do center-based learning three times a month and that’s it. You have to give them the tools and ongoing training.” They started out slowly and have brought in a center-based learning expert for three successive years to work with staff. There’s a six-person center-based leadership team that communicates with and mentors teachers, and trainings are held throughout the year and during the summer. “As a result, teachers are comfortable with not lecturing the whole time and using laptops to chunk instruction, check understanding, and do exit tickets and bell work. They can check for understanding right in the moment instead of seeing it at night.”

Because every student has a laptop, a large portion of the instruction has been embedded into the Tier 1 curriculum, including programs like ThinkCERCA, a personalized literacy platform that teaches critical-thinking skills through argumentative writing across the curriculum. “Our language arts teachers started using ThinkCERCA last year and our proficiency in reading and writing doubled in all areas,” says Gardenhire. Teachers use PlayPosit to create videos that they can embed with animations, questions, and activities, and students watch the videos at home or during the day, when teachers divide classes so that one group watches instructional videos while the other receives direct instruction. For math, teachers use Agile Mind, a rigorous program that infuses social and emotional learning into core curriculum.

For classroom management, teachers use LanSchool to make sure students are accessing what they need on their devices. In addition, Mesa View uses Edsby, the learning and analytics platform. Students use Edsby to download worksheets and activities, access lessons they’ve missed, and check their grades. Teachers drop their lessons plans into Edsby and post which tools they’re using in the calendar section so that other teachers who want support with those tools can reach out.

All of the data from this technology helps teachers provide students with the instruction they need at the proper level, whether that’s more time on a program, one-on-one tutoring, or something else. Gardenhire is pleased with the progress and believes that the blended environment is a success. “I think teachers are feeling good,” he says. “It’s a lot, but I think they recognize they’re getting a lot of support. As long as they know they have the support, they’ll be comfortable and confident with what they’re doing.”

TOOLS THEY USE
MESA VIEW

■ Bose speakers
■ Edsby
■ Epson projectors
■ FirstClass
■ Gizmos
■ HP desktops
■ Kahoot!
■ LanSchool
■ MacBook Airs
■ Nikon cameras
■ PlayPosit
■ PowerSchool
■ ThinkCERCA

FROM VIRTUAL TO BLENDED

In 2010, Falcon Virtual Academy opened in Colorado Springs, Colorado, as a virtual school. In 2014, it became the Spring Studio for Academic Excellence, a K–12 school that expanded the virtual concept into something else. “We wanted to bring students into the building because being completely virtual was isolating,” says Rochelle Kolhouse, instructional coach for School District 49’s iConnect Zone, which includes Spring Studio and two other schools. “Based on feedback, we decided to create something that would be exciting, hands-on, and motivating.” That’s how they developed iLearning, an interdisciplinary project-based curriculum comprising themes like the Renaissance Era, which incorporates science, math, social studies, and English as students do writing assignments and design buildings and costumes. To go from virtual to blended, teachers figured out what made more sense to do face-to-face (F2F). Kolhouse, Colorado’s Online Teacher of the Year in 2013, had science students come in to do labs in groups. The school continued to evolve, and today they use Schoology to create, manage, and share the curriculum.

Spring Studio students attend F2F classes on different days: grades 6–8 come on Mondays and Wednesdays, K–5 on Wednesdays and Fridays, and high school students on Tuesdays and Thursdays. “When students come into the building they do project-based, hands-on, deeper learning—the things they can’t do online at home on their own,” says Kolhouse. “What they do online is expanded upon, enriched, or taken to a deeper level when they are in the building.” Pikes Peak Early College and Patriot High School are the two other blended schools in the iConnect Zone.

Pikes Peak partners with Pikes Peak Community College to offer college courses to its high school students, who are in the building Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for F2F lessons and do their online work at home or elsewhere on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Patriot is an alternative high school with a robust CTE program. Students are at the school to complete their online and F2F lessons five days a week because they require more structure.

All three schools use Edgenuity for their online core curriculum and eDynamic Learning for electives. Spring Studio also uses ALEKS, an adaptive math program, and Reading Horizons for reading and literacy instruction.

TOOLS THEY USE
ICONNECT ZONE

■ Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and CAD
■ ALEKS
■ Apple TV
■ Arduinos
■ Chromebooks
■ Edgenuity/Pathblazer
■ eDynamic Learning
■ iPads
■ MacBook Airs
■ Ollies
■ Ozobots
■ PhET
■ Raspberry Pi
■ Reading Horizons
■ Show Me
■ Swivl
■ XBox 1

TEACHERS LEAD THE WAY

Teachers know where each student is at, thanks to a variety of digital platforms.

At Claude Elementary School in Claude, Texas, students spend up to 100 minutes each week on online math and reading programs, either in the computer lab or at kiosks set up in classrooms. After these sessions, teachers pull up students’ portfolios to check their progress and highlight any problem areas. If necessary, teachers meet with students for reinforcement or clarification. Principal Doug Rawlins is a huge fan of this process. “Digital platforms help teachers find gaps in student learning and provide targeted intervention,” he says. “I’ve seen it work in the last four elementary schools I worked at.” After students are assessed using NWEA products, they use Edgenuity Pathblazer (a math and ELA program) or Imagine Learning. Rawlins says students who spend the required time on Pathblazer always improve. “We can’t check out the pedagogy on every single lesson, but with a digital platform you can monitor the time students are spending on the platform.”

In addition to working on their district-provided Chromebooks or at classroom work stations throughout the day, students do literacy circles, math circles, and other group activities. Because the teachers know what level each student is at, they can let the students work independently or meet with a child one-on-one. “Teachers manage their classes in diverse ways, whatever works for them,” Rawlins says. “They’ve taught us how to make it work.”

TOOLS THEY USE
CLAUDE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

■ Bookshare
■ cloudLibrary
■ Edgenuity
■ G Suite for Education
■ Imagine Learning
■ Kahoot!
■ Learning Ally
■ Lone Star Learning
■ Pathblazer math and reading
■ Quizizz
■ Read2Go
■ SMART Boards
■ STEMscopes

LESSONS LEARNED FROM A BLENDED DISTRICT

At Lancaster ISD, teachers implement blended learning in the way that works best for their students.

Kimberly Lane Clark, blended learning specialist for Lancaster (TX) Independent School District and an ISTE 2017 PLN Computing Teachers Network Excellence Award winner, shares a few tips from her teachers’ forays into blended learning.

First step: Choose an LMS. “We use Google Classroom for grades 3–8 because we’re a Google district, and Canvas for grades 9–12 because it’s used on a lot of college campuses.”

Work with curriculum and technology specialists to determine what will work in your class. “Don’t hone in on a blended model; instead, figure out when to use tools versus direct instruction versus whole-class instruction.”

Planning is crucial. “Blended takes trial and error. You may find that some students can’t learn online or that you need to set up dedicated stations.”

Blended takes different forms, depending on the class. A high-school world history teacher in the district does F2F teaching on Mondays or Tuesdays. On the other days, students do the online modules he creates in Canvas and come to him only if they have questions or need something retaught.

Blended does not have to be 50/50. “Think about what works best for your students,” says Clark. “A 50/50 mix of online and offline might not be the best.”

Blended takes time to implement. Clark and one of her teammates, a secondary science school-support officer, are working on a blended pilot with a group of eighth-grade science teachers. They plan out lessons every six weeks.

Don’t forget to ask for feedback. “When you look at data, you get to see what works and what doesn’t and are able to use the tools that are benefiting your students.”

TOOLS THEY USE
LANCASTER ISD

■ Achieve3000
■ Apex Learning
■ Blendspace
■ Canvas
■ ClassDojo
■ Dell Chromebooks
■ Dell laptops
■ EDpuzzle
■ Gizmos
■ Google Classroom
■ G Suite for Education
■ iPads
■ Istation
■ Kahoot!
■ LessonPaths
■ Nearpod
■ Newsela
■ NoRedInk
■ Odysseyware
■ Pear Deck
■ Pearson Online
■ Quill
■ Quizlet
■ Raz-Kids
■ Screencast-O-Matic
■ Seesaw
■ Study Island
■ TED-Ed lessons

BLENDED LEARNING HELPS AT-RISK STUDENTS REACH THEIR POTENTIAL

The graduation rate has tripled at Bishop Hall Charter, largely because of the blended environment.

Bishop Hall Charter School in Thomasville, Georgia, serves at-risk students in grades 8 through 12. In the last three years, the graduation rate has more than tripled, and Principal Chris Huckans believes that’s largely because of the blended program. “Everything we do is truly blended,” says Huckans. “Some students are on campus all day every day; others are here some days or parts of some days. Every student’s plan is different.”

The school uses D2L’s Brightspace as an LMS. Teachers like building their own curricula and use Khan Academy or create their own videos. Class discussions and lectures are recorded and added to the LMS, along with PowerPoints and class notes. Because of this, students have round-the-clock access to their work. Huckans estimates that close to 90 percent of the curriculum is online.

When students are on campus they follow a schedule, but because it’s a small school they may have multiple classes with the same teacher. “Teachers can do one-on-one work with small groups or whatever is needed. It takes a ton of work and concentration, but they do a great job with it.”

Overall, Huckans says blended learning is the right choice for Bishop Hall. “Many of our students have medical or other struggles and have gotten behind. Using a blended model allows all 200 of our students to follow their own path and work at their own pace.”

TOOLS THEY USE
BISHOP HALL CHARTER SCHOOL

■ Adobe Creative Cloud
■ Brightspace
■ Chromebooks
■ Glogster
■ GoGuardian
■ G Suite for Education
■ Launchpad
■ Microsoft Office
■ PASCO labs
■ SoftChalk
■ WordPress

BLENDED IS JUST THE BEGINNING

The first thing Genevra A. Walters, superintendent for Kankakee (IL) School District 111, did when she came to the district was to redesign general education for grades K–6 into college and career academy classes. Now, each grade level focuses on a career strand, such as human services in education, health sciences, or communications and information systems. Walters partnered with Defined Learning and developed a project-based learning platform using Defined STEM, a Web-based application that helps students connect classroom content and careers through project-based tasks and reading and writing activities.

Now that teachers have grown comfortable with Defined STEM, they’re working on creating personalized learning environments. “The only way to be effective with class sizes of 20 and 30 is by using technology, and I encourage teachers to have it as a station or center,” says Walters. That way, some students can work in small groups while others are on their Chromebooks.

As the district continues to evolve (middle and high schools are next), Walters will continue to focus on inquiry- and project-based learning. She wants students to be able to explore and she continues to help teachers integrate technology to enable that exploration. “We want learning to be personalized so that children get what they need, when they need it. For that to happen, you have to have tech-infused instruction on a daily basis.”

TOOLS THEY USE
KANKAKEE SCHOOL DISTRICT 111

■ Apex
■ Chromebooks
■ Chromeboxes
■ Class Dojo
■ Code.org
■ Defined STEM
■ Discovery Education
■ Edpuzzle
■ Educreations
■ envision Mathematics
■ Epic Books
■ Flocabulary
■ FrontRow
■ GeoGebra
■ GlogsterEDU
■ Google Classroom
■ G Suite for Education
■ Read 180, Math 180
■ iPads
■ IXL Math and ELA
■ Khan Academy
■ Learning A-Z
■ MathXL for Schools
■ MobyMax
■ Mystery Science
■ Nearpod
■ Newsela
■ Ozmo
■ Padlet
■ Peardeck
■ Prodigy
■ Read Works
■ SeeSaw
■ Screencastify
■ Socrative
■ Story Bird
■ ThingLink
■ ToDo Math
■ Voki
■ We Video
■ Wordle
■ YouTube

BLENDED CLASSES RESULT IN GREAT INDEPENDENCE

Students at Hermiston School District love the flexibility and freedom of their Flex Program.

A couple of years ago, Hermiston (OR) School District began experimenting with flipping and blending classes as part of the district’s Flex Program. Several high-school English, US government, and US history classes now use a combination of FuelEd online courses and teacher-curated materials to deliver a new kind of learning experience. Students can work at their own pace and are not always required to attend class because they’re allowed to work independently. “Students love the freedom and the fact that this college-like atmosphere requires them to be more responsible for their learning,” says Mindy Barron, guidance and career coordinator. As a result, teachers plan their classes differently, put more thought into what happens during class time, and have transformed themselves to better meet students’ needs.

Nearly 200 high-school juniors and seniors have taken one or more FuelEd online electives such as Latin, computer science, and fashion design. During the elective class period, students complete online assignments in the computer lab. They can also do some of their work at home, which allows them to work on other projects during the day.

TOOLS THEY USE
HERMISTON SCHOOL DISTRIC

■ Brightspace
■ ClassFlow
■ Chromebooks
■ FuelEd
■ Google Classroom
■ Google Sites
■ iPads
■ Kahoot!
■ Khan Academy
■ Newsela
■ NoRedInk
■ Promethean Boards
■ Quizlet
■ Remind
■ Socrative

A BLENDED JOURNEY

BY LYNN BRADLEY

Here are some of the collaborative spaces at Cleveland Elementary.

At Clevelend Elementary School, part of Rowan-Salisbury (NC) Schools, we’re disrupting traditional classroom practices by introducing our students to many different and engaging ways to learn, and blended learning is our approach to create a seamless learning experience for our students. Our teachers are facilitators of the learning experience and become coaches who encourage and expose children to learning paths with many different options.

Our first-grade students experience everything from Bee-Bots to virtual reality to help bring their learning to life. Students use Bee-Bots to blend programming and curriculum standards. They work collaboratively in groups and use critical thinking and problem-solving strategies to make decisions, debug, and answer grade-level challenges that incorporate math, literacy, social studies, and science skills.

Elementary students use programs such as Nearpod, CoSpaces, and ThingLink to demonstrate mastery of content. These tools help immerse the students in virtual worlds and give them experiences that they would not otherwise be able to experience. With these tools, students can walk inside a Native American home, walk on the surface of Mars, tour the White House, or walk the decks of the Titanic.

We must give our students choices in their learning, but they must also be guided and encouraged to stretch their thinking beyond what they already know. This is the only way to ensure that our learners are prepared for an unknown future filled with devices and careers that have yet to be invented.

Our goal with blended learning is to try to be as student-centered as possible and to provide many different opportunities for choice. One way teachers do that is by finding children with common abilities to work on a specific goal. They break students into groups and have them rotate through stations. Each day, every student cycles through different learning activities. Every lesson on a playlist has been developed to help students acquire a specific skill or achieve a curricular goal. The students cycle through the stations, work collaboratively, work with the teacher, read independently in Achieve3000, or complete one of the activities that have been designed to help them build mastery. All of the stations align with the prescriptive and personalized goals. Students know their assignments, which are posted in the classroom and on each student’s playlist.

I believe it’s becoming necessary for students to learn to code—it’s as fundamental as learning the ABCs. Most jobs will require a basic knowledge of computer coding. Have you been to McDonald’s lately? Employees must be able to perform many different functions that already require these skills. Just imagine what it will be like when our fifth graders are in high school, preparing for their first jobs.
—Lynn Bradley is technology facilitator for Cleveland Elementary School.

TOOLS THEY USE
CLEVELAND ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

■ 3Doodlers
■ Achieve3000
■ Aurasma
■ Bee-Bots
■ Bloxels
■ Brackitz
■ BrainPOP
■ Buncee
■ CoSpaces
■ Discovery Education
■ FrontRow
■ Google Classroom
■ iPads
■ IXL
■ Makedo
■ Micro:bit
■ Nearpod
■ PlayPosit
■ PodPi
■ Schoology
■ Skoolbo
■ Storyboard That
■ ThingLink
■ Tinkercad
■ Tynker

The relationship between the head teachers and geeks has always been as contentious as it is important. For this roundtable, we spoke with some IT leaders and—to keep us truthful—we invited a curriculum leader to share her experiences, too. We hope you’ll learn from their insights.

Communication is key to any successful undertaking. How do you handle it between your IT and curriculum departments?

Pete Just: As with any kind of “union,” I think you have to be intentional about the communication piece. Our IT and curriculum departments have weekly meetings so that we can be face to face. We’re a Google district, so we also use Google Docs and Google Calendar to share knowledge and collaborate. There are lots of things you don’t need to discuss in person, but you do need to get together to work through challenges, especially with integrations. We do heavy integration of digital resources into the learning management system (LMS); lots of decisions need to be made, and it’s lots of work and minutiae. Judy and I are cabinet peers, and our teams must work closely together to gain and keep our momentum. During these integrations, we want to be sure we’re representing our curricular objectives and instructional goals, so all voices must be at the table so that we stay true to that.

Judy Stegemann: I agree that weekly meetings are key because it’s where we stop and say, “What questions do we have?” “What do we need to communicate?” If we wait for a reason to meet, things can go unmet. The meetings help us know what to work on next. Our departments are physically close to one another and it’s not unusual for us to be in each other’s offices regularly throughout the day, clearing up issues and keeping the communication open.

Sandra Paul: I report to the assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction. We work closely together in that I’m made aware of new ideas that come up through curriculum—not all, but most. At the same time, if I find something that looks interesting I can share it with them. I’m involved in collaborative meetings every month with our supervisors, building principals, and the assistant superintendent. In addition to directing information tech, I supervise the gifted and talented teachers, which calls for a lot of integration between curriculum and tech.

Chris Jenks: My situation is similar to Sandra’s. I report to the assistant superintendent (soon to be deputy superintendent) of teaching and learning. We have an open line of communication that includes one-on-one meetings. I’m also part of the cabinet-level staff that meets with the superintendent regularly. I hear about initiatives and it’s helpful to be in important conversations. Having people who specialize in certain places—such as a coordinator of instructional tech who works with coaches and library/media specialists—helps to make sure we’re resourcing people at the right time to work on LMS integrations, etc. It’s important for us to discuss how we make sure everything is available to everyone. As tech, we want to make sure the road is paved and the cars can drive on it. We’re routinely part of the conversation with curriculum and I’m able to inject a voice into that and to listen. I consider our core mission to be serving the needs of teaching and learning.

What happens when communication breaks down?

SP: I’ve been doing this work for 22 years, and bad communication used to be a big part of the problem. Someone would bring you some software that they had to use and you’d say, “This is for Windows 95 and we’ve been Windows XT for three years!” Over the years, that has changed. If you’re going to do 21st-century learning, then curriculum and IT have to work together.

PJ: I think the districts on this call are among the ones who are further along and have figured it out. The pressure to figure it out is often caused by pain. For instance, there may be incompatibilities between what’s adopted and what can work in your ecosystem, so then you have to pay additional money to get something you can use. Pain. It’s part of the process of learning new things. You fail a few times along the way, pick up, make changes, and move forward, get it better. There have been lots of fits and starts and now we’ve started to understand that the union between these two decision-making groups is essential for the sake of students.

JS: Whether you’re on the curriculum or the tech side, when the two integrate you’ll find challenges. It’s important to backwards map those challenges and create processes to solve them upfront the next time. What did we need to know six months ago? A year ago? There’s always another avenue. Today we ran into a problem at the high school. We were ordering resources we adopted two years ago and making sure we had the right information so that we could buy textbooks with an online component. In the past, the high school would have just replaced them, but we need the texts with the digital subscription that goes with them. It’s a more complicated system at every turn. You have to address those issues, clean it up, and not kick yourself for making mistakes. We have to constantly be aware of how to address this new way of operating and cooperating.

How do you move from silos to a team approach?

CJ: Last year, our sixth grade went 1:1 and they’re now bringing them into seventh grade. We’re poised to do grades six and eight in November. We are currently running Chromebooks camps for parents to get them on board. Once it was enough for the tech person to know his or her tech stuff and for curriculum to know curriculum. Now, in order to collaborate and cooperate, they both need to have some functional knowledge about the other. It’s not enough to have a textbook with some digital components; we want to adopt resources that have LTI integration to go into the LMS and make it seamless and single sign-on. If I bring that up to the curriculum folks and they have no idea what I said, we have to walk through all of that. They have to know some of the vocabulary and why it’s important. We can’t wait until we’re adopting textbooks to start talking about that background knowledge.

JS: That’s a piece of what we learn in our weekly meetings. It’s important that we continue to deepen our knowledge in the area of integration and communicate accurately through the adoption process.

PJ: It’s crucial to have a clear understanding between teams. When we look at a digital resource we determine that we can bring it into the district in eight different ways, only two of which are really acceptable. Not everyone plays with LTI, CC, or TCC, our “best way.” The other options are increasingly onerous. Having the understanding that a digital integration must be one of the preferable methods, and finding out how to pre-load it cleanly in our LMS before we provided it to teachers, took us about a year and a half for everyone to understand the first time. As Judy said, it’s a continual conversation.

SP: Communication and collaboration between departments involves give and take. I’ve worked on both sides, and I currently do tech integration with teachers. If I put my tech hat on, I’d say, “We’ll block this and this and this.” The curriculum side is saying, “We need this! We need this!” It has to be a give-and-take, finding a way to accommodate curriculum, innovation, creativity, and moving forward with changing pedagogy. It’s important for an IT person to figure out a way to accommodate that.

CJ: I consciously decided that if I could make my answer yes, I would, but there are constraints that temper that. In the past, our technology department could make more unilateral decisions. That builds up barriers between curriculum and IT. If students are our focus, we have to find a way to get people the resources they need.

Any other advice or tips?

SP: Our district is 1:1 for grades 9–12. We’re getting ready to give the new 9th graders their devices next week. We’re also deploying another 1,700 Chromebooks in November or December to cover grades 6–8, and grades 3–5 next year. We’re doing a digital curriculum and blended learning. We’ve all realized curriculum has changed. The pedagogy we used when I taught a bunch of years ago is no longer in existence.

JS: We’re looking for the integration of tech where it will amplify student learning, and we lead this work through curriculum. We do that best when my coordinators and coaches lead in the utilization of new tools and resources to forward our mission of students learning the curriculum. When something new is coming from the tech side, our coaches and curriculum coordinators have to be trained in the first phase and also be early adopters so that it’s not seen as an add-on but as a tool that positively impacts student learning. That’s a critical piece in the partnership.

PJ: When we vetted which LMS to move to— and this is the third we’ve used since 1999—we wanted to be sure the curriculum instruction and assessment folks had a vote and were part of it. We wanted to make sure as many people could be engaged as possible. This is something that was missing in previous decisions. We can’t make decisions in a vacuum with any degree of quality or success.

JS: We also can’t see tech tools as something the techie person does. They’re something we all understand and embrace. The curriculum department has to lead utilizing resources and tools.

CJ: I say in curriculum meetings that we would never tolerate someone saying, “I don’t do that math thing very well.” So we can’t say, “I don’t do tech well.” We have to all learn together how to accomplish the tasks. Curriculum has to buy in, and IT has to buy in, and there must be a leader in adopting new things.

JS: In 2005, we built a K–12 curriculum, and it was housed in a software product that was separate from our LMS. Two years ago, as we were looking for a new LMS, I decided that with my team and Pete’s support we could move curriculum out of the separate software and embed it in our new LMS. It involved some heavy lifting for the LMS developers. We needed an LMS that allowed teachers to collaborate within it, build digital experiences in collaborative environments, deliver and analyze common assessments, and more. We wanted the new LMS to be embraced by teachers, and embedding the curriculum teachers depended on was critical in this transition to a new LMS. The curriculum transition came with challenges, but it’s amazing what the LMS allows teachers to do in a collaborative environment.

RESOURCE

Check out MSD Wayne’s presentation, “Building Bridges on the Path to Digital Transformation” and see the district’s flowchart for digital content integrations as well as responsibilities for both the IT services and curriculum/instruction departments.

PARTICIPANTS:

On July 7th I offered a workshop at the Canadian School Boards Association’s National Conference entitled, “Getting Serious About Culture”:

“Culture is not the most important thing, it’s the only thing.”
– Jim Sinegal, Co-founder and former CEO, Costco

Is this true for schools and school districts? Having worked with districts across Canada, Dean Shareski has discovered some important ideas about building community and creating cultures where students, teachers and leaders feel empowered and work together for a better learning environment for students. This session will provide an opportunity for participants to share, gain insight and develop plans to create a powerful learning culture.

In preparation for this, I sent out an informal survey on Twitter to get a sense of people’s perception of their own district. I was pleasantly surprised. I defined culture as, “the beliefs, perceptions, relationships, attitudes, and written and unwritten rules that shape and influence every aspect of how a school functions.”

I received 146 responses and here are the results:

(these were the top answers)

I also ask for any additional thoughts, here are a few:

Empowered in my classroom, but not so much outside my classroom.

Wanted to answer yes and no. Sometimes I feel empowered.I sometimes feel empowered and other times my power is reduced by the siloed nature of my district.

The leadership and teachers have completely different thoughts on how the district should proceed. Inconsistent initiatives have caused this rift.I worked in a school where the culture was a mess. The teachers worked well together but it was us vs. them (administration) and it was awful. I now work in a school where teachers matter, admin pitches in whenever and wherever needed, and it all leads to what is best for the students. It is a phenomenal place to teach and learn.

Leadership without vision creates a culture of apathy

You can access all the results and responses for yourself.

I totally acknowledge the non-scientific results of this survey but was still curious to hear from a reasonably broad audience of what I assume is mostly teachers. The challenge of creating a positive culture is not easy. Given the current climate of education worldwide, the job is not getting easier. Yet, these people (teachers) have a pretty positive outlook.

My views on culture are largely based on the various districts I work with across Canada and the US as well as my interactions with my global network. The work I do with Discovery Education, generally has me working with the best districts. As well, I interact with a large cross section of stakeholders from Superintendents to teachers. I’ve learned a great deal from these people and will constantly probe them to get their perspectives about culture. With these top districts, there is little disconnect between what leadership and teachers see as the vision for students.

Yet, it’s difficult to deny that the health and well-being of districts are often in jeopardy. Between the ongoing mental health challenges of young people to the continued budgetary restraints and the pressures to perform, developing a healthy thriving culture is hard.

In my session, I explored the simple idea that I wrote about earlier about choosing what to lead with. Leading isn’t always about balance as “balance” is the default answer to suggest you’re trying to do it all. Great cultures aren’t about doing everything. Great cultures are about choosing what matters most. The massive and complex goals of schools cannot be denied and ignored but being about something, something specific, is what creates positive cultures.

cross-posted at ideasandthoughts.org

Dean Shareski is the Community Manager of the Canadian DEN (Discovery Educators Network) and lecturer for the University of Regina. With 24 years of experience as a K12 educator and consultant, he specializes in the use of technology in the classroom. Read more at ideasandthoughts.org.

Disclaimer: This weblog contains the opinions and ideas of Dean Shareski. While there may be references to my work and content which relates directly to my work, the ideas are mine alone and are not necessarily shared by my employer.

Well here’s a surprise. Apparently, students are abandoning Computer Science in droves. Many of us in ed tech have been warning for ages that this would happen, and that girls in particular were being put off from taking the subject. Now the BBC has picked up on it, in a report by Rory Cellan Jones entitled Computing in schools - alarm bells over England's classes.

What I find galling is that nobody responsible for this situation has stood up and said “Sorry, we got it wrong”. They have pointed out that their preferred more balanced version of the Computing programme of study was rejected, which is true. I have even heard one person state that the reason for the emphasis on coding is that the media focused on it, which is dubious. That wasn’t the impression I had at various conferences — see, for example, my article The hidden messages behind the Year of Code.

Read more.

cross-posted at www.ictineducation.org

Terry Freedman is an independent educational ICT consultant with over 35 years of experience in education. He publishes the ICT in Education website and the newsletter “Digital Education."

photo via https://www.flickr.com/photos/meesterdickey/
The recent uproar about fidget spinners in schools has me reflecting about my recent post on the potential problems incurred by organizations that solve all of their problems through a strict adherence to the policy manual. While the United Airlines story was certainly an extreme case, I do think we miss out on some valuable opportunities when we just take a hardline approach and not engage in some constructive dialogue about other options.

While I am not sure how long the fidget-spinner fad will last, I do know that it will begin to fade at some point. I also know that there will be some new gadget or gizmo that will become the next hot item that our kids will want to have in their hands. Will we add that to our growing list of banned items or will we instead take the opportunity to have a constructive dialogue with our students.

When we jump to ban things, we fail to give our students credit for the fact that they are capable of discussing behavioral expectations. We send the message that we don't trust them and that we will need to step in to protect them from themselves. My experience has been to the contrary and I know that students can help us articulate how, when and where a fidget spinner or the next thingamabob should be used in the context of school. If we are wrong, we can always go to the ban as step two.

Missed Opportunities

It's funny, the first time I saw a fidget spinner was while walking through our middle school classrooms and one of the science teachers was making them with his students. He was excited to show me the spinner and talk about the science involved with his students. I wonder how many other science teachers took this opportunity?

A few weeks later, my 11-year old daughter purchased one at a local toy store and then we went home and looked on YouTube for some of the tricks that we could try with the spinner. It was fun to share that time with her and see what the kids were getting so excited about. As adults, I think it is important to get some firsthand experience with something before we make up our mind about it. We need to take an interest in their interests and not just brush them aside as trivial.

In the end, my daughter decided not to take hers to school because she did not see a time in her school day where the fidget spinner would be valuable to her. But the important thing was that she was able to make that decision for herself.

The best example of what can happen when we collaborate with our kids on things like spinners comes from the news segment from Alabama where educators decided to build lesson plans around this item that has captured the attention of so many students. It is sad to me that the majority of headlines on fidget spinners were negative and that we did not see more schools and classrooms look at this as a chance to make meaningful connections with students.

Unless we are talking about a safety issue, we need to ensure that we are not invoking the centuries-old "ban reflex." Do we see problems first or opportunities?

cross-posted at www.patrickmlarkin.com

Patrick Larkin is the Assistant Superintendent for Learning of Burlington Public Schools in Burlington, MA and the former principal of Burlington High. He blogs about education at www.patrickmlarkin.com.

Today I presented a brand new workshop called “Surprisingly Awesome.” I described it this way:

Shakespeare, The War of 1812, the Pythagorean theory are just a sample of things we teach in schools that for many aren’t very interesting. Yet there is something incredibly satisfying and fulfilling when you can help students see the awesome and interesting things they originally dismiss. This session will explore some tools and strategies that can turn those kinds of topics into learning that is surprisingly awesome. If you have a great strategy or approach that’s been effective in making something mundane become surprisingly awesome, bring that idea to share.

I blogged about that title and its origins a while back. For those of you who are classroom teachers you get to try out new things everyday. I don’t have that luxury so I’m super excited to be able to test out new ideas and concepts from time to time.

Today was one such day.

I was careful to alert folks that this session had a high probability of failure. I also warned them that they would be working together and that their feedback about the session would be critical. I also let them know they were free to leave at anytime and my feelings wouldn’t be hurt.

As a first try, it was likely acceptable. I shared several great S.O.S. strategies as well as tried to build the case that many things worth learning are based on uncovering the hidden beauty behind the seemingly mundane.

Participants were tasked with creating 1-2 minute presentations choosing from a list of topics. We had 5 presentations on nylon, plastic bags, turkeys, chronic mastication and tires.

We then judged each presentation based on 3 criteria:

• Was it new information?
• Was it awesome? Would you share it with others?
• Is it useful? Will you act differently as a result of knowing?

Reflecting on the session I’m not sure the concept really landed. What I really wanted was for participants to consider their curriculum and think about what makes that content surprisingly awesome and what would it take to get their students to see it too. I also wanted them to find compelling content and unique facts that might make the content come alive. In short, this makes up much of what we’re always trying to do: make learning come alive. This is just a unique framing mechanism that I find useful. I’m not sure if I was able to share something of value to teachers beyond the strategies. The challenge of a conference workshop is I don’t have the relationship with partnerships and time to tweak and improve. I want to keep working on this to make it better.

• Maybe I need clearer goals?
• Maybe I should be more specific with my structure?
• Maybe this session isn’t worth doing again?

I’m open to all these questions. I’m trusting smart and caring educators will help me.

cross-posted at ideasandthoughts.org

Dean Shareski is the Community Manager of the Canadian DEN (Discovery Educators Network) and lecturer for the University of Regina. With 24 years of experience as a K12 educator and consultant, he specializes in the use of technology in the classroom. Read more at ideasandthoughts.org.

Disclaimer: This weblog contains the opinions and ideas of Dean Shareski. While there may be references to my work and content which relates directly to my work, the ideas are mine alone and are not necessarily shared by my employer.

Now that we have a pro choice (school, not women) president and education secretary, there's a lot of cheering and hope on both sides that kids will finally be rescued from crappy public schools. With vouchers and charters their children will have the choice to attend schools that are not burdened by the same regulations and can give children the freedom to engage in there innovative practices like expeditionary learning and project based learning.

If you've been a public school educator for a while, all this talk will make you shake your head and say...

Wait! What?

You mean the charters and privates are now going to be miscredited with owning the learning that public schools have embraced and engaged in for years before the standards and testing machine driven by a greedy corporate America stole it from them? Well, yeah. And, that's just one of many misconceptions.

Here's the thing.

Public schools are not BAD. Public school teachers are not BAD. The rules and regulations that are holding back public schools today while charters and others are set free are what is BAD. Models like Big Picture and Schoolwide Enrichment which once thrived, have been nearly decimated by the one-size-fits no one standards and testing that have been imposed upon them forcing them to do things they know are not right for children. That is what is BAD.

This point was driven home by Columbia University's Dr. Chris Emdin (@chrisemdin) who received a standing ovation from a packed house at South by Southwest Edu. He called out ideas educators have long known are true. Project based, expeditionary, STEM (or digitizing shop class), the arts... These have all been around for a long time before they were pushed out of public education to make room for a new culture of common learning despite the fact that we have uncommon children.

But its time we speak up to these masters of testing, accountability, and common standards that we know are not best for our children. These mandates were created without buy in or conversation with our children or teachers. Tests should be something you choose to do. Not something that's done to you.

Emdin says we should simply tell all those who are imposing that which this message inspired by the album from "A Tribe Called Quest." That message is this:

There is so much public educators know is not right in schools, yet they are not given the power to do what is right. And, while Emdin's sentiment is popular among innovative educators, most teachers and few principals have the courage or power to express that sentiment, act on it, and still be able to do this work.

We know, as Emdin reminds us, that the cool types of jobs we're preparing kids for let their staff come to work in shorts, listen to music, and move around freely. Innovative educators are not allowed to provide such freedom for their students. It's often dress the same and walk in neat rows. Power down and disconnect from your world when you enter these school walls.

Will Richardson in his talk at the conference offered a similar refrain. We know how kids learn, but that's not what we see in schools. In schools they are not focused on what's effective, but rather what is efficient.

Here's a comparison.

Emdin did a terrific job of identifying the issues and pointing out that innovative educators have got it, but how do we actually go about getting it while keeping our public school jobs. I have some ideas. What do you think?

Nuggets from Emdin's presentation from the talented @empowerMINTed

Lisa Nielsen writes for and speaks to audiences across the globe about learning innovatively and is frequently covered by local and national media for her views on “Passion (not data) Driven Learning,” "Thinking Outside the Ban" to harness the power of technology for learning, and using the power of social media to provide a voice to educators and students. Ms. Nielsen has worked for more than a decade in various capacities to support learning in real and innovative ways that will prepare students for success. In addition to her award-winning blog, The Innovative Educator, Ms. Nielsen’s writing is featured in places such as Huffington Post, Tech & Learning, ISTE Connects, ASCD Wholechild, MindShift, Leading & Learning, The Unplugged Mom, and is the author the book Teaching Generation Text.

Disclaimer: The information shared here is strictly that of the author and does not reflect the opinions or endorsement of her employer.

Ahhh...the school mission statement. And then there is the vision statement. And, what the heck is the difference? What are we really identifying and do we ever go back and re-examine to ensure it is still what we believe?

At a session titled "Intentionality & School Design" at #Educon, for the most part, educators indicated that these statements, once created, were never looked at again. Should new staff come on board, they likely would never have a chance to understand what drove these statements. Existing staff can lose sight of from where it is they came.

Chris Lehmann, Science Leadership Academy (SLA) principal and superintendent for the Philadelphia School District asked educators to consider why it was not universal that the school community revisit these statements? He explained that at the
heart of it is a school's core values. For SLA those are: Inquiry, Research, Collaboration, Presentation, Reflection. They are posted in every classroom.

Lehmann went on to explain that they don't have a separate vision and mission statement. They just outline what they do which is: Learn. Create. Lead. This is seen in their logo.

Go to the school website and you can read the mission and vision outlined in plain language and includes the core values.

So what are the takeaways for other schools?

• Start with your core values.
• Know what you do.
• Reinforce by ensuring the consistent message is evident in classrooms and materials.
• Revisit each year.

What happens where you work? Is everyone on the same page with core values? Has the school outlined what it does simply? Do these takeaways exist? If not, can they?

Lisa Nielsen writes for and speaks to audiences across the globe about learning innovatively and is frequently covered by local and national media for her views on “Passion (not data) Driven Learning,” "Thinking Outside the Ban" to harness the power of technology for learning, and using the power of social media to provide a voice to educators and students. Ms. Nielsen has worked for more than a decade in various capacities to support learning in real and innovative ways that will prepare students for success. In addition to her award-winning blog, The Innovative Educator, Ms. Nielsen’s writing is featured in places such as Huffington Post, Tech & Learning, ISTE Connects, ASCD Wholechild, MindShift, Leading & Learning, The Unplugged Mom, and is the author the book Teaching Generation Text.

Disclaimer: The information shared here is strictly that of the author and does not reflect the opinions or endorsement of her employer.

TRANSFORM THE FUTURE: PLAN IT GREEN, THE BIG SWITCH

In this online simulation, players build an energy-efficient model city while learning about community, renewable energy, sustainable living, and eco-friendly technology.

Use the fruit machine to select an exercise at random.

There's no reason to use a one-size fits all approach when it comes to setting exercises. Let's take the sort of thing that could easily be boring: a set of spreadsheet-based tasks.

The usual approach is to get the students to type in or copy/paste the data (either of which I regard as a waste of time unless they had to do research to obtain the data first – in which case that's not a spreadsheet exercise anyway).

The data is usually something to do with sports or prices. Yawn.

Read more.

cross-posted at www.ictineducation.org

Terry Freedman is an independent educational ICT consultant with over 35 years of experience in education. He publishes the ICT in Education website and the newsletter “Digital Education."

Photo Credit: Bridging the skills gap: Vocational training takes center stage

This post takes a closer look at one of the areas: "College Readiness," that I shared in my post about What a #TrumpEducation Means...More or Less.

As any educator, parent, or student over the past decade is aware, the Obama administration laid out standards and assessments that required all students to be college AND career ready. Like it or not, college readiness was thrust upon all citizens. Those who felt college wasn't the path for them, were looked upon as "less than" and if they were unable to attain employment, well, that was their fault.

The problem in doing this, among other things, is that it alienated a large demographic in our country who has lost hope and who Trump has promised to help.

David Frum writes in the current issue of The Atlantic explains that as a result "The angriest and most pessimistic people in America are the people we used to call Middle Americans." "Middle-class and middle-aged; not rich and not poor; people who are irked when asked to press 1 for English and who wonder how white male became an accusation rather than a description. They are pissed off. And when Donald Trump came along, they were the people who told the pollsters, 'That's my guy.” “You can measure their pessimism in polls that ask about their expectations for their lives—and for those of their children. On both counts, whites without a college degree express the bleakest view. You can see the effects of their despair in the new statistics describing horrifying rates of suicide and substance-abuse fatality among this same group, in middle age.”The #TrumpEducation platform seems to lay out a plan acknowledging that rather than one path to success there will be a focus on careers which can be attained via a number of pathways.

Mike Rowe explains it this way: “The kind of recovery that Donald Trump is promising will require a workforce that’s properly trained and sufficiently enthused about the opportunities at hand. At the moment, we do not have that workforce in place. What we do have, are tens of millions of capable people who have simply stopped looking for work, and millions of available jobs that no one aspires to do. That’s the skills gap, and it’s gotta close.” Rowe has offered to assist in any attempt to reinvigorate the skilled trades, and shine a light on millions of good jobs that no one seems excited about pursuing.

It may also mean looking to models like that which have been adopted in places like Germany where school studies are aligned to career possibilities. Take a look at the one minute video below to see how that plays out.

Vice president-elect Mike Pence understands the issue as was shared in Chalkbeat Indiana where he said that he believes we are too focused on trying to prepare all children for college and have let slip programs that prepared high school graduates to go directly to work in good paying jobs that did not necessarily require college. In his state of Indiana he put into place a bill that creates regional Works Councils that work with the private sector and educational organizations to identify needs in the area’s workforce, create partnerships between schools and businesses for internships and apprenticeships and boost career and vocational ed in high schools.

Models that embraced student's passions, talents, interests, and abilities fell out of favor in the standards and testing fervor. In a Trump administration models like these could indeed become great again. Internships and apprenticeships that have faded away in current times are likely resurface with a president well-known for being TV boss of "The Apprentice." For elementary and middle school we may see more Schoolwide Enrichment Models where the focus is students discovering and developing their passions, talents, and interests in partnership with community organizations. Students at such schools know where their talents lie and by the time they are in secondary school they are ready to think about and try on possibilities for their future. This means we may return to a time where internships and apprenticeships are valued. This is embedded in Big Picture Learning where all students work while in secondary school during the school day.

In Israel, the military is what makes them a country with one of the world's lowest rates of youth unemployment. But even if you think Military readiness for all is also a mistake, Saul Singer author of StartUp Nation shared some alternatives. He explained it is essential that we challenge youth in situations where taking charge is a must, results really matter, and they are doing work that requires them to see the world as bigger than themselves.

Saul asks: What if all teens had to do something that helps their country and their communities? What if? If you talk to teens and ask them if they would rather spend every day in a classroom, or if they would prefer to do their part to help others, improve communities, and make a difference through meaningful work, most would choose the latter.

Why are we stopping them?

Lisa Nielsen writes for and speaks to audiences across the globe about learning innovatively and is frequently covered by local and national media for her views on “Passion (not data) Driven Learning,” "Thinking Outside the Ban" to harness the power of technology for learning, and using the power of social media to provide a voice to educators and students. Ms. Nielsen has worked for more than a decade in various capacities to support learning in real and innovative ways that will prepare students for success. In addition to her award-winning blog, The Innovative Educator, Ms. Nielsen’s writing is featured in places such as Huffington Post, Tech & Learning, ISTE Connects, ASCD Wholechild, MindShift, Leading & Learning, The Unplugged Mom, and is the author the book Teaching Generation Text.

Disclaimer: The information shared here is strictly that of the author and does not reflect the opinions or endorsement of her employer.

Get your copy of The 30 Goals for Teachers and Learning to Go.

New to The 30 Goals Challenge? Each year, teachers worldwide aim to accomplish 1 to 30 goals that transform their teaching. Join the movement by accomplishing any goal from any of the cycles then letting us know through a blog reflection or status update on our Facebook community or on Twitter,@30GoalsEdu . At our official site, 30Goals.com, find all the goals, participant reflections, badges, and get your copy of The 30 Goals for Teachers: Small Steps to Transform Your Classroom workbook.

cross posted at teacherrebootcamp.com

Shelly Terrell is an education consultant, technology trainer, and author. Read more at teacherrebootcamp.com.

Welcome to Cycle 7 of The 30 Goals Challenge: Make it Meaningful!

“One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.” – Carl Jung

Goal: Try at least one getting to know you activity with your students. Below are suggestions to get you started. Check out my slide presentation here.

• Human Bingo is a popular and easy activity. Download my Digital Bingo and Human Bingo handouts.
• Mobile Show and Tell– Divide students into small groups (3 to 5 students). Each student spends about 30 seconds sharing a personal photo from a mobile device and the anecdote behind the photo.
• Recreate a Photo– Students choose one of the Mobile Show and Tell images to recreate as a group. They share the original then the newly created photo.
• Selfie Adventures– Pair students or divide them into small groups. Show them the Animal Selfies Tumblr or the Selfie Animal Tips video. They choose a favorite and write down reasons they liked this selfie. Then give each pair a stuffed animal, doll, character, or sock puppet. They will have to create 2 or more awesome selfies of this character.
• Draw and Dash– Each student will need to use a piece of paper or a drawing app like Tackk, Educreations, Magic Paintbrush, or Sketchbook Express. Name a category like favorite dessert, cartoon, sports team and so forth for students to draw the answers to on their tablets. Give them 30 seconds. When the time is up they should lift up their drawings and run to a peer they believe drew a similar choice. Give them 1 minute to talk about their drawings and exchange one fact or experience related to the choice. Find the Knowledge Swap handout that accompanies this activity in Learning to Go.
• Avatar Bucket Lists– Students write down 3 activities they want to complete within their lifetime. They get into pairs and discuss their lists. They choose one bucket list activity to animate in a short video or comic strip. Useful web tools include GoAnimate, Powtoons, Little Bird Tales, ToonDoo, and Makebeliefs Comix. Useful apps include BuddyPoke 3D Avatar Creator, Tellagami, Drawing Cartoons, Comics Head, and Friendstrip. Find more activities and ideas in this lesson plan I wrote, A Visual Bucket List.
• Vision Boards– Students can use digital poster and scrapbook tools and apps to create goal collages and vision boards. Try any of these tools: Buncee, Tackk, Biteslides, Smore, Pinterest, Glogster, or Pic-Collage.
• 3, 2,1 Introduction– Students use a web tool or app to create a video, comic strip, poster, book, or slideshow that includes the following: 3 things we should know about you, 2 hobbies, 1 dream job. This idea came from Nicky Hockly.
• Avatar Introductions– Students can introduce themselves with a Voki avatar or try one of these free avatar creators! Find several student examples here.
• Name Poems– Use a word cloud tool like Tagxedo or the Image Chef app. They can also do this as a digital poster using tools like Buncee, Tackk, Biteslides, Smore, ThingLink, or Pic-Collage.
• My Timeline– Students create multimedia timelines highlighting significant moments using a tool like Capzles or Popplet which both have free apps for i-devices.
• Icebreaker Mingle– Find my lesson plan that uses the Icebreaker question app here.

cross posted at teacherrebootcamp.com

Shelly Terrell is an education consultant, technology trainer, and author. Read more at teacherrebootcamp.com.

I've been thinking about, doing, and running courses in the art and science of assessing what kids know, understand and can do when it comes to Computing and ICT for a long time. Here are 12 things I've learnt. Four of these have been published as an article on the ICT & Computing in Education website, but this is the full list.

The more I learn, the more I realise I don't know

I think this must be true of any sphere of knowledge. The more you know, the more nuances you see, the more you become aware of the alternatives.

I experienced the same thing when I studied Economics at school. When I was 18 I thought of myself as a budding economist. By the time I'd finished my degree in Economics I thought of myself as someone who didn't know all that much in the total scheme of things.

Read more.

cross-posted at www.ictineducation.org

Terry Freedman is an independent educational ICT consultant with over 35 years of experience in education. He publishes the ICT in Education website and the newsletter “Digital Education."

Another school year starts and with it new concerns and hopes about the promise of education technology get raised. For many years, conversation mostly involved devices. “Should there be computers in the classroom?” was an actual question.

As that answer is now evident in pretty much everyone’s pocket or backpack, the next big issue is how best to use those devices to the advantage of both students and teachers. Two of Tech & Learning’s SchoolCIO Summits tackled that topic this year. In June, approximately 60 senior executives from districts around the country met to define the issue of digital citizenry—how to instill good behaviors amongst students, faculty, and the greater community. This month, another group will convene in Baltimore to discuss an even greater conundrum—digital equity. How do schools provide access to both devices and high speed Internet to every student, no matter how rich or poor? And how do they deliver a curriculum that enables students to learn both on campus and at home?

Be sure to check online at techlearning.com, where we will be posting the results of these workgroups, along with links to related webinars. We also encourage you to participate in the chatter in our discussion groups, Twitter feed, Facebook page, and our newest presence on the EdWeb community (www.edweb.net/techlearning). Our mission is to share your best practices and we need your input!
— Kevin Hogan
Content Director
khogan@nbmedia.com

It’s high season for events here at Tech&Learning. Just a few days ago, more than 50 edtech leaders convened at the third of this year’s SchoolCIO Summits in Baltimore, Maryland, to address the most critical issue in education today—digital equity. Next up is Tech&Learning Live in Princeton, New Jersey, October 21, with a keynote by OER guru Andrew Marcinek. Then it’s down to Texas for the International Association for K-12 Online Learning and our final Tech&Learning Live event for 2016 in Dallas on November 3.

Hosting and attending in-person edtech shows are an essential part of what we do here. Not only do we get to share the wisdom of our advisors but we also learn best practices from you, our readers, which drives the stories in these pages each month and online every day.

The truth is, you can’t truly replicate the human experience but we try our best. To that end, we have been experimenting with a new online tool that we call T&L Live (http://www.techlearning.com/tltechlive/). The page is basically a live feed of social media posts—any tweet, post, and pin—from any event we are running or attending in a given week. So far, we’ve used it at BETT, ISTE, and now at our own events with great success. Keep it bookmarked, as it turns out some of the most trafficked times are right before an event, when people are prepping their agendas, and right after, when it makes for a terrific executive summary. Give us a try and tell us what you think!

— Kevin Hogan
Content Director
khogan@nbmedia.com

But it might be useful to somebody...

So, you're in charge of Computing, ICT or Education Technology in your school, and you've got some equipment that works, but can no longer do everything you'd like it to be able to. What can you do with it? Here are some suggestions.

Read more.

cross-posted at www.ictineducation.org

Terry Freedman is an independent educational ICT consultant with over 35 years of experience in education. He publishes the ICT in Education website and the newsletter “Digital Education."

Every day, farmers walk around their farms to check that everything is as it should be. This is known as "farmer's footing".

Here is my version of farmer's footing for the Head of Computing or ICT. Not all of these will be appropriate if you are the only computing teacher in your school, but hopefully some of them will prove useful.

Read more.

cross-posted at www.ictineducation.org

Terry Freedman is an independent educational ICT consultant with over 35 years of experience in education. He publishes the ICT in Education website and the newsletter “Digital Education."

Sponsored by Lenovo and Intel

Lenovo builds technology products for the specific needs of education.

· Rugged devices that reliably perform, whenever and wherever they are needed
· Purpose designed, purpose built IT systems for diverse environments
· Infrastructure developed with education in mind

Lenovo is the number one provider of educational technology worldwide, we understand how to create and partner around the tools and support you need for the strongest digital district possible. Download the flyer to learn more about how Lenovo can serve your unique technology needs in education.

Download here

Intel, the Intel logo, Xeon, and Xeon Inside are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is a $46 billion global Fortune 500 company and a leader in providing innovative consumer, commercial and enterprise technology. Our portfolio of high-quality, secure products and services covers PCs (including the legendary Think and multimode Yoga brands), workstations, servers, storage, smart TVs and a family of mobile products like smartphones (including the Motorola brand), tablets and apps. Join us on LinkedIn, follow us on Facebook or Twitter or visit us at Solutions.Lenovo.com.

Things may be going great, so why change them? You know the old saying: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

But there's another point of view too: who wants to become ossified? The biggest nightmare for me would have been to end up like the teacher described to me by someone I know. He said he obtained a job as a teacher in the school he attended as a child, and in the classroom next door he could hear his old history teacher dictating the same set of notes as he'd done 20 years before.

If that strikes as much dread in you as it did me, then read on for a few simple ideas to try now.

Read more.

cross-posted at www.ictineducation.org

Terry Freedman is an independent educational ICT consultant with over 35 years of experience in education. He publishes the ICT in Education website and the newsletter “Digital Education."

It's ready at last! Oh joy!

You may have been led to believe that Computer Science is the only game in town as far as the EBacc and league tables are concerned.

It isn't.

And in any case, in my opinion what matters first and foremost is student choice.

I've spent so long slaving over a computer that I can't stand up straight

Read more.

cross-posted at www.ictineducation.org

Terry Freedman is an independent educational ICT consultant with over 35 years of experience in education. He publishes the ICT in Education website and the newsletter “Digital Education."

This book by Mark Anderson, aka @ICTevangelist, is, I have to say, pretty good. Although it's not very long (129 pages before we get on to the references section), it packs in a lot of good, practical advice.

There are good sections on the SAMR and SOLO models, though Bloom's Taxonomy seems to have been omitted -- perhaps because it is already familiar to many teachers.

I liked the fact that the ideas are not only good, but doable. Also, it's good that Anderson provides information about useful programs along with their website addresses.

It's pocket-sized, and I think if I were new to use education technology in the classroom then I'd carry this around with me and dip into it every so often for inspiration.

I have to admit to having some doubts about this book even before I opened it.

Read more.

cross-posted at www.ictineducation.org

Terry Freedman is an independent educational ICT consultant with over 35 years of experience in education. He publishes the ICT in Education website and the newsletter “Digital Education."

Logging in -- Photo from www.pexels.com CC0

Fortunately, the lesson I'm about to describe was not mine. It describes how a lot of time was wasted. Even more annoyingly, it was entirely avoidable.

I was observing the first lesson of the new Year 7 (11 year olds) in the computer lab. The teacher, a deputy head, was giving them their network log-in details.

This consisted of calling out their names in turn, telling them what their details were, and then getting them to try it out. Each one took around 2 minutes, and there were 30 kids in the class.

This activity took up the whole lesson, which was bad enough. What made it even worse was the fact that until or after a child had been given their log-ins, they had nothing to do. So out of a 60 minute lesson, each pupil was idle for 58 minutes.

Read more.

cross-posted at www.ictineducation.org

Terry Freedman is an independent educational ICT consultant with over 35 years of experience in education. He publishes the ICT in Education website and the newsletter “Digital Education."