Technology Plan Attleboro Public Schools

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1 ATTLEBORO PUBLIC SCHOOLS 100 RATHBUN WILLARD DRIVE ATTLEBORO, MA Technology Plan Attleboro Public Schools ATTLEBORO COMMUNITY PROFILE Attleboro, Massachusetts Attleboro is a small city (27.51 square miles) located 45 minutes south of Boston and just 15 minutes north of Providence, Rhode Island. As such, it is a Massachusetts community that is a cultural suburb of Providence. Bisected north/south by Route 95, Attleboro has easy access to Routes 295 and 495. Attleboro also has two stations on the MBTA train line. Access to Mass. transit and several interstates make commuting quite convenient in any of several directions. This location is fortunate to the survival of Attleboro, as its formerly strong manufacturing base (it was once called the Jewelry Capital of America) has dwindled significantly in the last twenty years. In the face of steady job loss, new construction for young commuters and their families has been a mainstay of the Attleboro economy. With a population of 43,283, Attleboro is a diverse city in terms of culture, race, and income. The school enrollment figures reported to the state reflect minority enrollment make up 22.8% of the total population with 4.8% Asian, 10.6% Hispanic, 3.8% African American, and 3.4 multi-race students of our students have a first language that is not English and 4.5 have limited English proficiency, with Spanish, Portuguese, and Khmer making up the bulk of these languages.

2 In our location in southeastern Massachusetts, our graduates have access to a wealth of educational opportunities. Local community colleges include Massasoit Community College, Bristol Community College, and Community College of Rhode Island. Several Massachusetts State Universities are available for commuting students as well as for those choosing to live on campus. Wheaton in nearby Norton is the closest private college, but our location between Boston and Providence offers access to all that both those cities have to offer in the way of post secondary institutions. The Attleboro Public Schools consists of five elementary schools, three middle schools and one comprehensive High School. Approximately 6100 students attend these schools. ATTLEBORO TECHNOLOGY PLAN The Attleboro School District Technology Plan for is based on the benchmarks recommended by the Massachusetts State Department of Education through the Educational Technology Advisory Council. The Department of Education will use these guidelines to gauge the yearly progress of a district s implementation of the following benchmarks: Benchmark 1: Commitment to a Clear Vision and Implementation Strategies Benchmark 2: Technology Integration and Literacy Benchmark 3: Technology Professional Development Benchmark 4: Accessibility of Technology Benchmark 5: E-Learning and Communication Benchmark 6: Safety, Security and Data Retention Benchmark 1: Commitment to a Clear Vision and Implementation Strategies Benchmark 1.A The Attleboro Public Schools have a mission and vision statement from which strategies are aligned with the district wide schools improvement plan. The district plan is comprised of the individual school s technology plans and are reviewed and updated annually. A recommendation of this plan would be to continue this practice of review to meet current and future technology needs. Benchmark 1.B 2

3 The Attleboro Public Schools has convened a committee titled the Technology Advisory Council comprised of the following: Superintendent, Director of Teaching and Learning Excellence, Director of Special Education, Director of ELL, two elementary principals, a middle school principal, the assistant high school principal of curriculum and supervision, the high school director of career and technical education and a technology integration specialist. This committee meets monthly to determine technology needs for instruction K-12. A series of long and short term goals have been established to guide the council during each school year. In addition, as needs arise, advice and recommendations will be solicited from the business manager, network administrator, data management personnel and additional Attleboro school personnel and members of the school community whose experience and knowledge will help lead to more informed decisions. Benchmark 1.C Needs Assessment Assessment is a vehicle for educational improvement. It provides a structure for determining how well students are achieving the intended learning outcomes, and gives specific guidance for datadriven decision making by teachers, school and district leaders. The technology plan will engage yearly in an evaluative process to analysis the current products and services to improve teaching and learning. A recommendation of this plan is to use the inferences drawn from looking at student data at the district level to plan with the instructional technology staff and the curriculum staff a variety of instructional activities and to collaborate on decisions concerning the use of technologyenhanced curriculum products and services. Benchmark 1.D- Budget The Attleboro Public Schools district maintains a technology budget with specific line items to fund and maintain technology resources and initiatives based on district-wide needs and specific school requirements. The updating of technology infrastructure and computer to student ratios purchases are guided by the Department of Education Technology s Benchmarks and the statistics reported in our annual inventory of category A, B, C computers reported within the yearly Technology Plan update. The recommendation of this plan is to continue to ensure that our budget contains specific line items for leveraging funding across the district to comply with the Massachusetts State Department of Education s recommendations for hardware, software and infrastructure. The Attleboro Public Schools current budget contains separate lines for software, staffing, hardware, professional development, support services, and contracted services. Our recommendation is to continue to help foster educational environments where teachers and students use technology to develop skills that will prepare them for the changing demands of the 21 st century. The Attleboro Public Schools will continue to leverage the use of federal, state, and private resources to expand and improve technology infrastructure and promote educational practices that employ technology as a strategy to provide our students with the competencies to make them successful contributors to society. The Attleboro Public Schools has established specific line items in the district technology budget which is used to support the non-discounted E-rate portion of our telecommunications network. Our technology budget also includes funding to support the services which do not fall under the Schools and Libraries eligible services. The technology budget for our telecommunications and network needs includes, but is not necessarily limited to: 3

4 Line items for Payment of T1 lines Firewall security software and hardware Web filtering Virus /Spam protection Server licensing Network hardware upgrades services Our budget process includes the evaluation of these costs each year by the technology coordinator, network administrator, finance director, superintendent and school committee to determine funding for the upcoming fiscal year, which will allow the district to maintain and expand the services needed to keep our system operational for all employees and students. The budget recommendations would be to continue to work within our fiscal guidelines, to sustain our network at a level that will not only maintain the technology that we currently have in place, but also allow for expansion. to strive to offer on-going training with online tools that will enhance instructional methods; to maintain line items in the budget which will allow for our growing technology needs; to pursue discounts for which our district may be eligible under the USAC Schools and Libraries Services. Benchmark 1.E - Evaluation Instructional technology can provide opportunities for teachers to offer enhanced classroom instruction to engage and motivate students. District MCAS scores and progress toward AYP serve as a means employed to identify curriculum areas which would benefit from technology integration. Within the Attleboro school district programs such as Read 180, Study Island and Accelerated Reader have been implemented to address specific academic concerns. This correlation between technology and the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks has proven effective and it is recommended that this practice continue. Feedback shared at building levels and district meetings enables the school district to monitor its progress in achieving its goals and to make any mid-course corrections in response to new developments. Consultation with technology staff for recommendations on the most viable instructional technology products and competitive prices are also a part of our district technology purchasing policy. Benchmark 2:Technology Integration and Literacy Benchmard 2.A Technology Integration Outside Teaching Time One of the goals of Benchmark 2 for Educational Technology is to have at least 90% of teachers use technology everyday outside the classroom, in some of the following areas: research, lesson 4

5 planning, organization, administrative tasks, communications, and collaboration. Teachers are encouraged to explore evolving technologies and to share information about technology use. Currently, in the Attleboro School District teachers use electronic grade books to produce progress reports and electronic report cards to monitor student progress. The K-12 staff use webbased resources in lesson planning. Teachers and administrators use to collaborate with their supervisors, peers and to communicate with parents. Teachers also use the ProDev program, a web-based personnel program, to request professional and personal days and access job postings and district information. Each school maintains a website that provides parents with individual school information as well as showcasing student activities and projects that demonstrate the attainment of curriculum standards. It is the recommendation of this plan to continue to offer training and resources to staff that will improve proficiency in technology as a tool to enhance classroom instruction Benchmark 2: Technology Integration For Teaching and Learning Research has shown that students who are able to construct their own meaning and demonstrate their understanding of concepts effectively are engaging in higher order thinking and problem solving, which will assist them in becoming productive adults. Teacher proficiency with technology is a vital component of the success of technology integration as a powerful tool for this type of active learning. The Massachusetts State Guidelines for Technology Plan recommend that at least 90% of teachers use technology appropriately with students every day to improve student learning of the curriculum. Activities include some of the following: research, multimedia, simulations, data analysis, communications, and collaboration. It is the recommendation of the Attleboro School District to encourage these practices, provide staff development which demonstrates it and to upgrade and maintain a stable and dynamic infrastructure to support the technical resources necessary to attain it. Benchmark 2.B Technology Literacy Student Proficiency in Technology The Instructional Technology Teachers in the six elementary and three middle schools provide direct instruction to students on a weekly basis to help them acquire the technology competencies referenced in the Massachusetts Recommended PreK-12 Instructional Technology Standards. Current practice in these schools provide classroom instruction in technology which embeds standards within projects and lessons that extend the curriculum while providing opportunities to master the Instructional Technology Standards with at least 90% of the eighth showing proficiency in all the Massachusetts Technology Literacy Standards and Expectations for grade 8. This plan recommends that the Instructional Technology teachers, who possess a master s degree in instructional technology, will continue to work with the Curriculum Office and the Office of Technology to construct a curriculum guide that aligns with these standards. They also will continue to provide technical support and direct instruction to the building teachers in instructional technology practices. Teacher Proficiency in Technology It is a recommended goal of the Massachusetts State Guidelines for Technology Plan that 100% of teachers are working to meet the proficiency level in technology, and by the school year , 90% of teachers will have mastered 90% of the skills in the Massachusetts Technology Self-Assessment Tool (TSAT). This is a goal that the Attleboro School District will also strive 5

6 for and use the results of the TSAT to construct professional development opportunities for teachers to strengthen their skills in specific areas and extend their knowledge of technology integration within their appropriate subject areas. Benchmark 2.C Staffing The state recommends the district provides *a district-level technology director/coordinator. * one FTE instructional technology specialist per instructional staff to coach and model * staff dedicated to data management and assessment Currently the Attleboro School district meets these standards and plans to maintain them. Benchmark 3: Technology Professional Development The Attleboro School district recognizes the importance of using professional development as a vital component in the successful implementation of technology as a tool for teaching and learning. To this end our district strives to achieve the following standards outlined in this benchmark. The school district will provide high-quality, on-going professional development that includes emerging technology issues, technology skills, universal design and research-based models of technology integration. The goal is to have at least 90% of district staff participate. Technology professional development is sustained and ongoing and includes coaching, modeling best practices, district-based mentoring, study groups, and online professional development. The professional development includes concepts of universal design and scientifically based researched models. The assessment of these professional development practices will be based on the competencies listed in the Massachusetts Technology Self Assessment Tool (TSAT). Administrators and teachers will consider their own needs for professional development in relation to the proficiencies listed in the Administrator Self Assessment Tool and the Technology Self Assessment Tool Recommendations for providing staff development will employ different methods such as district professional development days, after school training, weekly open lab sessions, online training and collaboration through MassOne. It is recommended that each faculty member complete a self assessment test similar to the TSAT each year. District- level and school-based technology professional development will base further instruction on these results. Benchmark 4: Accessibility of Technology Hardware Access The Attleboro Public School district continually strives to meet the standards set by the State Department of Education for student to computer ratio. Our current ratio of student to computers is Type A 8.9, Type B 4.83 and Any Type 3.85 and is reflected in the update submitted in the 2011 technology plan report. This inventory is assessed by the district each year to facilitate and guide decisions concerning our technology purchases and upgrades. The reliability and dependability of the infrastructure 6

7 and network is monitored by the network administrator to assist with determining purchases, upgrades and replacement cycles. The following components of hardware recommendations delineated in the state recommended plan are also considerations for the Attleboro Public School district when determining improvements to their district technology plan and will be expanded and improved as needs arise and funding allows. The Technology Council will also oversee that the following recommendations are considered within district and school planning and work toward full implementation by designing strategies when needed and reinforcing compliance for attaining stated goals. 1. The state s goal of achieving an average ratio of one high-capacity, Internet-connected computer for each student by the year 2015 is an ambitious goal but one that will set the standard for technology procurement throughout our district and help with the planned budget allocation of funds. 2. Another state recommendation is that the district provides students with emerging technologies appropriate to their grade level. The district is aggressively pursuing the purchase of document cameras, overhead projectors and interactive whiteboards, to name a few, to facilitate the process of using student work to improve instruction while actively engaging students. 3. The district strongly supports the state s efforts to maximize access to the general education curriculum for all students, including students with disabilities, using technology in classrooms with universal design principles and assistive technology devices. 4. The district has procurement policies for information and instructional technologies that ensure usability, equivalent access, and interoperability and SIF compliance. The Attleboro school district believes the seamless integration of a broad spectrum of instructional, administrative and communications tools is essential to effectively address the needs of all learners. 5. In our efforts to maintain 21 st century technology-rich classrooms, we support the purchase of devices such as digital projectors, document cameras, electronic whiteboards, and student response systems. 6. To meet the needs of our diverse population and establish equity of resources throughout the district, the Attleboro school system is continually evaluating available funding to maintain a computer replacement cycle of five years or less. The technology council will recommend the following considerations when developing the budget average replacement costs anticipated upgrade costs funds for unanticipated new equipment purchases Careful analysis of the budget and annual needs will facilitate the replacement scheme. Internet Access - The district provides connectivity to the Internet for all computers in all classrooms in all schools, including wireless connectivity. 7

8 - Our current band width is roughly 8-12Mbps per school which is provided free by Comcast Cable. To achieve the recommended 100Mbps per 1000 students/staff that the state suggests by 2015 would necessitate the upgrade to a paid business service to achieve these speeds at roughly $600/100Mbps/school. One means to increase bandwidth which the Attleboro Technology Department is investigating is to consolidate the bandwidth from each school into a single pipe of approximately 120Mbps that would be shared across 6500 staff and students. -The district provides bandwidth of at least 10/100/1Gb to each classroom. The network card for each computer is at least 10/100/1 GB Networking (LAN/WAN) - Our current fiber WAN between the schools is 2Gbps. Currently students and teachers do not use this connection. However the plan for the summer of 2011 is to push the academic internet over that connection to share with all schools. This would allow a 1Gbps per 900 connected users. -The district s network provides access to servers for secure file sharing, backups, scheduling, , and web publishing. Access to the Internet Outside the School Day E. Staffing A. Staffing - Access to the internet outside the school environment is provided at the Attleboro Public Library from Monday to Saturday. Information related to this will be added to the school website. 1.The Massachusetts Technology Plan Benchmarks suggests that the district provides staff or contracted services to ensure that its network is functioning at all times. The OIT administrator of the Attleboro school district provides compliance in this area. 2. Another recommendation is that the district provides timely in-classroom technical support with clear information about how to access the support, so that technical problems will not cause major disruptions to curriculum delivery. In Attleboro the dedicated technical support staff consists of 4 technicians who use a computerized Technology Service Request program (TSR) to track requests, update the progress and provide a history to identify occurring problems and solutions. The personnel in our technology department maintains the ration of one FTE person for every 400 computers. In addition, each building has available a technology teacher who can also troubleshoot computer problems and provide support. We currently have 7 full time certified instructional technology teachers in our elementary and middle schools. 8

9 Benchmark 5: Virtual Learning and Communications A. The district encourages the development and use of innovative strategies for delivering high quality courses through the use of technology. B. The district deploys IP-based connections for access to web-based and/or interactive video learning on the local, state, regional, national, and international level. C. Classroom applications of virtual learning include courses, collaborative projects,field trips and discussions. D.The Attleboro Public School District maintains a website which can be accessed at On the main site visitors can access sites that are relevant to the whole district population, such as the district report card, district profile, MCAS information and district offices. Links are also provided for each school s homepage where parents can get specific information relevant to their child s school. It is a link into the classroom that helps to strengthen the home/school connection. The methods of instructional delivery mentioned above are used within the Attleboro Public School district to some extent, but with the yearly acquisition of newer computer systems and the process of upgrading our network and infrastructure, the use of virtual learning activities and advanced communications will become more viable as a resource to improve and diversify instruction. Staff development throughout the district will reflect the commitment to use the capabilities of e-learning to improve instruction for teachers and students. Our district Curriculum Coordinators and Director collaboratively work with the department heads and staff to investigate and implement technology solutions which can enhance our curriculum, provide support for our academic school goals and help diversify instruction for our students. Benchmark 6: Safety, Security and Data Retention A. The district has a CIPA-compliant Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) regarding Internet and network use. The policy is updated as needed to help ensure safe and ethical use of resources by teachers and students. 9

10 B. The district educates teachers and students about appropriate online behavior. Topics include cyberbullying, potential risks related to social networking sites and strategies for dealing with these issues. C. The district has a plan to protect the security and confidentiality of personal information of its students and staff. D. The district complies with federal and state law, and local policies for archiving electronic communications produced by its staff and students. The district informs staff and students that any information distributed over the district or school network may be a public record. The Massachusetts Guidelines for Educational Technology is a document which provides a framework that the Attleboro School District will continue to use to expand technology use within the district and to acquire resources to maintain services, build infrastructure and support connectivity that will benefit all students and staff needs. Through our Technology Plan Attleboro will continue to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness and growth of our system to align with the recommended state guidelines and more importantly provide our students with an education that will help them become digital citizens and leaders in the 21 st century. 10