|
|
 |
Technology Enhancement Competitive Grant Descriptions 2004-05
Fund Code 170-B
| Amherst-Pelham Regional School District
Mark Moriarty
413-362-1755 |
Project Title: DIG IT! Digital Portfolios as Artifact Anthologies for Assessment and Reflection
Curriculum Area: All
Grade Level: PreK-12
Project Overview:
This project will train staff and administration in the creation and effective use of digital portfolios. Teams of teachers and classes of students will work with consultants and other secondary school students skilled in the theory and practice of portfolio development to create their own digital portfolios. With the districts' established commitment to online learning, a team of project participants working with Education Development Center will build an online course for creating digital portfolios and a focus forum for posting, updating, evaluating and reviewing peer portfolios. This professional development will be delivered repeatedly throughout this project's duration. The multimedia skills teachers and students develop in the creation of these digital portfolios will carry over to the daily educational process to enhance teaching and learning. Administrators will have easy access to this student learning and achievement data on the districts' new Storage Area Network (SAN). This central database of student portfolios will be used as a baseline for PreK-12 curriculum and pedagogy planning.
|
| Barnstable Horace Mann Charter School
Debora Morgan
508-420-2272 |
Project Title: Creating Academic Success through Technology (C.A.S.T. Project)
Curriculum Area: All
Grade Level: 5-6
Project Overview:
The ultimate goal of this project is to improve student reading. The project's intermediate goals are to use technology to create a comprehensive assessment, data gathering, and analysis system to inform, enhance, and instruct teaching and learning. Through the use of mobile laptop labs, student will complete assessments based on the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. Test results will be compiled in a relational database with results available to classroom teachers, administrators and parents. Data analysis tools will be used to inform teaching and school improvement. Professional development will focus on the school community's ability to read the data, create reports using the data, develop classroom strategies according to the findings, and implement the strategies necessary to address student needs. Reporting tools will be used to improve communication with parents. The anticipated outcomes of this project are improved student achievement through informed teaching, overall school improvement in reading, and timely and comprehensive communication with parents.
|
| Boston Public Schools
Sailaja Suresh
617-635-8880 |
Project Title: The High School SELECT Math Project: Supporting Engaged Learning by Enhancing Curriculum with Technology
Curriculum Area: Mathematics
Grade Level: 9-12
Project Overview:
The High School SELECT Math Project (Supporting Engaged Learning by Enhancing Curriculum with Technology) will provide professional development to math teachers, coaches, and technology specialists on how to support teaching and learning in high school level mathematics with technology. Workshop participants will learn how to use specialized mathematics software and online virtual manipulatives with students of all learning styles, in conjunction with the district's current mathematics curriculum. Support will be provided to teachers via the resources on Boston's SELECT Math website (http://boston.k12.ma.us/teach/technology/select) and via its coaching and cluster support personnel from the district's math and technology curriculum offices. The SELECT Math project is a partnership between the district's Office of Instructional Technology, the Secondary Math Department, and Education Development Center, Inc.
|
| Clarksburg, Savoy and Florida Public Schools: North Berkshire School Union
John Barry
413-664-9292
Greg Betti
413-664-6023 |
Project Title: Enhancing the Use of Technology Across the Curriculum in Rural Schools
Curriculum Area: English Language Arts and Mathematics
Grade Level: 3-8
Project Overview:
This project is intended to integrate current computer technology into classroom teaching, in a way that will support learning in the core content areas and ultimately improve student achievement. It will provide funds for up-to-date Internet connections for schools, as well as wireless computer networks that can be used in a variety of classrooms. Professional development will focus on improving the computer literacy levels of the teachers, and then later, on the assistance they will need to use technology-enhanced lessons on a regular basis. The districts will develop a portfolio of learning activities in English Language Arts and Mathematics for grades 3-8.
|
| Fall River Public Schools
Raymond Medeiros
508-951-8785 x414 |
Project Title: Impacting Science with Online Learning
Curriculum Area: Science
Grade Level: 8-9
Project Overview:
This project, Impacting Science with Online Learning, will begin with online training and support through the EdTech Leaders Online (ETLO) program for six staff members who will serve as Online Professional Development Specialists (OPDS). They will serve as online facilitators for eighth and ninth grade teachers as this core group explores activities and techniques to increase content literacy and writing in science. During the online courses, this core group of teachers will meet on a regular basis with OPDS and curriculum specialists to review the application of their coursework and to further develop activities to be used in their classrooms. They will explore and discuss the effectiveness of the online professional development and the impact that it has on teaching and learning. During the summer and the second year, these OPDS will receive further training, which will enable them to design online courses in house. The core group of eighth and ninth grade science teachers and their students will help to pilot one of these in-house courses while additional ETLO and in-houses courses will be piloted to the general staff population.
|
| Framingham Public Schools with Marlborough, Waltham, Natick, Ashland, Littleton, and Lexington Public Schools
Dave Cedrone
508-665-5990x8 |
Project Title: STEM Leadership: Strengthening Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Learning for the 21st Century
Curriculum Area: Science and Technology/Engineering and Mathematics
Grade Level: 6-12
Project Overview:
The STEM Leadership program is a professional development model that provides for summer technology externships in industry and for effective translation of these experiences into everyday classroom lessons. The primary goal of this program is to provide for and to sustain improvements in technology-rich STEM instruction, teacher quality, student interest, and performance in 21st century STEM careers. Over two years, this project will work with district and school leaders (superintendents, principals, department heads, directors and STEM teachers) to assess, implement and evaluate strategies and policies for systemically solidifying this emerging professional development model. This project supports a cohort of thirty teachers from these districts, establishing a critical mass of well-trained instructional teacher leaders.
|
| Gateway Regional School District and Easthampton Public Schools
John Schott
413-529-1500 x132
Paul Facteau
413-685-1020 |
Project Title: Making the Laptop Leap: MEETing Teacher Technology Needs
Curriculum Area: Mathematics
Grade Level: 7-8
Project Overview:
This project is designed to develop a sustainable 1:1 wireless laptop program emphasizing mathematics for seventh and eighth grade students. The goals are to improve student achievement through technology, provide student access to technology outside of the school day, and to sustain this program. The project will fully prepare the math teachers in White Brook and Gateway Regional Middle Schools through the use of classroom coaching and mentoring by the technology specialist. This professional development model has been proven successful in Project MEET. It will address the challenge of identifying and creating best practices and exemplary curriculum resources for middle school mathematics. The project will support the creation of a sustainable, 1:1 laptop initiative in both districts, using a parent-leasing program, as well as district and grant funding.
|
| Gloucester Public Schools
Tammy Morgan
978-282-3021
Mary Matson
978-281-9850 |
Project Title: Project S.T.E.A.M (Skillful Teachers Excited About Math)
Curriculum Area: Mathematics
Grade Level: K-5
Project Overview:
The driving goal of this project is to provide the K-5 teachers of the Gloucester Public Schools with the power to teach mathematics more effectively with technology. This is an identified area of need in the Gloucester Public School Improvement Plan. With teachers at the throttle, this grant will provide the steam to help students maneuver the hills and curves in their journey to learn mathematics. Through professional development, teachers will develop strategies to augment their instruction and use technology as a tool to meet the needs of different learners. The strategies and best practices addressed in this project will firmly couple teacher practice and student achievement. The goal is to enable teachers to help students develop a deeper understanding of mathematics and achieve higher standards.
|
| Harwich Public Schools
Steven Wilson
508-430-7212 |
Project Title: HITS for Students and Teachers: Harwich Integration of Technology Standards for Students and Teachers
Curriculum Area: English Language Arts, Mathematics
Grade Level: 5-8
Project Overview:
The focus of this grant will be the Harwich Middle School teachers and students. The project will use a mentoring-based model to facilitate technology integration through extensive professional development. The project will include the use of laptop computers, the Classroom Performance System (a handheld wireless response system), and PLATO remedial software. Mentors and teachers will use this knowledge base to design and implement lesson plans, using student laptops in the classrooms and the Middle School Writing lab, to improve student problem solving, writing, and achievement on the MCAS.
|
| Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative - East Longmeadow, Ludlow, Southwick, Westfield, and West Springfield Public Schools
Janice Davis
413-525-0003 |
Project Title: Online Distance Learning and Professional Development with the Virtual High School, Inc. (Western Massachusetts VHS Consortium)
Curriculum Area: All
Grade Level: 9-12
Project Overview:
The Western Massachusetts Virtual High School Consortium will deliver specialized professional development to teachers and rigorous courses to high school students through online distance learning technologies that are universally available through the Internet. The project will provide coordination, supervision, and professional development to nine school districts, including three high need districts and a private school, over a period of two years. During the first year of the grant the consortium will recruit teachers and site coordinators in five districts (East Longmeadow, Ludlow, Southwick-Tolland, West Springfield and Westfield) to receive online professional development. This professional development will allow a teacher to modify an existing VHS online course or to develop an entirely new online course for VHS. Upon completion of training, each district will begin delivering an online course. Students at the consortium high schools will be enrolled in courses as early as Spring 2006. The long-term intent is to establish a consortium for VHS course delivery within school districts in Western Massachusetts.
|
| Mohawk Trail Regional School District
David Greenberg
413-625-0192 |
Project Title: Picture Writers: Promoting Literacy through Picture Book Literature and Art
Curriculum Area: English Language Arts
Grade Level: K-6
Project Overview:
This project emphasizes the literature, composition, and media strands of the Massachusetts English Language Arts Frameworks. The goal of the project is to develop a model literacy program that fosters a love of reading, writing, and art in elementary school children that results in improved writing and reading comprehension as reflected in pre- and post-surveys and MCAS scores. Technology-enhanced curriculum units aligned with the English Language Arts frameworks and adhering to the principles of Universal Design for Learning will be developed for each grade level. Collaborating on this project are: the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, the Smith College Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and the Collaborative Center for Assistive Technology. The Eric Carle Museum, dedicated to developing visual literacy, is the only one of its kind in the country. It features exhibitions by foremost picture book artists, including Eric Carle, Dr. Seuss, William Steig, and Petra Mathers. This program will give children in rural western Massachusetts a unique opportunity to benefit from the superb resources of this local cultural institution.
|
| Narragansett Regional School District
Mike Wakefield
978-939-1094 |
Project Title: Math Unwired: Using Advanced Technology to Improve Middle School Math Instruction
Curriculum Area: Mathematics
Grade Level: 6-8
Project Overview:
This project is designed primarily to improve mathematics instruction in grades 6-8, using a combination of a comprehensive Frameworks-aligned math instruction software package, wireless computing with a 1:1 in-class student/computer ratio, TI 83 graphing calculators, and electronic whiteboard technology. A secondary benefit of the extensive use of technology in the project is the improvement of technology skills for learning among teachers and students alike. Extensive professional development activities in the content area and technology training will extend through both years of the project through a partnership with the software vendor. The planned implementation pilots the project in grade 6 during the first year and phases in grades 7 and 8 the second year. A combination of MCAS results, ongoing tracking of student progress built into the software, assessment of staff skills through the TSAT, and review by an independent external evaluator will provide comprehensive project evaluation.
|
| New Bedford Global Learning Horace Mann Charter School
Derek Stevens
508-991-7000 |
Project Title: 1:1 Laptop Learning-New Bedford Global Learning Charter School
Curriculum Area: Mathematics
Grade Level: 5-9
Project Overview:
The New Bedford Global Learning Charter School will establish 1:1 wireless laptop learning for our seventh and eighth grade students. Our laptop learning program -- modeled on the successful Maine Laptop Technology Initiative (MLTI) -- will focus on mathematics instruction and reflect the unique needs of our diverse student body. This initiative will capitalize on our school's powerful technology infrastructure (including a completely wireless facility, a large existing inventory of laptops, and high-end backbone equipment) and our responsive network of technical support to create a state-of-the-art laptop learning environment. A comprehensive professional development and curriculum alignment program will prepare our teachers to utilize laptop technology in all phases of project-based mathematics learning. Anticipated project outcomes include improved student mathematics performance, improved teacher technology skills, and the development of digital curricula that maximize the impact of laptops in mathematics instruction.
|
| North Central Charter Essential School
Peter Garbus
978-345-2701
Judy Miller
978-922-0401 |
Project Title: Intensive Literacy and Numeracy - 7th/8th Grade English and Mathematics: Catch Up Through Technology (CUTT)
Curriculum Area: English Language Arts, Mathematics
Grade Level: PreK-12
Project Overview:
Through this project, study teams from two very different school districts will explore and test software to help struggling students. The teams will also research and implement one-to-one computing strategies with wireless laptops for these students. And finally, the project will take these strategies to teachers beyond the study team for wider implementation. Virtual Education Space (VES) will provide the perfect medium for discussing what is learned and for helping teachers and students work together. In the end, it is anticipated that the school will have developed, tested, and be ready to share a program that unlocks the intelligence and unleashes the potential of the most vulnerable students.
|
| Northampton Public Schools with Amherst-Pelham, Frontier, Pioneer, Gill-Montague, Mohawk Regional, and Franklin County Technical School
Bill Dornbusch
413-587-1317 |
Project Title: Cooperative Regional Information Storage for Teaching and Learning (CRISTAL)
Curriculum Area:All
Grade Level: All
Project Overview:
The overarching goal of CRISTAL is to use data to understand and develop strategies to address achievement gaps in at-risk populations at partner schools and to make informed decisions on how to improve student performance. This project has been developed by seven small, mostly rural/high-need districts, members of the Technology in Education Partnership (TEP) of Franklin/Hampshire County and the Hampshire Educational Collaborative. Designed to address the critical issues of budgetary constraints and increased reporting requirements, the project has two major elements. (1) It will create a regional data warehouse, which is easily accessible to decision-makers and will ease capacity constraints caused by reporting requirements. (2) It will provide professional development based primarily on the work of Victoria Bernhardt in the effective use of data to improve student learning.
|
| Pittsfield Public Schools with North Adams Public Schools
Irene Vassos
413-499-9568 |
Project Title: One 2 One = Dividing the p (Building a Math Toolbox of Teaching Resources for Students in Grades 6, 7, and 8 in a One-to-One Laptop Pilot Program in Two School Districts)
Curriculum Area: Mathematics
Grade Level: 6-8
Project Overview:
The goal of this project is to improve student achievement in math by transforming the delivery of curriculum and instruction. Wireless one-to-one computing in middle school levels the playing field for students at a time in their development when change is overwhelming. Computer technology integrated with curriculum allows for the shift toward problem-based learning and a chance for students to learn in the ways they learn best - with each other using multi-dimensional tools. Ubiquitous and equitable technology supports an educational environment that recreates itself in dynamic ways, ways that traditional resources and methods no longer can. This project utilizes a variety of on-line resources to help teachers create their own authentic math curriculum materials grounded in national, state and district mathematics standards. In making the move towards a dynamic versus a static curriculum, and utilizing experts in the field of math education from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, the project will provide teachers and students with an abundant but cohesive source of math materials and move beyond static textbook offerings. Professional development sessions will be provided for teachers in both school districts.
|
| Springfield Public Schools
Donna Boivin
414-787-7125 |
Project Title: The SPS Online Part I I- Enabling the Homebound Student to Achieve
Curriculum Area: All
Grade Level: 8-9
Project Overview:
This project is designed to afford the homebound student an opportunity to succeed academically in a non-traditional, non-threatening, supportive environment. This project will develop curriculum-aligned, online course modules and will support the facilitation of the online coursework in clear and compelling ways. The module-designed coursework will be accomplished in a scaffolded manner: participants will be supported as they develop the modules and when they deliver the modules through a partnership with ETLO/EDC and the Springfield Technology and Academic departments. Ultimately, the implementation of this project will provide a reliable vehicle that will enable the building of a caring community in support of high student achievement.
|
| Westfield Public Schools
Helena Mochak
413-562-2298 |
Project Title: Collaborative Curriculum Conversations
Curriculum Area: All
Grade Level: 3-5
Project Overview:
When the district developed a mastery level curriculum mirroring the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks, it adopted a policy that requires grade level curriculum to be delivered to all students. Teachers have struggled to find a way to adapt the curriculum to meet the needs of the diverse learners in their classrooms without completely abandoning grade level content. After examining the Massachusetts Educator's Manual for Alternative Assessment, the Director of Curriculum and Instruction and the Director of Special Education adapted the model and designed a framework for differentiated instruction with four entry levels for accessing the district curriculum: basic, moderate, mastery, and advanced. Combining this model with training on curriculum implementation, data interpretation, standards-based lesson planning, universally designed technology, and technology integration, they designed and implemented a program at the middle level that provided almost 100 teachers with the tools necessary to deliver a rigorous curriculum to all students. Funding from this grant, will allow the district to build upon this highly successful model by expanding it to the elementary level. The district believes that professional development that is truly focused on student learning and employs technology as an educational tool will meet the needs of students with diverse learning styles.
|
| Winchendon Public Schools
Debra DelBono
978-297-0031 |
Project Title: Writing for Success
Curriculum Area: English Language Arts
Grade Level: 4-6
Project Overview:
Writing for Success is a comprehensive project whose goal is to improve student achievement in English Language Arts through professional development in technology. Grade 4-6 teachers will examine current MCAS data using TestWiz to assess test results. Using the Massachusetts Frameworks and the Winchendon Public Schools-aligned English Language Arts curriculum, teachers will produce lessons enriched with technology. Professional Development will be focused on teacher technology skill development using wireless laptops installed with Kidspiration, Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint. The research-based program is designed so that teachers work together with school administrators in elementary grade-level teams. The teams will explore, analyze, design, teach, and publish model technology-enhanced lessons and teaching strategies. Products published through this program can be easily accessed through various local and state-supported portals such as VES.
|
last updated: November 9, 2004
|
|
