SchoolsWatch's report of the April 7, 2011 Curriculum Subcommittee meeting
PRESENT:
School Committee: Jim Young, Downey Meyer, Mike Flynn, Stephanie Pick (arrived 45 min. after start)
Staff: Interim Superintendent Bill Erickson (arrived 30 min. after start), Technology Director Bill Dornbush, Director of Academic Effectiveness Mark Prince (arrived 45 min. after start), Clerk Jennifer Towler
AGENDA
· Status of Technology Program (Bill Dornbush)
· FY12 District Calendar (Bill Erickson)
· Report: System-wide Accountability (Mark Prince)
Status of Technology Program
The district has 900 computers, 30 server boxes, every school has a firewall and a router. The tech department is also responsible for the phone system and networked copiers which were updated this year and are state-of-the-art. There are 450 staff email accounts, 1500 network accounts, and 12-15 systems that are run for school business. All of this is overseen by BD and 2 tech people. Therefore, support is not as timely as it should be.
MF: At my school, a stipend is paid to 2 teachers who trouble-shoot in the building.
BD: We have someone full-time at the high school, a full-time ESP position at JFK, and a full-time person shared by the elementary schools. The amount of stuff we’ve acquired has outstripped our staff. Teachers push because they want more, but we haven’t been able to achieve stability with what we have. Two years ago the city put in a fiber optic network. The Comcast cable connections are more than adequate—bandwidth is not an issue. The challenges we face are how to incorporate new technologies, provide support, meet our legal responsibilities, and set aside money for a wireless infrastructure. We have some spot wireless—rolling laptop carts. We can’t expand using stand-alone devices—it has to be done on a premises basis. Social networking poses legal, technical support, and pedagogical issues. We have to filter the internet. We’ve used open source (free) software to do that, but it’s one-size-fits-all. We need granularity, different levels for teachers, students, etc. We’re getting that soon.
MF: What is the timeline for teachers getting direct access?
BD: We had to totally replace the filter at NHS. Now, we need 90 minutes to give a teacher access to a blocked web site.
DM: How is information being fed from classrooms to you, re: tech needs?
BD: There are 3 sources: the tech integration people, principals, and I read trade magazines. In addition to more computers, principals say they want Smartboards, projectors attached to ceilings, and rolling carts. We’ve now gone to electronic report cards. Last year, the big push was to get more tools for special education students, both hardware and tools (Ginger, Kurzweil). There are compelling reasons why the general education population should have access to these tools, but it’s very expensive. Ubiquitous computing is the future; we must teach kids not how to get the information but how to use the information.
DM: What I want to get at is the lateral thread of information—teachers talking to each other about technology. Does that happen?
BD: Computers are locked down, which means that teachers can’t add software because it creates too many problems. PTOs have been great at getting Smartboards into the elementary schools.
MP: I’m thinking about how to use teacher roundtables—savvy teachers could show others how to use technology.
BD: 12 people from NPS signed up to go to the TEP (Technology Education Partnership) conference today. From 2009 to today, I’ve cut 17% of my budget. Capital expenditures meant hardware purchases, and we have saved on maintenance. In terms of our upcoming needs, it’ll cost $20,000 to upgrade the student information system. Our fleet of servers is 6, 7, 8 years old. We’re doing a lot of virtualization—one box runs lots of programs.
MF: Have you considered Google Education at all?
BD: I can’t answer that—I have mixed feelings about it.
MF: I’m not talking about Google docs, but Google Ed.
BD: Cloud computing raises concerns about security breaches. However, whenever possible, I’m in favor of outsourcing. Isabelina told me that the School Committee wants more of a public face on technology. Jennifer has been updating our web site. Staff have been able to access software to build a class or grade web page.
MF: What is it that we can do in the classroom to promote 21st century skills, and get the technical support for it?
JY: We can draw on the parents of kids who are expert in technology.
BD: We have 3 or 4 Smartboards at Leeds, and a parent volunteered to come in after school to work with teachers. That was a great model.
FY12 District Calendar
BE: The first day of school is September 1st. We took one half-day off in the elementary schools—they felt they didn’t need it. All professional development takes place in the first half of the year (September 27, November 8, January 20). There are two late starts at the high school due to accreditation ( February 8, March 14).
System-wide Accountability
MP: I’ve been visiting all of the schools, explaining how accountability works and how it impacts them. [Accountability data is determined by MCAS performance. Google “2010 accountability data Northampton MA + the name of your child’s school to see the results.] Our targets are 95% proficient or advanced in ELA, 92% proficient or advanced in math. The state determines if a district made AYP (adequate yearly progress) based on this formula: A + (B or C) + D
A: participation (95% or more students take the MCAS)
B: performance (meet or exceed state target)
C: improvement (meet or exceed own improvement target)
D: attendance (meet attendance or graduation rate target)
Northampton is a level 3 district. Any district with a level 3 school automatically becomes level 3. [Level 1 is the best, and 47% of schools in MA are in this category. 34% of schools are level 2, 15% are level 3, 4% are level 4, and 0% are level 5. Charter schools are not included in this data.]
MP: We have to make peace with the beast. We have to pass the test. We have to look at how we are spending our day. We have 900 hours. Are we using them wisely? The data shows us that we have areas of concern in math—we’re addressing that. This summer will be a workshop looking at computation. There are gaps from school to school. Are our assessments rigorous enough, and do they give us enough information? We are focusing on four conditions for school effectiveness this year: aligned curriculum, effective instruction, student assessment, and professional development and structures for collaboration.
Next meeting: Thursday, May 5 at 5:15 in the JFK conference room.
Julie Spencer-Robinson, SchoolsW
PRESENT:
School Committee: Jim Young, Downey Meyer, Mike Flynn, Stephanie Pick (arrived 45 min. after start)
Staff: Interim Superintendent Bill Erickson (arrived 30 min. after start), Technology Director Bill Dornbush, Director of Academic Effectiveness Mark Prince (arrived 45 min. after start), Clerk Jennifer Towler
AGENDA
· Status of Technology Program (Bill Dornbush)
· FY12 District Calendar (Bill Erickson)
· Report: System-wide Accountability (Mark Prince)
Status of Technology Program
The district has 900 computers, 30 server boxes, every school has a firewall and a router. The tech department is also responsible for the phone system and networked copiers which were updated this year and are state-of-the-art. There are 450 staff email accounts, 1500 network accounts, and 12-15 systems that are run for school business. All of this is overseen by BD and 2 tech people. Therefore, support is not as timely as it should be.
MF: At my school, a stipend is paid to 2 teachers who trouble-shoot in the building.
BD: We have someone full-time at the high school, a full-time ESP position at JFK, and a full-time person shared by the elementary schools. The amount of stuff we’ve acquired has outstripped our staff. Teachers push because they want more, but we haven’t been able to achieve stability with what we have. Two years ago the city put in a fiber optic network. The Comcast cable connections are more than adequate—bandwidth is not an issue. The challenges we face are how to incorporate new technologies, provide support, meet our legal responsibilities, and set aside money for a wireless infrastructure. We have some spot wireless—rolling laptop carts. We can’t expand using stand-alone devices—it has to be done on a premises basis. Social networking poses legal, technical support, and pedagogical issues. We have to filter the internet. We’ve used open source (free) software to do that, but it’s one-size-fits-all. We need granularity, different levels for teachers, students, etc. We’re getting that soon.
MF: What is the timeline for teachers getting direct access?
BD: We had to totally replace the filter at NHS. Now, we need 90 minutes to give a teacher access to a blocked web site.
DM: How is information being fed from classrooms to you, re: tech needs?
BD: There are 3 sources: the tech integration people, principals, and I read trade magazines. In addition to more computers, principals say they want Smartboards, projectors attached to ceilings, and rolling carts. We’ve now gone to electronic report cards. Last year, the big push was to get more tools for special education students, both hardware and tools (Ginger, Kurzweil). There are compelling reasons why the general education population should have access to these tools, but it’s very expensive. Ubiquitous computing is the future; we must teach kids not how to get the information but how to use the information.
DM: What I want to get at is the lateral thread of information—teachers talking to each other about technology. Does that happen?
BD: Computers are locked down, which means that teachers can’t add software because it creates too many problems. PTOs have been great at getting Smartboards into the elementary schools.
MP: I’m thinking about how to use teacher roundtables—savvy teachers could show others how to use technology.
BD: 12 people from NPS signed up to go to the TEP (Technology Education Partnership) conference today. From 2009 to today, I’ve cut 17% of my budget. Capital expenditures meant hardware purchases, and we have saved on maintenance. In terms of our upcoming needs, it’ll cost $20,000 to upgrade the student information system. Our fleet of servers is 6, 7, 8 years old. We’re doing a lot of virtualization—one box runs lots of programs.
MF: Have you considered Google Education at all?
BD: I can’t answer that—I have mixed feelings about it.
MF: I’m not talking about Google docs, but Google Ed.
BD: Cloud computing raises concerns about security breaches. However, whenever possible, I’m in favor of outsourcing. Isabelina told me that the School Committee wants more of a public face on technology. Jennifer has been updating our web site. Staff have been able to access software to build a class or grade web page.
MF: What is it that we can do in the classroom to promote 21st century skills, and get the technical support for it?
JY: We can draw on the parents of kids who are expert in technology.
BD: We have 3 or 4 Smartboards at Leeds, and a parent volunteered to come in after school to work with teachers. That was a great model.
FY12 District Calendar
BE: The first day of school is September 1st. We took one half-day off in the elementary schools—they felt they didn’t need it. All professional development takes place in the first half of the year (September 27, November 8, January 20). There are two late starts at the high school due to accreditation ( February 8, March 14).
System-wide Accountability
MP: I’ve been visiting all of the schools, explaining how accountability works and how it impacts them. [Accountability data is determined by MCAS performance. Google “2010 accountability data Northampton MA + the name of your child’s school to see the results.] Our targets are 95% proficient or advanced in ELA, 92% proficient or advanced in math. The state determines if a district made AYP (adequate yearly progress) based on this formula: A + (B or C) + D
A: participation (95% or more students take the MCAS)
B: performance (meet or exceed state target)
C: improvement (meet or exceed own improvement target)
D: attendance (meet attendance or graduation rate target)
Northampton is a level 3 district. Any district with a level 3 school automatically becomes level 3. [Level 1 is the best, and 47% of schools in MA are in this category. 34% of schools are level 2, 15% are level 3, 4% are level 4, and 0% are level 5. Charter schools are not included in this data.]
MP: We have to make peace with the beast. We have to pass the test. We have to look at how we are spending our day. We have 900 hours. Are we using them wisely? The data shows us that we have areas of concern in math—we’re addressing that. This summer will be a workshop looking at computation. There are gaps from school to school. Are our assessments rigorous enough, and do they give us enough information? We are focusing on four conditions for school effectiveness this year: aligned curriculum, effective instruction, student assessment, and professional development and structures for collaboration.
Next meeting: Thursday, May 5 at 5:15 in the JFK conference room.
Julie Spencer-Robinson, SchoolsW
