Addison NW Supervisory Union

Technology Plan July 2007-2009

Part I Executive Summary

Describe your vision for technology.

a. It is our goal that each of our students and staff members will know when and how it makes sense to use technology tools, have adequate and equitable access to those tools, and produce higher quality and more complex products because of the planned and purposeful connections we work to forge, among

technology productivity,
research and analytical tools,
increasingly individualized learning,
the differentiated teaching that technology supports,
a wide range of online resources otherwise unavailable, and
Management and maintenance capacity for our information and technology systems.

b. Redefining “Life-long Learners”

We believe that using technology tools to boost mental processes involved with activities such as writing, analyzing, and problem solving, not only changes the nature of the activity and the product, but it changes the nature of the learning itself. Knowing when and how to use tech tools extends each learner’s brain capacity in individual and idiosyncratic ways, to do complex work. In simpler terms, effective use of technology tools coupled with rich, layered assignments, can help make students smarter. We are not born with fixed intelligence. This is a new fact for most educators, taught in teacher training that we are born with all of the brain cells. This view of intelligence as growing, adaptive and flexible, instead of fixed, changes the way we look at the importance of tech tools in forming life long learners. An example of this is the new TRS80’s that easily do the pages of calculations necessary to use the quadratic equation. The debate rages in the United States math classrooms over whether to continue to hand-do the pages of calculations, or whether to adopt the European technology in which the emphasis has shifted to the complex uses of the equation, rather than spending weeks on the teaching and learning of the factoring and calculation needed. So if each subject area course effectively integrates cutting edge tools from that particular discipline, our theory is that our students will emerge with timely tools, but more importantly, they will be smarter and have more brain capacity than when they entered that course.

Technology tools can, in our vision, help students compensate for natural areas of weakness. Students unable to experience visual creativity using crayons, paints and their eyes, can experience the learning and power of art forms through visual tech tools. Students weak in arithmetic but who can understand concepts can solve problems as complex as the natural calculation whiz. Students will be able to go, in our vision, as far and as fast as they can go, unimpeded by natural brain proclivities, a mismatch of teacher style with brain learning needs, or conventional teaching methods that put overemphasize listening and receiving information than on understanding and using that information.

2. Provide info about progress made in the past two years

Through the inclusion of the Technology GE’s into the ANWSU Learner Profile (a database containing all K-6 students’ progress on Grade Expectations in reading, writing and math) our teachers are better able to gain an understanding of what we expect of student’s to learn. We made a conscious decision not to create a separate technology profile but to incorporate the GE’s into various strands of our existing math and literacy profiles.
Although the vendor we used last year to provide on-line training to our staff did not meet our expectations, the delivery method provided a valuable platform to assess the possibility of self-directed technology training. Through the use of Moodle and other on-line methods we plan to further develop this resource for our teachers in the next two years.
By developing standards based report cards (K-6) we have successfully institutionalized the Learner Profiles. Teachers are now directly involved in selecting the objectives they are assessing and recording the success of their students’ progress toward those goals.
Starting in 07-08 for the first time Addison NW will have a technology educator in all of its schools. These positions show a strong commitment by the community in the support of technology positions in all schools. These teachers will be responsible for direct instruction of students, professional development and inclusion of the GE’s within the curriculum, as well as infrastructure support.
The infrastructure of our system has never been stronger. All of our HS computers have been replaced in the past five years and we continue to improve the quality of our K-6 schools. The budget of our smallest school has doubled in the last two years allowing for major changes that will move them forward. This will help to level the field of students that are attending VUHS.
We have forged a new partnership with our local vocational center, located 10 miles away. The Patricia Hannaford Career Center will be sending a Computer Assisted Drawing program and teacher to our school, in order to boost eventual enrollment in the pre-architecture and pre-engineering program at the tech center. This course adds significantly to the tech based program availability for our students.
With help from local and federal dollars, we have successfully introduced keyboarding to all students in grade 3. In 07-08, all students in grades 4 and 5 will also have keyboarding instruction. We purchased keyboards with embedded software for typing. The product we chose is the Writer. We have the goal that each student will enter grade 7 with a typing speed of 30 wpm. The students and the teachers have been very receptive to the new program. Prior to the introduction of the Writers, keyboarding was a high school course. This will be phased out as the current grade 5 students reach high school. Our vision is that once they are speed typers, students’ writing will be more complex, as their writing hands can keep up with their thinking brains.

3.Describe challenges remaining, leadership issues/plans

Full adoption and the assessment of tech objectives continue to be our biggest challenge. Until we have the needed support to require all of our staff members to show competency for the K-8 teach GE’s, we will struggle to accomplish this important goal. By requiring a technology component to teachers’ growth plans, we hope to more fully engage the staff in their development.
Although we made great success with our K-6 Profiles, the use of the Learner Profiles in Vergennes Middle High School continues to be problematic. We plan to introduce our middle/high school administrators to the system, so that they understand and believe in the benefits of the profile in classroom instruction and reporting. The goal is to adopt the profiles in grades 7-8 as a first step.
Coordinating the efforts of the technology integration teachers in our four schools will be a key to assuring that our students are ready for 7th grade when they arrive. We have had great success in adopting district-wide curriculum offerings in the past and we look forward to integrating our technology offerings.

Goals for new plan

Opening the library at VUHS is a top concern to provide equity of access to all of our stakeholders. By allowing public access to the media center students will have the opportunity of after school time for work and the community can take advantage of proposed classes.
Adopting the spreadsheet and presentation GE's to support the action plan in grades k-12. By basing the inclusion of Spreadsheets and presentation software we are able to focus on two important areas of our action plan and two important technology areas.
New tech integration specialists will support all areas of the curriculum. By providing direct instruction and working with teachers in developing integration in our existing curriculum, the integration specialists will be able to help our teachers and students directly.
Staff members will be able to demonstrate GE proficiency by including a component in their professional growth plans. It will be the teacher’s responsibility to achieve this goal with support from the IT staff and the school administration.
To better prepare our students and teachers for doing research on the web, teachers requiring on-line searches will utilize WebQuests with students. This will help our teachers better prepare for their classes and will greatly enhance the quality of web searches conducted by our students.
Several of our teachers are interested in enhancing their courses by having a web presence for their classes using programs such as Moodle or Edline. This will require a great deal of research to both provide the needed information and allow for the entire staff to participate. In order to accomplish this goal, administrators will research on-line delivery tools.

II. Review of Previous Plan

Goals	Explanation
Successful Goal/Action 1:	Goal 1: Encourage and support the use of technology tools to improve achievement in the 3 areas of our Action Plan: summarizing, non-fiction, and math problem solving. We embedded the Technology GE’s into our ANWSU Profile, which is a comprehensive database of all of the GE’s in Literacy and Math. This took a long time to think through. We’re sure it will change over the next few years, but at least there is now a common expectation that technology GE’s are an embedded part of the curriculum. In late spring, 2007, we will have the first look at the level of “permeation,” when the K – 6 teachers report out on each student’s accomplishment of their grade level learning targets Starting in 06-07, we successfully integrated our learner profile and our K-6 report card. Parents now receive reports 3 times per year that speak specifically to the Grade Expectations in literacy and math. We hope to expand this in 07-08. Some teachers at the middle and high school have a regular communication with parents by e-mail regarding students’ progress. A teacher at the high school led a workshop on teaching teachers to report progress directly from their electronic grade book.
Successful Goal/Action 2:	Goal 2: We will develop and pilot on-line, self-paced, technology training modules, to ensure that teachers and administrators have access to professional development that will lead them to master the K-8 technology grade expectations. On the successful side of this equation, we received a one year grant from InfoSource, a company out of Florida, to pilot test ready made on line tech lessons. Twenty of us from across the supervisory union, including administrators, teachers and staff members, took advantage of the opportunity. We are still thinking about how to best incorporate this type of learning structure into our “required” tech skills for teachers, because we learned that: In a stand alone, individual course, where an individual teacher or administrator must complete modules, best intentions are overshadowed by the reality of time pressures. Without ANY course structure or support, it was difficult to stay motivated at a steady pace. We’re thinking that the product we tested has some possibilities. We are now envisioning a hybrid course or set of courses, where individuals can learn at their own level and pace, but meet regularly with an instructor for questions, communication and support. There is also a school of thought that some teachers and administrators could benefit from a strictly on line learning experience, but one supported with a discussion board, using online courseware like Moodle.
Successful Goal/Action 3:	Goal 3: We will improve reading fluency and comprehension in grades 7 and 8 through the use of Reading Plus, the Learner Profile Grade Expectations, and the Degrees of Reading Power diagnostic tests twice a year. Through this work, teachers will improve their use of data to make individual decisions about students’ learning. We saw great results Year 1. Language Arts teachers (2 out of 3) liked the program, and saw growth in students’ reading capacity. Teachers have agreed to accept 5 classroom computers into their rooms for 07-08, and to incorporate Reading Plus time into their programs on a differentiated time use basis. Teachers did see the data piece of Reading Plus as very helpful, and combined with their NECAP data, are now seeing students’ individual data as important to their program design. Current thinking is that each student will get an individual reading inventory starting next year.
	Goal # 4: The Administrative Council will consider the need to incorporate board policies, contract changes, evaluation procedures of teachers and administrators, and/or acceptable use policies for students and staff, and identify appropriate decisions for students’ learning. All ANWSU boards have approved an acceptable use policy for students and staff. All but one school have a filtering system. The high school and one elementary school have a new system that will serve as a model for the other schools. We have a new evaluation procedure through the contract, that will allow teachers to propose individual projects. Our next step is to coordinate the Action Plan goals with the individual project work that teachers will be doing under the new contract.
	Goal 5: We will research and write a long term plan for acquiring and maintaining technology on a sustained basis in all areas of the curriculum and school operations in all of our facilities that enable our schools to meet the Quality Standards identified as “Access to Current Technology” in section 2120.8.4. (January, 1999) (now 2120.8.13 in the February, 06 version) Some positive forward movement has happened in the hardware and software areas. Local budgets have expanded in two of our schools, to include part and full time personnel dedicated to technology maintenance and tech skills and integration. One of our schools has increased its budget two-fold in the area of hardware and software purchase. All schools have maintained their technology acquisition budgets.
Goals Not Met, Only Partially Met and Reasons Why
Goal 1	None
Goal 2	We need a timeline, and a requirement for all of us to complete our technology proficiency training. We need a system for allowing already proficient teachers and administrators to test out/show their competency We need to decide if what we want is the outcome that teachers know how to use the skills themselves, as workplace tools, or whether what we really want is the outcome that they have successfully moved into the phase of teaching that uses technology as a tool for students’ learning. A fair amount of individualization, self pacing, and differentiated curriculum/instruction/assessment is implied by the “effective” use of computers in classrooms. The questions become: are teachers familiar with or do they want to push themselves in this direction; and, do we have sufficient classroom based technology to accomplish this.
Goal 3	We have found that the most effective use of Reading Plus (reading fluency software) is in the classroom setting. The middle school language arts teachers did not want to repeat their year 1 experience of taking whole classes of students to the lab to work on Reading Plus for 40 lessons. The second year, we tried it as an “exploratory,” monitored by a paraeducator. Although she worked hard to make it successful, what happened was that there was a classroom full of very needy students (22 out of 24 with EST or IEP plans). But the big failure was that the results of the Reading Plus work, even among diligent students, were not connected back to the Language Arts’ teachers’ encouragement, change of reading level books, and programs.
Goal 4	“We” on the program side of things did not get the hoped for “requirement” in professional development/contractual/job employment that teachers meet the tech GE’s.
Goal 5	We did not achieve this goal. We did not get it onto the front burner when all of the other tech initiatives were being worked on. There is a fairly careful planning done building by building, conducted by the building technologists, principals, during the budget planning sessions. However, we still need a long range plan that ensures equity and proficiency for ANWSU students. Now that we are adding personnel, so that there is at least a half time person in every school, we are more optimistic that the needed planning can get done. We did not create a district wide purchasing policy, so that there are maximum benefits to individual schools. This strategy is still viable. We did not make any procedural changes that led to each school’s purchase order process providing a copy of technology related requests to the District’s Tech Coordinator before the purchase is made, for the purpose of seeking his input into the purchasing process. He has been able to do this because of good communications flow with various technologists in the individual school

III.



A. Curriculum Integration
Goal	Action Steps	Priority	Indicators for Actions		Measure		Timeline

For the first time ANWSU has a technology integration teacher in each of its four school districts. Our goal is to have our SU Curriculum Coordinators and Technology Director support the building principals, faculties and technology integration specialists in setting and meeting growth goals in integrating technology into classroom programs, specialists (art, music and physical education) and support/school wide programs (e.g. Special education, EST work, library programs and counseling programs.) Addison Central, Ferrisburgh Central, Vergennes Union Elementary, Vergennes Union Middle/High School Goals in this area address Student Technology Literacy, Effective Teaching Practices, Innovative Delivery Strategies and Professional Development. Through the careful integration of rubrics and inclusion of the Technology Grade Expectations, the tech plan goals will support the ANWSU K -12 Action Plan by: ( Goals 1,2, and 3)

1. integrating technology into the Action Plan area of informational writing (all teachers) ANWSU Tech Expectation for Teachers # 1: All ANWSU teachers will demonstrate the K – 8 Technology Grade Expectations by submitting samples of their own and their students' work, by the close of the 2009 – 2010 school year. Principals will keep track of compliance.	Show tech plan goals to teachers in each building in the fall. Create presentation tools workshops on a voluntary basis. Technologists available to help teachers embed presentation tools into existing or new units.	1	Students at grades 3 – 10 will use presentation tools and visual organizers in making reports including but not limited to KidPix, Kidspiration and Inspiration, and PowerPoint., as outlined in the Technology Grade Cluster Expectations: IT 3-4:3 IT5-6:3 IT7-8:3 IT9-12:3	Principals will collect work samples that show evidence of achievement of this goal at each grade level by February 1 of each year of the plan. The Tech Committee will benchmark the students' work and feed back information		Professional Development at the school building level made available to teachers: September – December in both years of the plan. Students work completed between September and February. Work samples collected in February and benchmarked for local assessment system February – May. Through the benchmarked work in year 1, we will create rubrics for students and teachers to use.

2. Integrating technology into the Action Plan area of math, science, social studies and math problem solving.	Show tech plan goals to teachers in each building in the fall. Create spreadsheet workshops on a voluntary basis. Technologists available to help teachers embed spreadsheet use into existing or new units.	1	Students at grades 3 – 10 will use spreadsheets based on the tech grade expectations for their cluster: IT3-4:3 IT5-6:3 IT7-8:3 IT9-12:3	Principals will collect work samples that show evidence of achievement of this goal at each grade level by February 1 of each year of the plan. The Tech Committee will benchmark the students' work and feed back information		Professional Development at the school building level made available to teachers: September – December in both years of the plan. Students work completed between September and February. Work samples collected in February and benchmarked for local assessment system February – May.

3. requiring teachers to learn to use WebQuests to organize website based research. (Links directly to report and other informational writing). ANWSU Tech Expectation for Teachers # 2: Teachers who ask students to do online research will jury sites and organize them into WebQuests formats.	Show teachers in each building tech plan goals in the fall. Create WebQuest workshops on a voluntary basis. Technologists available to help teachers design research projects using WebQuests.	1	Students who are doing research in grades 3 – 10 will use teacher prepared WebQuest for a significant portion of their research, in order to meet the IT Grade Cluster Expectations in: IT3-4:5 IT5-6:5 IT7-8:5 IT9-12:5	Teachers will send their WebQuests to the Director of Technology who will post them on the ANWSU website as a resource for other teachers and the community to use. Principals will consider this goal achieved when at least 50% of teachers have submitted WebQuests each year of the plan, with the result that over 2 years, all teachers who require students to do online research will have created at least 1 WebQuest for the first time, and will incorporate the use of WebQuests as standard practice from then on. The Director of Technology will keep principals updated with teachers' names and WebQuests.		Professional Development at the school building level made available to teachers: September – December in both years of the plan. Students work completed between September and February. WebQuests placed onto SU website throughout the year as soon as they are received.
4. Administrators will investigate the use of innovative delivery strategies by learning about online delivery systems including products such as Moodle and Edline. (Addresses Innovative Delivery Strategies)	Director of Technology will arrange online demos at administrators' meetings.	1	There will be at least two separate sessions during the life of this plan.	Discussion and recommendation for how to adopt online use for increased communication with parents and community members, for greater equity/access of course materials for students, and for alternative delivery systems.		These will take place before the budget making deadlines of year 2 of this plan. By October 31st, 2008.
5. Students in grades 3 – 6 will develop typing skills that enable them to leave grade 6 typing at least 30 words per minute. (Addresses Innovative Delivery Strategies)	Students in grades 3 – 6 will be assigned a keyboard and typing program (The Writer from InfoSource.) Teachers will provide time and support for students to learn keyboarding, and to apply their skills in writing projects.	1	August, 2007 we will host our third SU-wide professional development discussion about best ways to help students learn to type. This year we will establish criteria for minutes and days per week for the program.	Teachers submit their students' wpm reports three times per year.		WPM reports are due in November, March and late May.

B. Overarching Elements
Goal	Action Steps	Priority	Indicators for Actions		Measure		Timeline
Re-design ANWSU web site	Create new site map. Rebuild site.	2	Map will have input from Central Office, principals, and tech staff. Site will include increased professional development and instructional resources, including links to NECAP results and resources. Site will include summary data from NECAP scores and Leaner Profile results with public access.		We will gather feedback from end users, including teachers, parents, and public.		June, 2008 June, 2009 into 2009-2010
Continue work on expanding Learner Profiles	Upgrade to FileMaker 8. Expand teacher use to social studies, science and special areas. Schedule time with ms and hs administrators to learn profile capacity. Develop ms and hs use plan for Learner Profile. Expand current K-6 uses of profile data into specific interventions at the classroom level.	1	Conversion to FileMaker 8 completed. At least 3 new areas added in 07-08. Meeting notes; use plan for Learner Profile will be included in school goals in 08-09 Develop better understanding of how profile information can be used to individualize instruction and learning experiences for students.		FileMaker 6 will be a thing of the past. Areas will be available on our public website Meeting notes and commitment to plan for implementing profile in ms and hs that incorporates new performance graduation requirements. Plan will be shared with all faculties, EST groups, IEP groups and support staff.		June, 08
Expand use of the data warehouse.	Identify and add our local data to the Data Warehouse. Continue our work with the VDC and Addison Users Group in our collegial training of how to use the VDC.	1	We will have a list of the data we want to put into the warehouse. We will set aside time to format and import the data. We anticipate 3 meetings next year, in which we share progress, and look at building common templates together.		Data will be available in the warehouse. We will conduct at least 3 studies using our local and state data.		June, 08
At least one Tech goal included in each person's Professional Growth Plan (Eval Supervision system)	Co-design ANWSU Expectations for teachers with teachers, principals. Have boards adopt Expectations document.	1	Draft # 1 is included in this plan. Further drafts will be generated. Board minutes will reflect adoption.		Final Edition will be published in faculty handbooks Policy or procedure will appear in board manual or records.		August, 08 December, 07
Broaden access of community to high school library and lab.	Propose a budget item in October, 07.	1	Prepare budget item for the ANWSU budget that allows for high school library and lab to be staffed two evenings per week from 4 – 8 PM		Record of budgeted item Budget vote Records of patronage.		June 08 June 09
Research expansion of wide area network	Prepare an RFP for ISP's	1	RFP's will be received and considered in light of budget allowances		RFP process will be public		June, 09
Upgrade Citrix Servers (used with Learner Profiles)	Prepare an RFP for vendors	1	RFP's will be received and considered in light of budget allowances		RFP process will be public		June, 08


C. Evaluation
Monitoring the Tech Plan: Establish a district-wide Technology Committee that will set up an ongoing evaluation process that enables principals to monitor progress towards the specific goals within each school, and allows the district administrators to monitor progress towards goals, and that makes mid-course corrections and improvements in response to the data and to new developments and opportunities as they arise.
Goal	Action Steps	Priority	Indicators for Actions		Measure		Timeline
	Committee will meet monthly	1	1. Superintendent will charge committee with monitoring tech plan activities and outcomes 2. Committee will communicate with Superintendent and principals through Director of Technology and Director of Curriculum.		Committee will establish benchmark points for tech plan goals, and present these to the principals.		October 2007 Regularly
2. The Tech Committee will establish an ongoing program development process, based on reviewing students' work. In 07-09 the committee will look specifically at students' work samples across grades 3 – 12 in spreadsheets and presentation tools.
	Establish 2 collection times with principals' help. Review (anonymous) school by school samples and compare to grade expectations. Provide information to faculties about successes and needs for improvements.	1	Collections will occur twice a year, in December and April.		By the end of the two year grant period, student work samples for spreadsheets and presentation tools will be benchmarked. Teachers will understand the quality and complexity of the work students are expected to produce in order to meet the standard. We will have established a local assessment for spreadsheets and presentation tools. We will have identified where in the profile each of these is assessed.

ANWSU Tech Expectation for Teachers

All ANWSU teachers will demonstrate the K – 8 Technology Grade Expectations by submitting samples of their own and their students' work, by the close of the 2009 – 2010 school year. Principals will keep track of compliance as part of teachers' PGP and supervision process.
Teachers who ask students to do online research will jury sites and organize them into WebQuest formats.

All ANWSU professionals are responsible for implementing annual tech plan goals within their classroom or work space once tech plans are approved at the board level.
All ANWSU professionals are responsible for self assessing skills in technology based on the K – 8 Grade Expectations, and the Tech Plan goals, and for learning needed skills through self designed and conventional means (e.g. Self-teaching, collaboration with colleagues, individualized work with technology staff, online courses, traditional grad courses or seminars*)

ANWSU has officially adopted “Groupwise” as our e-mail communications system for both internal communications and for communication between parents and teachers. Electronic communications are a routine part of every person's job. All ANWSU professionals are expected to check e-mail at least once a day, and to respond to the sender in a timely manner.

*Regular coursework financial arrangements apply; see the Superintendent if special arrangements are needed.)

Signature/Certification Page

General Information: The signature (below) certifies that this school, district, or supervisory union meets all requirements for Informational Technology planning as defined by the State of Vermont under the federal “No Child Left Behind” legislation.

Name of supervisory union or school(s) covered by this Technology Plan: _Addison Northwest Supervisory Union

Technology Contact Person: _Bob Owens_____________________ Phone: _802 877-3332_

Title: _Technology Coordinator__ E-mail address: _bowens@anwsu.org_________

□ Check here if you do NOT wish to be added to the Department of Education’s “Ed Tech” listserv. This listserv is one of the primary means of communication between the DOE and schools.

Contributors to this Educational Technology Plan and their affiliations. We recommend involvement by a breadth of stakeholders — including school administrator, community member, teacher, student, paraprofessional, and other interested parties.

Bob Owens	Technology Coordinator
Carol Spencer	Director of Curriculum
Tom O’Brien	Superintendent
Tom Heller	Vergennes HS Math/Tech Teacher
Linda Thurber	Ferrisburgh Tech Teacher
Alice Maurer	Vergennes Elementary Tech Teacher
Jason Wright	Addison Tech Teacher
Wendy Cusson	Vergennes HS Computer Technology Resource Manager
Betty Lewis	Co-Director of Curriculum
Cecile Gebo	Vergennes HS Parent/Guardian
Alyson Cota	ANWSU Prevention Coordinator/Parent
Donna Corcoran	Business Manager
Wayne Howe	Addison Principal
Sandy Bassett	Vergennes Princupal
Suzie Hodsden	Addison Parent

Certifications: Select one

This Educational Technology Plan was approved by our School Board on: _________________

This Educational Technology Plan will be approved by our School Board on: ___Sept. 07_____

Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) certification: One box (below) must be checked for the school to qualify for funds under this program.

X The school certified CIPA compliance in it’s last E-Rate application

The school did not certify compliance with CIPA in it’s last E-rate application, but does certify, as part of this technology plan, that it meets CIPA requirements
The CIPA requirements do not apply because no funds made available under this program are being used to purchase computers to access the Internet, or to pay for direct costs associated with accessing the Internet.

Signature: __________________________________________ Date: __________________

(Superintendent/CEO)

Mail this page only to: Bill Romond, Vermont Department of Education, 120 State Street, Montpelier, VT 05620-2501