Superintendent's Report: Technology, Achievement Areas for District Improvement

Student achievement and technology are among the top concerns for education in the school district, according to Superintendent Jorden Schiff’s report on his first 100 days in the district.

Schiff’s report on the first 100 days of leading the district outlined several concentration areas defined by four major topics—governance, operations, human resources and education. Three of the topics—operations, human resources and education— became the committees the board will work under for the next six months.  The report serves as a framework for his district plans, and focuses on several areas, including finances, goals for human resources and more.

While the board already discussed the governance area and agreed to try the new committees, the meeting focused on board input on the other areas.

Part of the student achievement goal includes measurement of student progress throughout the year, and reliance on more than standardized tests—a principal that had several board members voicing agreement.

“I’m glad to see performance measured throughout the year,” Board Member Thomas Kinst said. “It’s not relying on the standardized statewide or national test. It helps prevent teaching to the test.”

“What I see now, we’re using a score a student had mid-way through their fourth grade year to place them in sixth grade,” Board member Greg Gillette said. “To me, that’s unacceptable. .  . I think we can use this to better place students.”

Both Schiff and board members noted the failing federal No Child Left Behind Act data, saying it can fail to recognize progress because it focuses solely on reaching a certain mark.

“There is a certain percentage of children that need to jump over a bar in order for us to make adequate yearly progress,” Schiff said. “So basically, what we are measuring is how many kids jump over this high bar. Now, for some children, jumping over that bar (is) no big deal. We expect it that they would jump over that bar.”

“But for some of our children, that have particular special needs, jumping over that bar can be a significant hurdle for that child,” he added. “Now for a child who’s bar is up here and they’re able to make a huge amount of growth but just come in underneath, for those kids, we should celebrate that growth and not get upset because they have not met that particular standard. And if you’re just looking at percent proficiency.  .  .a child who is proficient and just makes it over that bar.  .  .They may not have grown at all.”

The data allows both teachers and parents to make decisions about their charges’ education in real time as well, rather than after a student already faces problems, Schiff noted.

Adding and incorporating technology into the classroom is another focus as well, as noted when the district purchased 300 interactive projectors for classrooms in each school. At $3,000 each, the projectors allow teachers to pull in activities, examples and demonstrations from all over the globe, as well as allowing students to interact with classroom examples. In addition, notes can be saved for use the next day or sent home to students who are absent.

The projector installation is occurring this summer, with Schiff noting the district is in the second week of the four to five week installation.

In addition, the district would look to piloting an e-textbook and e-learning program rather than issuing physical books to students.

Another facet of the plan would issue some form of computer to each district teacher, as well as issuing computers to students—though the student computers would need to undergo more analysis to establish an appropriate grade level and handling protocol.

“My concern is obviously that we’re definitely going to look into the cost of doing this,” Board member Jennifer Haley said. “I read today about the similar district  .  .  . The cost for eight textbooks to be but into print was approximately $300,000 to purchase for a science program. I would be interested to see what our cost comparison is going to be and if there is going to be savings in the long run. My other concern is what kind of responsibility are the students and parents going to have when it comes to if it breaks, if it’s lost. We’re going to have to talk about that. .  .It’s a lot of responsibility for children.”

Board member Thuy Anh Le echoed Haley’s sentiment, saying that the technology needs correlate to students’ responsibility level. She also suggested allowing teachers to use their own laptops.

For Greg Gillette, the question was whether the increase in technology would offer improvements for all students.

My intuition is that the increased use of technology isn’t going to benefit all students equally,” he said.

Schiff noted that recent studies show promise for the use of newer technology in Special Needs programs, though he did acknowledge that one population might see more advantages than others.

“My though process in looking at technology access for students is that the tools of the 21st century are different than the educational tools of the 20th century,” Schiff said. “They allow for so much information to be very easily accessed that to not have that ability instantaneously, I think is an opportunity lost.”

Other districts working with individual technology initiatives typically start at the high school level, though a few incorporate middle school and grade five students, he added.

Part of the plan includes staff development, so teachers can use the technology effectively.

Another facet of the plan includes incorporating a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math program into the middle school, modeled after the high school’s Robo Raiders robotics team.

That idea had Board Vice President Marc Rosenberg asking whether the district should reconsider its existing high school electives, to allow for similar electives in that school. Currently, the school has no courses specifically geared toward those subjects.

“We have an Applied Technology program,” Rosenberg said. “I don’t know what the schedule for curriculum writing on that is. That seems like an area where we could build the technology and engineering classes of the caliber that would attract some of our kids. We have lots of elective courses that I think need to be reviewed and replaced by some of these.  .  .We also have a business curriculum that I think is very much a candidate for upgrading.”

Schiff outlined plans for staff evaluations, finances and other areas in his plan as well.

Editor's Note: Owing to the involvement and length of the superintendent's reports, this is the first in a set of articles on his observations on the district. Future articles will outline his and the board's views on finances, operations, and staff development.