Evaluation FletcherL

7/30/2019 Evaluation FletcherL

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Evaluation

Demographics and Statistics

For the School Summary I have chosen Ridgemont High, one of five schools in the

Ridgemont County High School District. There are roughly 2200 students in attendance

at Ridgemont. The ethnicity percentages are roughly 70% White, 15% Hispanic or

Latino, 5% Asian, and 5% African American. The remaining 5% is comprised of other

ethnicities (than those listed above) or students with two or more ethnicities (including or

not including those listed above).

There are nearly 100 staff members/teachers on campus. The school recently received

an API score in the 850s. The school was built in the 1990s, and earned a Good on

the School Facilities portion of its School Accountability Report Card.

Results

1. Administrative

1a. Policy

Behavioral - Islands

There are some formalized tools put in place, but adoption by staff has

been slow and largely inconsistent. Trainings have been available, but

follow-up/enforcement has been weak.

Resource/Infrastructure - Intelligent

There is an official technology policy, so by that standard the district

receives a high rating. However, it is important to note that the extent that

the technology policy is known by the staff or that the staff is consciously

affected by the policy is greatly limited.

1b. Planning

Behavioral - IslandsTechnology planning is highly budget driven. There is some formal

planning that takes place, but it is on individual projects and not towards a

unified vision/plan.

Resource/Infrastructure - Islands


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There is not a specific direction with planning overall, but simply moving

towards smaller, individualized projects. No cohesive, comprehensive, and

unified plan.

1c. Budget


Multiple budgets have not been considered, and upgrades have largely

not taken place.


There is a "technology" budget and a "math" budget, but not a budget

within "math" for upgrading existing technology or getting new technology.

1d. Administrative Information

Behavioral - Intelligent

Paper memos are non-existent but instead dealt with via email. Student

attendance is taken completely online. School-wide and subject-wide

documents are stored on servers where all staff have access.


All staff members have access to each of the resource/infrastructure

systems.

2. Curricular

2a. Electronic Information

Behavioral - Emergent

This could easily be Islands level as well. Most teachers do not use

electronic/information technologies in their classrooms. However, there

are individual teachers who do, and their teaching would be drastically

affected if those technologies were no longer available.


All students have "access" through student computers in the library, but

there is nowhere near enough computers to support the entire school

population.

2b. Assessment


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Though there is access to Illuminate, an assessment tool, it is solely for

teacher use (and even then, a majority of the teachers do not use it).


Only one assessment technology is available, and while there is a push by

certain administrators to adopt and use this tool, most staff are reluctant.

2c. Curricular Integration


The curriculum is not dependent on technology whatsoever. Individual

teachers supplement curriculum with technology as they see fit, though

this is not the norm.

Resource/Infrastructure - Emergent

Technology is limited to "technology classes" such as Computer Science,

Yearbook, etc, but is not used for subjects such as English or Math.

2d. Teacher Use


Teachers and staff use technology daily for administration purposes, but

not for their teaching.


The difficulty in assessing this item is in the word "appropriate". All

teachers and staff have access to "appropriate" technology for their

administrative tasks, but have little or no access to technologies to support

student learning.

2e. Student Use


Student use of technology is largely nonexistent, particularly for classes in

which it is not explicitly required (though in reality desperately needed).



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Behavioral - Integrated

Nearly all (if not all) staff members participate in training activities. There is

not much follow-up beyond those training activities, but essentially all staff

does attend the training events (which are offered multiple times). There is

not much with regards to additional training, but instead referring those

desiring more from the technology to go through the technology's own

walkthroughs.


This item is difficult to assess as there is formal training for all staff.

However, it is not "on-going" in nature, but one-time trainings.

3d. Technical/Infrastructure Support


There is an excellent tech team that is only a call away. They always help

staff with whatever their technical issues are, and work to find a solution.


The tech team is full time and across multiple sites within the district. They

are awesome.

4. Connectivity

4a. Local-Area Networking (LAN)


There is a shared drive amongst all staff, useful for sharing files within

departments. However, it is limited in space, which means that it is

primarily used for Word documents and not videos or anything of great

sophistication.

Resource/Infrastructure - Integrated

All computers are attached to wired internet (all school computers are

desktops). The network is not used for voice, and video.

4b. District-Area Networking (WAN)


The extent of district area networking is limited to the sharing of district

common assessments, which are all Word or pdf files.


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Resource/Infrastructure - Integrated

Accessing data district-wide is extremely easy and straightforward. Voice

and video are possible, though they are certainly not used.

4c. Internet Access


Internet access is available on all computers on campus. The use of

internet is not integrated into the curriculum.


There is internet access on all computers.

4d. Communication Systems


Email is used extensively, and is the primary means of communication.


Email is available to all staff, but students do not have "school email

accounts".

5. Innovation

5a. New Technologies


Many teachers are curious about new technologies shared with them by

other teachers, but adoption is largely nonexistent.


This depends on the definition of "accepted". Technologies are not

necessarily rejected immediately, but actual use of and adoption of new

technologies is extremely rare.

5b. Comprehensive Technologies



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Computers and projectors are the primary technologies used by teachers,

but digitizing and scanning has not yet been adopted.


With computers and internet access, much more technology adoption

could occur through free programs, etc. However, these opportunities are

not recognized or put into practice by the staff.

Summary

In conclusion, I rate Ridgemont High and its district as being in the Island stages

with regards to technology maturity. Being in a relatively large district, Ridgemont High

does some things very well. Their infrastructure for Internet and communication

between staff via their network is excellent. They also have wonderful tech support to

assist staff who themselves are not particularly tech savvy.

However, this is largely the end of the road when it comes to Ridgemont High s

technological maturity. Technology is seen as its own entity, and not a tool to be used

within other domains. For example, there are computers available for Computer Science

classes, but not for use in English. The necessity of a computer for writing is a reality

outside of school. Inside of our school we simply do not see it as a necessary

component and I do not know why. Money is obviously one aspect, but it almost

seems that tradition itself is the reason why change does not occur. Since money for

computers has never been part of the English Departments budget, there has been

incredible reluctance to add it in now in English or any other department. This isunfortunate, as computers are a way to improve student learning in other areas, to

increase the reality of the learning context, and demonstrate how computers are tools to

be used by the students computers are a means, not an end.

Though not an explicit part of this inquiry, it has also come to light through

researching Ridgemont Highs technology plan that even when a plan is enacted, it is

the teachers and staff that put it to life. There are areas where teachers and staff could

use better technological tools, but the lacking in those areas does not excuse the failure

to follow through with and effectively use that which they have been given. There are

deeper issues at work unfortunate divides between teachers and administration andboth sides need to move towards one another in cooperation. Teachers can make a

great first step by taking seriously the tools that they have been given and getting the

most out of them that they can.

Documents

Evaluation FletcherL