Effective Projects Case Study

Digital Pilot for Jewett Elementary School at Manchester School District

www.mansd.org/jewett/index.htm

This is a story about a project that started 2/1/2007.

For more information, please contact: Ginny Mahan at gmahan@mansd.org.

Teachers at Jewett Street School in Manchester, in grades 3-5, worked together to develop a plan for implementing digital portfolios in alignment with the state ICT standards. They created: a goal; decided on audience, purpose, and collection, selection, reflection, and assessment strategies; method of entering and saving student work; and technology requirements.

Funding: This project was supported by $67,000 from NCLB Title II-D (Educational Technology) and $5,000 in local funds. The project illustrates how federal funding supports “Technology literacy for all students - Implementing systemic changes through robust curriculum integration with technology (includes student work with digital tools, distance learning courses, etc.).” The project addressed the following grades and content areas: 

 Gr3-5                All content taught in 3-5

The Setting: Jewett Street School is in an urban setting. Approximately 400 students are enrolled in grades K-5. The strongest driving force for teachers’ and staff members’ involvement with this project was the opportunity to attain the technology needed for digital portfolios and to meet the ICT standards.

The plot: The Jewett’s staff biggest challenge was guidance. They weren’t sure what they could or should purchase. On the advice of the GMPDC director, they hired an Apple consultant. He advised the team to purchase a server, but he was not available to help set up the server. Another consultant from Apple came to explain the server to them, but he didn’t help set it up. He told them that the district’s IT team needed to be involved. The IT director felt that it was the team’s project “to figure out.” The team also thought that the Apple consultant would work with individual teachers in their classrooms, guiding them and their children, and sharing information about digital portfolios (what types of artifacts should be saved, where to store them, etc.). However, the consultant wasn’t an educational consultant. The consultant did help set up airports around the building. At one point, the team decided each classroom should be equipped with a ceiling mounted projector. They spent much time discussing the advantages and disadvantages. After coming to agreement to mount them, they learned that district safety standards prevented them from doing so. Situations like that set them back. They had little input from the district’s IT department. Our district is large and the digital portfolio team felt they needed answers from them about the server, about the amount of space each child required, how folders should be set up, etc. Thanks to their making a case for the IT department’s involvement, the IT department has taken a leading role to overcome obstacles, not only for them, but also for the entire district. Thanks to this project we now have district-wide procedures for rolling out student digital portfolios. Eight servers have been allocated and set up for student portfolio storage. Student naming, password, and storage strategies have been identified. The IT department’s and district’s goal is that over the next three years every student in the district will have a digital portfolio. The main challenge that the Jewett team faced was that there were no IT staff residing in their school building. When they weren’t sure about how to proceed, they relied on each other to figure things out. There were no set procedures in place and no expert in their building. Another positive outcome is that our procedures have been created from the ground up. The team feels like they’ve become experts, which is a positive outcome of their work. The IT director insists that that was his goal!Another challenge the team overcame was in getting the equipment that the grant provided. They completed a purchase order in June and expected that their equipment would be in for the beginning of the school year. In late October, the grant writer was notified of this situation. She checked with the purchasing department, and they had the equipment within days. It took a long time to get anything due to the process necessary to make any purchases. This hindered the team’s progress, as they couldn’t proceed without the necessary equipment.

The teachers: 7 teachers were directly involved. Seven teachers were directly involved in addition to the librarian and the librarian assistant. Grades 4 and 5 are directly involved; one of those teachers is a special needs teacher.  The team was also supported by their principal. As we were developing a prototype, it was necessary that the teachers represent the district, especially, in terms of technology familiarity, ease, and knowledge. This group of teacher and other staff members represented the spectrum.

The students: The students have to be important because our goal is to increase student achievement. By having the equipment, and for the most part, relying on themselves, the teachers understand the frustration that many children have in learning new things that aren’t fully supported or explained. Empathy is always a good position for any teacher. The students are just beginning to use the tools. Generally, the students use the tools intuitively and they can guide the teachers. The kids enjoy lessons that integrate technology, which means less time is spent on classroom management and more time is spent on the actual lessons.

The data: The team’s plan was to collect student work to assess individually and then collectively. Unfortunately, it was late in the project before a method was determined for saving student work, so there is little collected data for that project component; however, since this is a work-in-progress, and Jewett is a leader in this effort, this component is on going.

The difference: The team doesn’t have concrete data at this time; however, they agree that because the students enjoy lessons where technology has been integrated, and the students are more engaged, the likelihood is that student achievement will improve. The team did not do a pre-test, but they have shared that information with future teams. Consequently, the middle school social studies digital portfolio project will use pre- and post- tests to measure a variety of factors. The Jewett project has had a significant impact on the Manchester School District. The group expected to hit some bumps in the road; however, they did succeed. By identifying the technology needs for one grade span at one school and determining cost-efficient methods to address those needs, the district IT department now has a better understanding of district technology needs and has developed district-wide procedures based on those needs. The Manchester School District has district-wide procedures for student digital portfolios. Eight servers have been allocated and set up for student portfolio storage. Student naming, password, and storage strategies have been identified. This is substantial progress in one year’s time.

Essential conditions: There definitely has to be open communication among all stakeholders — teachers, students, school administrators, district administrators, and IT departments. We were most successful when we communicated openly and collaboratively.

Changes for the future: We would definitely change the professional development component. There were things offered, but they were mostly to sell digital portfolio software. The team needed instruction about what a portfolio was, why they’re used, what they look like, etc. The first few sessions they attended were targeted for a more experienced audience; but the team from Jewett didn’t know enough to share that information with the GMPDC director. In retrospect, the Jewett team feels that a mentor/coach might have been able to work with them to accomplish their project goals.Because of this project, we know that we need communication and collaboration between elementary, middle, and high school. Because the team from Jewett didn’t know what the middle school was planning in terms of digital portfolios for the end of eighth grade, the team feels that that held them back about making decisions. When they contacted the middle school, middle school administrators didn’t have answers. Because these problems have been identified, the IT department has submitted procedures for the digital portfolio initiative to district administrators. We would stick to a plan. We started out using the collaborative evaluation model, but when we got stuck, or when we were trying to address problems, we got so into problem solving and we "forgot" about using the model. We would recommend that the middle school social studies team use the collaborative evaluation model.

Recommendations: There definitely has to be open communication among all stakeholders — teachers, students, school administrators, district administrators, and IT departments. Policies are needed for file formats, file sizes, and other storage parameter. We recommend a strategy, or implementation plan, that is communicated between elementary, middle, and high schools so students can add to their portfolio throughout their school careers and not have to begin when they change schools.

Telling our story: Some of our members have attended the Digital Portfolio Focus Group meetings. By sharing our challenges with that group and with the IT and Federal Projects departments, we hope to help others avoid our obstacles. When our students finally save to a district server, we will definitely communicate that to parents and staff.The Jewett project has had a significant impact on the Manchester School District. The group expected to hit some bumps in the road; however, they did succeed. By identifying the technology needs for one grade span at one school and determining cost-efficient methods to address those needs, the district IT department now has a better understanding of district technology needs and has developed district-wide procedures based on those needs. The Manchester School District has district-wide procedures for student digital portfolios. Eight servers have been allocated and set up for student portfolio storage. Student naming, password, and storage strategies have been identified. This is substantial progress in one year’s time.

Documents to share:  The team used many of the documents found on the Greater Manchester Professional Development Center’s ICT Standards and Portfolio Development (K-8) page. See http://www.gmpdc.org/moodle/course/view.php?id=5