Introduction

Roanoke Rapids Schools have used the Paideia model as a guide for instructional improvement since the late eighties.  All decisions regarding staff and program development are connected to this core philosophy that embodies three instructional methods, didactic, coaching and Socratic seminar.  Since 1998, the district emphasis on enhancing usage of modern technology tools into day-to-day instruction has been guided by two beliefs related to the Paideia philosophy:

The result of exercising these two beliefs is a staff development project that has been offered through our Technology Literacy Grant Program for the past four years called Technology Integration Process (TIP).  Over 100 teachers from all schools, grade levels and subject areas have participated in this program.  During five days in the summer, teacher cohorts meet as a district group for one day to learn the instructional possibilities offered by one of the latest forms of technology.  In 2002 for example, an elementary media coordinator demonstrated use of video editing equipment.  For the next four days, the teachers go to their schools so they may work with their in-house resources.  They are led by a school technology coach who is a past participant in TIP.  Their responsibility while working at the school is to plan a coached project unit that engages the students in using technology available to them in their classroom in a meaningful way.  The teachers will subsequently teach this unit in the following year.

This report has been written as part of a four-day training session, Principals as Technology Leaders (PATL) offered for school and district administrators by the Principals' Executive Program.  I have formulated a one-year action plan designed to improve the application of theory and methods delivered in our TIP program to classroom practice.

Current Status

Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT) Research offers a five-tier developmental framework for thinking about the current status of technology use for teaching and learning in a school district.  The ACOT stages are:

Evidences used to assess our status within this framework are:

My assessment of our current status is that we lie somewhere between the Adoption and Adaptation indicators.  Our most immediate need is to broaden the influence of some of our most progressive technology users and take better advantage of our district technology coordinator's skills in working with teachers.

Action Plan

Objective

Maintain our current standard of 90% success on the Grade Eight Computer Proficiency Test while abandoning the eighth grade computer skills course.

Activities and Responsibilities

Evaluation

Longitudinal random observations of classes by ITC using RRGSD Teacher Assessment Matrix, Technology and Coaching Indicators.
NC Computer Skills Proficiency test results.

Supporting Resources

RRGSD Strategic Plan
Adopted by the School Board in 1997, this document has guided decision making in the school district for the last five years.  The plan is reviewed and updated every two years by a group of educators and community members.

Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT) http://www.apple.com/education/k12/leadership/acot
ACOT is a research and development collaboration among public schools, universities, research agencies, and Apple Computer, Inc. that studies how the application of technology by teachers and students might change teaching and learning.

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