School Evaluation: Downtown College Academy

School Demographics Downtown College Academy, founded in 1971, is a suburban, private school located in middle Tennessee. The student population is currently 865 students K through 12. The ethnicity breakdown of the school is 92% Caucasian, 4.6% African American, with the remainder of the student body consisting of other International students. It is a one-to-one school with all students 6th through 12th grade using Dell notebook computers. Academic performance and college preparatory classes are emphasized with an average college attendance rate of over 98%. The average ACT score for 2011 was 24.8 compared to a National average of 21.1. The top 25% of students scored an average ACT of 30.2. The chart below illustrates the historical performance of Downtown College Academy students versus the state of Tennessee from 2008 to 2010

In additional, a significant number of students earn college credit while still in high school through dual-enrollment classes. As for the faculty, over 50% are degreed at the Masters level or above. Administrative Policy: Behavioral - Emergent, Resource/Infrastructure - Islands Despite being a one-to-one school, there is no formal technology plan. Teachers and students have an informal understanding of the technology use policies in place, but no formal plan or policy document has been created.

Currently, there is a move being considered of replacing the Dell Notebooks in the middle school with Ipads. However, the school has yet to conduct a survey of teachers or students that would answer school-wide questions such as how technology is currently being used in their classrooms what weaknesses and strengths there are in the current technology profile of the school how technology fits into the educational goals of the school

and a myriad of other questions I believe are critical to answer before such a move is made. Planning: Behavioral - Islands, Resource/Infrastructure - Emergent As mentioned above, technology planning at the school today happens on a project by project basis with little integration with or consideration of other projects or plans. There is no written document that addresses school-wide use of technology technology decisions are made through informal channels. Budget: Behavioral - Integrated, Resource/Infrastructure - Islands Our current year budget includes allocations for technology and training from an IT perspective, however it misses the ancillary expenses needed for the user-side of technology implementation such as the training of teachers on its effective utilization in the classroom. Some training does take place but to the extent needed to effective integrate technology into the curriculum Administrative Information: Behavioral - Intelligent; Resource/Infrastructure - Intelligent Our administrative staff uses technology on a daily basis to supports all aspects of the schools operation.as part of their everyday activities. This includes, purchasing, student files, personnel, and email. Very little paper is used in these administrative processes. CURRICULAR Electronic Information: Behavioral - Integrated; Resource/Infrastructure - Integrated Staff at all levels of the school are dependent on electronic information. Students from 6th grade on are extremely dependent on technology not only to research and produce work but to access their classwork via LMS systems such as Moodle, Canvas, and Edmodo. Assessment: Behavioral - Islands; Resource/Infrastructure - Islands Nearly half of our students complete assessments online for their classes on a regular basis. However, most of these mechanisms lack the advanced reporting features needed to truly leverage the online assessment of students. The primary role of online assessment in our school today is to reduce hand-grading by teachers.

Curriculum Integration: Behavioral - Emergent; Resource/Infrastructure - Integrated Our curriculum is independent of our technology. In our school, technology is used as an adjunct to the curriculum rather being integrated within it in any way. However, we do have a lot of tools available to us that can support our curriculum the problem is there is very little training in the integration of those tools into our day-to-day instruction as a part of our curriculum. Teacher Use: Behavioral -Integrated; Resource/Infrastructure - Integrated Teachers use technology on a daily basis but it is not critical for their daily instruction. As mentioned before, it is used as an adjunct to their day-to-day instruction and for some online assessment. Frequent internet outages have created an environment of hesitation in relying too heavily on technology for daily lessons. Student Use: Behavioral - Islands; Resource/Infrastructure - Integrated Most students have access to the technology they need but use technology in very limited ways. The current role of computers in our schools is to produce work not to enhance the learning process. The best summary of our how our students use their technology would be that, other than the occasional Internet search, they use their computers as they would a pencil and paper. SUPPORT Stakeholder Involvement: Behavioral - Emergent; Resource/Infrastructure Emergent A planning process that involves all stakeholders has not been implemented. Usually, the technology decisions that happen today are made by a small group of administrators, IT people, and users. Information is rarely shared with stakeholders outside of this group. Administrative Support: Behavioral - Islands; Resource/Infrastructure Emergent Very few if any discussions about the current or projected use of/need for technology. If discussions are held, they are informal and in small groups. Training: Behavioral - Islands; Resource/Infrastructure - Emergent Training is done on a very limited basis usually only during in-service or professional development days not on an ongoing basis. Training content is usually big picture with very little specific training on the integration of technology into the day-to-day instruction that happens in the classroom.

Technical & Infrastructure Support: Behavioral - Islands; Resource/Infrastructure - Integrated Most of our staff takes advantage of the technical support available at the school usually to solve problems rather than the application of software/hardware in their classrooms. We do have an IT staff but it consists of only two full-time people to support 50 staff and over 300 students. Most of their time is spent solving computer issues. CONNECTIVITY Local Area Networking: Behavioral - Integrated; Resource/Infrastructure - Integrated All of our students and staff use our wired and wireless networks extensively but primarily for data only. District Area Networking (WAN): Behavioral - NA; Resource/Infrastructure - NA As a stand-alone school, this survey item did not apply to us. Internet Access: Behavioral - Islands; Resource/Infrastructure - Integrated All classrooms and offices in our school have Internet access through either wireless or wired connections. However, it is not truly integrated into our curriculum and does not significantly impact learning in our classrooms. Communication Systems: Behavioral - Integrated; Resource/Infrastructure - Intelligent Email is an important part of our student and staff communications. Students can be assigned an email address by the school or use their own. This does create some issues in making sure all students are communicated with. INNOVATION New Technologies: Behavioral - Islands; Resource/Infrastructure - Integrated Our staff craves new technology to assist them in their classrooms. Besides budget, the primary limiting factor in the adoption of new technologies by a staff willing to do so, is the lack of staff to support those efforts in both implementation, application, and troubleshooting. Comprehensive Technologies: Behavioral - Islands; Resource/Infrastructure - Integrated Technology in our school is severely under-utilized given the desire of our staff to implement technology as a part of their curriculum rather than as layers on top of it. It all comes back to the lack of a formal technology plan, lack of staff, and a short-sighted perspective on bringing new technologies into our school.

SUMMARY It is extremely difficult to place my school within just one stage. On one-hand, there is a complete lack of technology planning which results in a haphazard approach in bringing new technologies into the school. It seems to be more of a technology dujour approach than one that will truly enhance the teaching and learning at our school. From this perspective, I would have to place our school at the emergent systems stage. However, looking at our school from a strictly technology standpoint, we have a fairly sophisticated level of technology in our school. Teachers, staff, and students have ready access to a vast amount of tools/systems to produce work, communicate, and assess comprehension. The challenge is that most of it stands alone. All of these wonderful tools are not integrated with each other or our classrooms in a manner that truly leverages the power of technology to impact student learning. Our school is not afraid to invest in technology, try new technology, or even get rid of outdated technology. There is just no guiding plan to make sure it is done with purpose and vision. Based on the level of technology we have in our school, I would place our school at the islands of technology stage. My hope is that I can utilize the knowledge and skills acquired through the MET program to help my school join their commitment to technology with an equal commitment to technology planning to maximize educational benefits of our technology dollars.