NYCDOE Region 10

This past September, I saw a quote on a NYC subway platform… “Managing the invention correctly will lead to the innovation.” – Jack Eberth, Manager IBM Global Services. It made me think how we have helped schools leverage the incredible potential that technology has to offer students and teachers in NYC’s Districts 3, 5, and 6. The promising practice that has proven to be successful and scalable is the school-based position of the Technology Integration Specialist. In many schools, our staff have become the needed “change agents” to help the administrators, teachers, and most importantly, the students manage the technology in useful and productive ways. Whether it is in the form of technical advice, cultural development, “what-if” idea generation, or the like… our team has helped the students and teachers rediscover how the power of a passionate teacher and learner can transform the outcomes of the learning community. As the grant’s funding was reduced, we observed that the Principals created positions for many of our staff to continue the work they started using school funds. As we moved into Year 2, the planning, integration, and impact went from small pockets of success to a larger ground-swell of momentum. It is rewarding to know that the seeds of the NCLB/EETT grant have planted have grown, and will continue to grow, well beyond the original scope of the project.

Title 2D After School Program

Region 5 is proud of the successful implementation of its Title II D after school program. This program gave targeted schools additional time (2 to 3 days per week) to focus on helping Level 1 and Level 2 students creating project based work that addresses specific ELA/Math Standards and Performance Indicators that were identified as areas of weakness for these children.

This program provided students specialized attention as the average class size did not exceed 12 students. Additionally, each of the 47 schools running this program had a school based supervisor overseeing the implementation of this program. This environment in turn supported teachers actively integrating of technology into the ELA/Math curriculum and the culmination of student created WebQuests, ThinkQuests and iMovies. As a result of the after school program, 12 out of the top 24 slots in New York City ThinkQuest competition were awarded to projects created in our Title II D Schools.

EETT at Region 5

The dissemination of professional development as well as program highlights to as many people in the educational community and beyond is an important part of the success of the EETT program in Region 5. Understanding the vital importance of involving as many of the key stakeholders in the education of our students, Region 5 has endeavored throughout the program to disseminate information in a multitude of ways. In year 1, we started producing “Alive in 5,” a monthly half hour television show in a variety show format that included segments on professional development and segments highlighting the program throughout the region. This show was aired on Manhattan Network Neighborhood (MNN), NYC-TV 74, Queens Public TV (QPTV), and Brooklyn Cable Access Television (BCAT). As a result of the overwhelming success of “Alive in Five,” In Year 2, we added a second monthly half hour show called “Tech In 5.” This program was designed as a platform to disseminate professional development content on a variety of topics based on instructional best practices.

In order to reach a larger audience and make the shows more readily available, in addition to being aired on the previously mentioned cable channels, Region 5 began making these two shows available in video-podcast format and Quicktime Streaming Video format on iTunes and the Region 5 Website— http://region5nyc.org/ .

“Alive in Five” and “Tech in Five” have motivated students, parents, teachers and administrators to become more involved in the educational process. The sense of pride in participating in education in such an exciting way has helped the region attain academic success as it has shown the largest gains in ELA/Math Scores citywide during each year of the EETT Program.

Region 2 and Fordham University

The R2DII (region 2 Title IID) Program provides professional development to approximately 500 teachers, grades k-12, in both public and non-public schools in Region 2 of the Bronx. Professional developers visit and work with participating teachers in their schools each week of the nine month program. Through school and individual needs assessments, meetings with principals and staff, the program is customized to specific teaching and learning concerns at each participating school. More than “just” technology learning, the focus of this professional development program is to improve learning outcomes for both students and educators. This initiative supports teachers’ learning and practice through a complementary approach of Fordham-based sessions, online learning, and onsite individualized professional mentoring.The participating teachers receive their own laptop as their professional work station for use in training sessions and in their own teaching practice within their school.

The project has enjoyed success in helping teachers alter thier practice not only through the integration of technology but through adopting a more student-centred and project-based approach. Teachers and students have created and used webpages, webquests, blogs, wikis and podcasts. They have learned how to edit digital photgraphs, audio and video to complete projects that are standards based. The R2DII project is supplemented by NYLearns.org and teachers have been using the web-based resources and have created their own webpages.

Positive student outcomes have been documented that include greater use of technology and improved test scores. A significant amount of teacher and student-created artifacts have been collected and studied, helping to refine an effective model of teacher professional development as well as best practices in technology integration in K-12 classrooms.

Region 4 New York City Title IID Grant Implementation

Region 4 has developed standards-driven, curriculum-related, grade level inquiry-based learning projects for students in grades K-8. The projects were implemented over the three years of the grant: grades 2, 5, 6 in year one; grades 3 and 7 in year two; and grades K, 1, 4, and 8 in year three. Designed to provide an engaging, relevant and productive learning environment all the projects require students to communicate and collaborate with schools around the region, country, and world. They are scaffolded to teach nonfiction literacy, information literacy and the development of 21st century skills. Teachers are only required to master the technology and information literacy skills that are needed to successfully complete their respective projects. Teachers are supported by weekly push-in professional development by a highly trained technology integration specialist, project websites, and project blogs.

The high school intervention supports the use of teacher and student blogs and online learning and collaborative environments in all content area classes.

http://www.region4.nycenet.edu/instruction/projects/

Canajoharie is a small rural district in upstate New York. The EETT grant has enabled our district to do many great technology curriculum integration initiatives. This past year, as part of our technology plan, we started an after school computer program that was targeted to specific children to help bolster achievement. We met with all of the AIS and special education teachers, crafted an individual plan for each student who was invited to participate in the after school program, and started the program in January 2006. The individual plan for each student included the grade level where they began the program, and a gains level goal where they should be at the end of the school year. This program has enrolled 38 students in the Middle School, and 62 elementary students. The program wrapped up in May 2006. The parents and teachers of the students it targeted were given a survey evaluating its success, as well as a printout of measured success. It has been one of our biggest successes this year in measuring achievement for our target population.