School Evaluation Summary - Technology Use Name of School: Brown High School Evaluator: Alyson Nelson Date: July

20, 2012 Demographics of Brown High School: Ethnicity White, non Hispanic Black, non Hispanic Hispanic Asian/Pacific Islander American Indian/Alaskan Native Brown High School 65% 23% 9% 4% <1% State Average 53% 39% 5% 2% <1%

Student Economic Level Students eligible for free/ reduced lunch 18% 52%

Gender Female Male 52.2% 47.8% 51.3% 48.7%

The purpose of this evaluation is to determine the technology maturity of Brown High School. The following benchmarks are based on the Technology Maturity Model. There are four stages of technology use: emergent, islands, integrated, and intelligent. The Maturity Model has five key areas of organization: administrative, curricular, support, connectivity, and innovation. Below, I discuss each of these areas of organization and the current state of Brown High School based on the Maturity Model benchmarks.

Evaluation

Administrative

Policy

behavioral resource/infrastructure

Islands Intelligent Integrated Integrated Islands Islands Intelligent Intelligent

Planning

behavioral resource/infrastructure

Budget

behavioral resource/infrastructure

Administrative information

behavioral resource/infrastructure

The organizational area of administration focuses on policy and budget issues surrounding a schools technology use. In the administrative area of organization, I ranked Brown High school with 3 Island, 2 Integrated, and 3 Intelligent marks. Brown High Schools administrative area ranks lowest in policy and budget. Although there is a current technology plan in place, there is not much accountability for how the technology is used. There is a small budget that is specified for technology, but technology is not integrated into all areas of the budget. The administrative area ranks Integrated in the area of planning. A technology committee has a current technology plan in place and it is supported by the administration. Finally, the administrative area ranks highest in administrative information. Teachers and other staff are required to use PowerTeacher and PowerSchool to keep track of grades and attendance. Staff also uses an online incident management system to record and monitor discipline issues and parental contact. Curricular Electronic Information behavioral resource/infrastructure Assessment behavioral resource/infrastructure Curricular Integration behavioral resource/infrastructure Teacher Use behavioral resource/infrastructure Student Use behavioral resource/infrastructure Integrated Integrated Islands Islands Islands Integrated Intelligent Intelligent Integrated Integrated

The curricular area of organization refers to the availability of resources and how teachers and students use these resources. In the curricular area of organization, I rated Brown High School with

3 Island, 5 Integrated, and 2 Intelligent rankings. Brown High School ranked lowest in the areas of assessment and curricular integration. Almost all assessments are still paper-based, although there are a few project-based assessments using technology. There is not a steady integration of technology into the curriculum, because most curriculum is still based on textbooks. Brown High School ranked Integrated in student use and electronic information. Students have regular access to technology, but teachers do not make use of it regularly in their curriculum. Brown High School ranked highest in the area of teacher use. All teachers use technology daily from taking attendance to using Promethean boards in their classrooms. Support Stakeholder Involvement behavioral resource/infrastructure Administrative Support behavioral resource/infrastructure Training behavioral resource/infrastructure Technical/ Infrastructure Support behavioral resource/infrastructure Islands Islands Islands Integrated Islands Integrated Islands Islands

The support area of organization refers to the involvement of stakeholders and administration and how teachers and students respond to their involvement. Brown High School ranks in the Islands category in most of the support areas. The support of stakeholders and administration is limited. Teachers have access to a variety of training at the district level, but the number of teachers that actually take part in the training and then implement it into their curriculum is small. Brown High School received two rankings of Integrated in this area, because of the training available.

Connectivity

Local Area Networking

behavioral resource/infrastructure

Integrated Islands Integrated Integrated Integrated Intelligent Integrated

District Area Networking

behavioral resource/infrastructure

Internet Access

behavioral resource/infrastructure

Communication Systems

behavioral

resource/infrastructure

Intelligent

The connectivity area of organization refers to the ability of a school to connect to the Internet and how students and teachers use the Internet. In the area of connectivity, Brown High School ranks with 1 Islands rating, 5 Integrated ratings, and 2 Intelligent ratings. Brown High School ranks lowest in the area of Local Area Networking because it is still developing school-wide wireless connectivity. Staff does rely on Internet daily to record data and communicate with other staff, therefore, ranking Intelligent in these areas. Students also have access to email accounts monitored by the district, but many students do not use it as often as they should. Innovation New Technologies behavioral resource/infrastructure Comprehensive Technologies behavioral resource/infrastructure Islands Islands Islands Islands

Finally, the area of innovation refers to the interest teachers have in new technologies and the availability of emerging technologies. In the area of innovation, Brown High School received all Islands rankings. There are very few teachers in this school that find new technologies and regularly implement them into their curriculum. There is also limited use of advanced technologies. Many advanced technologies are available in the schools media center, like iPads, Activexpressions, and Flip video cameras, but there are only a handful of those resources available. Conclusion Overall ratings: Islands - 17 Integrated - 14 Intelligent - 7

After reviewing all benchmarks, I would give Brown High School an overall rating of Integrated. Although they received more Islands ratings than Integrated ratings, I believe Brown High School has more overall characteristics of an Integrated school. Characteristics of an Integrated school include regular student use of technology, use of administrative functions by teachers and other staff, support by administration for the development of a technology plan, and a wide variety of training for staff. There are many areas in which Brown High School has developed well including communication, Internet use among staff, and computer use among staff. There is plenty of technology training available through the school and district, but it is often not required for staff. They also have a well-developed technology plan. I would recommend the following areas of improvement for Brown High School: integrate new innovative technologies into curriculum, provide students with more access to technology (eventually becoming daily access), make more advanced resources readily available, and increase the involvement of administration in the accountability and development of technology plans. Brown High School is on the right path, but still has room for improvement.