US Department of Education Recommendations for LAUSD Instructional Technology Projects

Progress Monitoring
Instructional Technology
Executive Sponsor: Ruth Perez
Issue #1:

Lack of district-wide instructional technology strategy

Recommendation

A.

B.

Owner

Deadline

Status Update

Create Chief of Instructional

Technology position, reporting
to Deputy Supt. for Instruction

Ruth Perez

May 2015

In ProgressDr. Perez has worked with Justo Avila, Human Resources. The
position is pending Freeze Committee approval. The position should be
posted by April pending Freeze Committee approval.

Develop and publish district

technology plan aligned to
overarching district goals

Gerardo
Loera/Bern
adette
Lucas

Fall 2015

In ProgressSuperintendent Cortines has convened a Task Force. The staff

person assigned to the task force is Gerardo Loera. Dr. Judy Burton has been
working with Mr. Loera and the ITI team to facilitate the execution of the Task
Force.
The first task force meeting is scheduled to be held in early April.

C.

Engage necessary stakeholders

in developing detailed
implementation and
communication plan for LMS,
including MiSIS integration, PD
and pilot

Bernadette
Lucas/
Rasheed
Khan/ Julia
Charles

May 2015

In Progress An LMS communication strategy has been finalized, and a draft

LMS Awareness Plan is in development, including plans for an LMS website.
Negotiations with LMS vendor have started with procurement. ITD experts, as
identified by Shahryar Khazei, have been included in technical discussions
with the vendor and appropriate technical documents have been requested.
Pilot schools are being informed of their participation. Schools were chosen
based on various criteria such as ESC, board district, balance of one-to-one
and non-one-to-one schools.
The team is negotiating PD hours and commitment from the vendor.
However, the team plans to employ a train-the-trainer model. All ITI VLCFs
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US Department of Education Recommendations for LAUSD Instructional Technology Projects

Progress Monitoring
and various instructional staff will be trained as trainers for LMS.
Issue #2:

All schools should have instructional technology plans before receiving mobile devices

Recommendations

Owner

Deadline

Status Update

Require each school to create

an instructional technology
plan prior to any device
distribution

Bernadette
Lucas/
Sarah
Gilman/
Rick
Hassler/
Charles
Ford/
Sophia
Mendoza

May 2015

In ProgressITI Team has crafted an instructional technology plan template

for schools that allows our school sites to embed instructional technology into
the existing Single School Plan. This template includes focus questions that
will support the principals and leadership teams as they revise their plans.
The team has also created a course to accompany the planning template. The
course has 6 modules that are all available on the ITI website.

To support schools, develop a

template and process for
reviewing and providing
feedback on school-level
technology plans.

Bernadette March 2015

Lucas Sarah
Gilman/
Rick
Hassler/
Charles
Ford

A.

B.

In ProgressThe ITI team is using the aforementioned school technology plan

template and focus questions to develop a rubric to assess the school site
technology plans. ITI will meet with schools collectively and individually to
provide differentiated feedback to each school.

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US Department of Education Recommendations for LAUSD Instructional Technology Projects

Progress Monitoring
Issue #3:

No metrics for instructional success established and reported

Recommendations

A.

B.

Owner

Deadline

Status Update

May 2015

In ProgressThe ITI operational dashboard is complete and ready to be

published.

Develop metrics to evaluate

instructional technology
program effectiveness

Bernadette
Lucas/ Rick
Hassler/
Julia
Charles/
Sarah
Gilman/
Sophia
Mendoza

Ongoing

Prominently and regularly

display effectiveness data for
entire ITI team

Bernadette
Lucas/ Rick
Hassler/
Julia
Charles/
Sarah
Gilman/
Sophia
Mendoza

Issue #4:

The ITI team is developing a school level dashboard to support principals and
leadership teams in assessing instructional technology integration. The
principals are very pleased at the prospect of receiving this dashboard. The
first draft will be to schools by May 2015.
In Progress The ITI leads have actively engaged in developing the
dashboard. The team continues to refine the dashboard to meet the needs of
schools, senior leadership, and the ITI team.

Instructional support for technology not commensurate with district need

Recommendations

A.

The ITI instructional dashboard has been reviewed by the project sponsors.

Increase LAUSD capacity for

supporting teachers and

Owner

Deadline

Status Update

Bernadette
Lucas/
Charles/

Ongoing

In ProgressThe ITI Team continues to provide needs-based professional

development to teachers, principals and other site administrators.

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US Department of Education Recommendations for LAUSD Instructional Technology Projects

Progress Monitoring
leaders using technology

B.

Pilot approaches for integrating

tech PD with LAUSD overall PD
strategy

Issue #5:

Gerardo
Loera/Bern
adette
Lucas

ITI believes that it is critical to provide additional information and professional

development to directors and superintendents to strengthen the Initiative.
Version 1.0 of an Observation Tool has been developed to assist schools in
self-guided improvement.
Ongoing

In ProgressChief Academic Officer, Gerardo Loera, has set up a weekly

meeting with the Common Core State Standards Directors to facilitate more
deliberate communication and planning. This component is in progress with
additional details being planned.

Heavy dependence on commercial learning resources

Recommendations

Owner

Deadline

Status Update

Pilot use of open education

resources (OER)

Gerardo
Loera/
Bernadette
Lucas/ Rick
Hassler/
Rasheed
Khan

Ongoing

In Progress The ITI team has been planning on the use of open source
materials for about 8 months. Meetings have been scheduled with internal
and external partners to pursue this effort.

Establish school level process

for approving new apps to add
to devices

Bernadette
Lucas/
Sophia
Mendoza/
Charles
Ford/
Rasheed

May 2015

In ProgressITI will be meeting with the Chief Academic Officers office to

devise a policy on teacher downloads of apps and what is appropriate for
students.

A.

B.

Sophia
Mendoza/
Sophia
Mendoza

An internal LAUSD app catalog for Windows 8 devices is in development.

ITI is creating criteria for student app downloads for all platforms.

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US Department of Education Recommendations for LAUSD Instructional Technology Projects

Progress Monitoring
Khan

C.

Rethink LAUSD acceptable use

policy to differentiate by age
and align with LAUSD
instructional tech strategy

Issue #6:

March 2015

In Progress The team has researched RAUP policies from other schools
districts, and a draft RAUP policy has been developed. The team is vetting the
draft RAUP with classroom teachers and students at all levels (ES,MS, HS).

Owner

Deadline

Status Update

Bernadette
Lucas/ Julia
Charles/
Sarah
Gilman

Ongoing

In ProgressThe team has developed a draft plan to share success stories.

VLCs are submitting videos that highlight these stories from the schools they
support. One grassroots submission was included in the March 2, 2015 weekly
principal's communication. The team also uses Twitter to regularly highlight
teachers.

Sharing success and best practices

Recommendations

A.

Bernadette
Lucas/
Rasheed
Khan

Establish mechanism to
highlight instructional
technology success stories

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US Department of Education Recommendations for LAUSD Instructional Technology Projects

Progress Monitoring
MiSIS Project
Executive Sponsor: Diane Pappas
Issue #1: No clear product owner
Recommendations
Identify and empower clear
A.
product owner
Issue #2: User Support Lagging
Recommendations
Engage users in reporting bugs
and identifying usability
improvements, including inA. application user feedback
mechanism, and regularly act
on the feedback

Owner
Diane
Pappas

Deadline

Status Update
Complete Diane Pappas has been named product owner.

Owner
Gary Sabia

Deadline
Ongoing

Expand communication with

MiSIS team, LAUSD staff,
parents, and community

Diane
Pappas

Ongoing

Encourage culture of honest

communication for MiSIS team

Diane
Pappas,
Shahryar
Khazei,
Gary Sabia

Ongoing

Status Update
In Progress The team continues to make progress on engaging users and
incorporating their feedback. Focus Groups have been held on Enrollment,
Attendance, Master Scheduling, Transcripts/Graduation Standards, Gradebook,
and Charter Schools. Pods regularly evaluate and prioritize this feedback, and
many enhancements from focus groups have gone into production. The projects
new website (misis.lausd.net) was released in March and provides another
avenue for users to provide feedback.
In Progress The team has begun implementing its new goals-based
communication strategy. One key accomplishment was releasing a user-friendly
website (misis.lausd.net) in March. The site introduces the team, informs the
community on the projects progress and provides access to training information
and opportunities. Additionally, a Stakeholder Group and Steering Committee
have been created and will meet monthly beginning in March. The
Superintendent also continues to send out a weekly message informing the entire
district about the projects progress.
In ProgressLessons Learned sessions have been held for the Spring 2015
Semester Opening and 2014 Summer School. Sessions included project team
members and business owners.

B.

C.

Team leaders continue to present status reports to the entire MiSiS leadership
team during weekly meetings. Issue, risk and action logs have been
implemented, providing team members a central and transparent place to
document and escalate issues and risks they identify.

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US Department of Education Recommendations for LAUSD Instructional Technology Projects

Progress Monitoring
MiSIS Project
Executive Sponsor: Diane Pappas
Institute development best
Shahryar
practices including situation
Khazei,
rooms, automated testing,
Gary Sabia
peer code reviews, constant
D. user feedback loop, and
dedicated schedule time for
bug resolution and
infrastructure tasks (e.g. setting
up test server)
Issue #3: No established effectiveness metrics
Recommendations
Owner
Make more detailed choices
Gary Sabia
A. about task prioritization and
launch criteria
Display MiSIS dashboards that
Shahryar
include student-focused
Khazei,
outcome data and system
Gary Sabia,
B.
information throughout ITD to Cynthia Lim
focus the team on the needs of
students

April
2015

In progress Microsofts ALM tool suite has been deployed to manage releases
and support automated testing. Final ALM enhancements will be implemented in
April.
Software development best practices continue to be incorporated into the teams
development and implementation processes. Testing and sandbox environments
are available, allowing development, testing, and training activities to run
concurrently.

Deadline
Ongoing

Status Update
OngoingEach pod collaborates with business owners to prioritize requirement
needs in support of key business and school milestones.

March
2015

In ProgressKey metrics are being included in weekly status reports. The team is
also in the process of installing multiple screens in key areas on the 9th and 10th
floors. Screens will display server performance metrics as well as critical metrics
for the various pods. Metrics are in development.

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US Department of Education Recommendations for LAUSD Instructional Technology Projects

Progress Monitoring
Cross-Cutting Issues
Executive Sponsor: Matt Hill
Issue #1: Improving future technology rollouts
Recommendations
Owner
Create external advisory group Matt Hill

Deadline
Ongoing

Status Update
In Progress The Chief Strategy Officer has instituted recurring monthly calls with
the USDOE to discuss the districts instructional technology efforts and the MiSIS
project. Calls with the CDE have been scheduled to discuss technology concerns
such as MiSIS and testing.

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

Consolidate multiple support

centers

Matt Hill

April
2015

In ProgressThe current support center structure is being evaluated as a part of

the ITD organizational alignment effort. ITD is meeting with each area to
document roles and responsibilities and consolidate where appropriate.

Increase coordination between

Instructional Technology and
ITD

Matt Hill

Ongoing

In Progress The Chief Strategy Officer has initiated monthly meetings with the
instructional division, has re-established bi-weekly meetings with the
Instructional Technology Initiative Director and attends weekly Instructional
Technology Initiative sponsor meetings.

Implement product
management

Matt Hill

Ongoing

In ProgressMiSIS now has a clear product owner. The Chief Strategy Officer will
recommend to the new CIO that s/he implement product management
throughout ITD.

Launch new systems in beta

Matt Hill

Ongoing

In Progress The Chief Strategy Officer will recommend to the new CIO that s/he
implement this approach as new IT projects are planned and launched.

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