Technology Evaluation of Roseberry Middle School

Prepared by Deborah Lyman, Joshua Norgaard, Tara Miller and Donald Robinson

Introduction
Roseberry Middle School is found in a city of about 40,000 in rural South East Idaho. There are approximately 900 students. The demographics of the school is 70% Caucasian and 30% Native American. The school serves a population that is struggling financially. Approximately 65% of students attending Roseberry Middle School are on free or reduced lunches. There are 43 classrooms in the building with 3 computer labs for general use and 1 computer lab reserved for a keyboarding elective class. All of the classrooms in the building have a teacher computer and about one-fourth of the rooms house computer projectors. All of the rooms are equipped with traditional overhead transparency technology. Two-thirds of the rooms still use chalkboards and chalk. The other third of the rooms have hanging whiteboards that allow them to use colored expo markers to facilitate in the learning process. Two rooms in our building contain Promethean boards with clickers. Of the nine sixth grade rooms, five contain student computers. The teachers at Roseberry vary in their excitement and use of technology. Some teachers will not use it in their rooms, while others are excited and ready to move the school forward in technology integration. Funds for technology are limited and there are very little formal policies that dictate their use or how they will be allocated within the building.

Administrative
The Administrative Filter is composed of Policy, Planning, Budget and Administrative Information criteria. High levels of maturity in this area are most reflective of resource availability and the behaviors of administrators and staff. This is indicated in the Maturity Model Impact Table. Projects that focus on this area will impact administrators and staff the most.

Policy
Behavioral: Integrated Roseberry Middle School (RMS) has integrated administrative technologies. Appropriate forms of technology have been used and accepted in the areas of attendance, grade keeping, communication and document sharing. While some of the staff support this effort, others are slower to adopt. Resource/Infrastructure: Integrated RMS has a formalized plan in place, however, the plan is not comprehensive and there is not a governing body investigating and following up with the plan. Resources and help are available, meaning that in this section, RMS has reached the integrated stage of the Maturity Model Impact Table. Behavioral: Emergent

Planning

The budgets are driven on a project-by-project basis, with only local funding available. There is not a comprehensive plan available for the funding of the program(s) as a whole.

Resource/Infrastructure: Emergent RMS teachers conduct their own planning on an individual basis. The total lack of a cohesive school wide plan places RMS at the emergent stage in the Resource/Infrastructure portion of the table.

Budget
Behavioral: Emergent RMS has allocated funds for a technology budget, but there is little in the way of a formal structure and no oversight as to where the money is being spent. Resource/Infrastructure: Islands An internal budget has been established for technology integration. However, there has been little done to seek outside funding sources, such as grants, to improve the program.

Administrative information
Behavioral: Integrated RMS has many administrative systems that are used by most of the staff members. However, there is not a total adoption in place and the systems are not used on a daily basis by all staff. The school is still a long way off from going paperless. Resource/Infrastructure: Intelligent RMS excels in the area of opening all of the administrative tools to all staff members.

CURRICULAR
The Curricular Filter is composed of Curriculum Integration, Assessment, Teacher Use and Student Use criteria. High levels of maturity in this area are most reflective of resource availability and the behaviors of teachers and students. Teachers indicated in the Maturity model Impact table. Projects that focus on this area will impact teachers and students the most.

Electronic information
Behavioral: Emergent Electronic resources are available for curriculum support, but a majority of RMS teachers primarily rely on print resources. Resource/Infrastructure: Islands There are places in the school that have technology that are beyond basic, but a majority of the classrooms still use overheads and chalkboards. The school district has set up a website with access to all of the current curriculum documents, although there are no online teaching resources available.

Assessment
Behavioral: Emergent Very few RMS staff members use technology to assess student understanding. No students use technology for formal or informal assessment. Resource/Infrastructure: Islands Limited resources are available within the school, although the focus is primarily on traditional testing methods. However, teachers do have access to three computer labs and about one-fourth of the classrooms are equipped with computer projectors, which could be used for both formal or informal assessments.

Curricular integration
Behavioral: Emergent Curriculum at RMS is primarily textbook based. Individual teachers initiate new technology integration ideas, with limited use by the vast majority of staff members. Resource/Infrastructure: Emergent The library (information technology) and the elective computer class are the only areas that routinely use technology in their curriculum.

Teacher use
Behavioral: Emergent A small number of RMS teachers occasionally use Internet resources to create worksheets or supplement curriculum in order to help students meet learning objectives. Resource/Infrastructure: Emergent Most teachers have one computer in their room, used for curriculum planning, grading and attendance. Traditional overhead projectors and chalkboards are primarily used to present information, which places RMS at the Emergent stage.

Student use
Behavioral: Emergent Technology is used to give students who need remediation something to do while the teacher works with other students. Occasionally programs will be used for enrichment. Resource/Infrastructure: Emergent Very few students have consistent access to technology. Many students will only use the computer labs three or four times in a year for research or to complete final drafts of big project. Most of the time the computer labs sit vacant.

Support
The Support Filter is composed of Stake holder Involvement, Administrative Support, Training, Technical Support, and Infrastructure Support criteria. High levels of maturity in this area are

most reflective of resource availability and the behaviors of teachers and support staff. Projects that focus on this area will impact teachers and support staff the most.

Stakeholder involvement
Behavioral: Emergent Very few people are aware of the process the building uses to make decisions regarding technology at RMS. When decisions are made, there is no opportunity for stakeholder input. Often new plans are implemented before those who need to use them have even heard of them. Resource/Infrastructure: Emergent Technology meetings are held behind closed doors and very few stakeholders are involved. Only school district personnel is involved at the meetings, no representatives from individual school sites, or teachers that will be impacted by decisions made.

Administrative support
Behavioral: Islands Administrators at the district level are the only stakeholders involved in planning,. There is little involvement in the implementation process or support after the initial plan is presented to teachers. Resource/Infrastructure: Islands Administration is available for support if they are sought out. Otherwise, there is no regular follow through or formal assistance given.

Training
Behavioral: Emergent Few RMS staff members participate in the training that is offered. Resource/Infrastructure: Islands On-going training is offered at the district office for those who choose to participate. The trainings are limited and offered by the same personnel, which is also a frustration for those who might otherwise be interested in learning new skills. Technical/Infrastructure support Behavioral: Islands Many of the RMS staff utilize the district help that is available, but it is not done efficiently. There are six people at the district level that offer IT support. The problem is that when calls are made for help, there is rarely any follow through and often it requires multiple calls before the issues are dealt with. This makes building staff less likely to call for support, unless there is a major issue. Resource/Infrastructure: Emergent No support staff is available within the building, however, there is formal school district support provided. The district support is primarily via telephone, but on a rare occasion, the district IT support staff will come to the building.

Connectivity
The Connectivity Filter is composed of Local Area Networking, District Area Networking, Internet Access and Communication Systems criteria. High levels of maturity in this area are most reflective of resource availability and the behaviors of all segments of the institution, including the community. Projects that focus on this area will impact all segments of the institution. Local area networking Behavioral: Islands RMS staff and students use the network for accessing the Internet. Staff additionally uses the local network to store files. Resource/Infrastructure: Intelligent The established network is high-speed and in its current state is capable of supporting video and voice data. District area networking Behavioral: Islands Staff uses the WAN in a traditional manner; primarily for email, the gradebook, attendance and document storage. Resource/Infrastructure: Intelligent The high-speed network is comprehensive and capable of data transfer. The network is also able to support video/voice information. Internet access Behavioral: Islands Staff and students alike use the Internet, however, little has been done to integrate the Internet into the curriculum. Resource/Infrastructure: Intelligent Internet access is available directly for the students in all of the computer labs and in some classrooms outfitted with student computers. All teachers have access from their desks. Communication systems Behavioral: Integrated Email is frequently used by the teachers, but not the students. No communication systems have been integrated into the learning environment. Resource/Infrastructure: Emergent Email is limited to the staff, with no access for the students. No other communication systems have been established.

Innovation
The Innovation Filter is composed of New Technologies and Comprehensive Technologies criteria. High levels of maturity in this area are most reflective of resource availability and the behaviors of teachers and students. Projects that focus on this area will impact teachers and students the most. New technologies Behavioral: Emergent

A majority of the staff is unwilling to accept and experiment with new technology. Part of the issue is the lack of adequate access and support in using any new technology. Resource/Infrastructure: Emergent Technology implementation is left up to the staff to facilitate. New implementation is rapidly rejected or left up to the few staff members that are interested in seeking it out on their own.

Comprehensive technologies Behavioral: Emergent With the exception of the two Promethean boards, technology is limited to VCR/DVD players, traditional overhead projectors, and a limited number of LCD projectors. Resource/Infrastructure: Emergent Very little in the way of technology is available to students and staff members. The technology that is available is under utilized by teachers and staff.

Summary
After completing the evaluation of Roseberry Middle School, we have come to the conclusion that RMS is at the Islands stage of the Maturity Model Impact Table. Coming to this conclusion was challenging, as our evaluation shows that RMS falls somewhere between the Emergent and Islands stages. RMSs technological behaviors are still at the Emergent stage. A majority of teachers have not fully implemented technology as a means to teach or to assess students academically. This may be because of a lack of technological resources available and how RMS uses their funds for technology. For example, the allocated building technology budget is spent in a nontransparent way, without input from faculty. Staff members are not a part of any technology use decision-making, nor in the process of purchasing new technology. As a result of this, there is very little buy-in by staff members. Another vital factor contributing to this behavior is the poor training and follow through by the administration and district support staff. Ongoing training for the use of technology is offered, but is limited. When staff has the opportunity to participate in the trainings offered, few partake in this option. The trainings are offered only at the district office, not at the school site. This leads us to believe that technology use is not seen as an imperative learning tool by the majority of faculty members, due in part to frustration and lack of adequate support.

RMS stands at the Islands stage of the Maturity Model in terms of resources available and the infrastructure. Administrative technologies are in wide use by staff in the areas of attendance, grade keeping, communication, and document sharing. The school also has three computer labs and a dedicated elective computer keyboarding class with Internet access connection throughout the school. Unfortunately, budgetary constraints put this school in need of more up-to-date basic technology, such as LCD projectors for every classroom. Currently, only one-fourth of classrooms house a projector. Also, RMS does not have any formal procedures in place to optimize the use of technology. Resources for new technology are insufficient, there are very few formal policies implemented to dictate the use of the existing technology or how the school could apportion the use of new technologies in the building. The budget for new technologies at an institutional level is very limited, due to insufficient funds and resources. An example of this is shown in their internal and external budgets; the internal budget has been developed to fund for technology integration, but there are no external resources in place to supply additional technological resources. There is a lack of additional assets through exterior funding sources, such as grants, contributions, or donations to improve the program. In conclusion to our summary, RMS displays an inconsistent use of computer technology at every grade level and program level. Students are exposed to limited technological access, thus, the majority of students only have the capability to utilize computers for major projects three-to-four times during the school year. The use of technological consistency is a key area of opportunity. The primary goal is to arrive at a point where all students will have consistent access to educational technologies. At RMS, accessible technology operations are restricted to one or two different types of technology for most staff and students. For RMS to reach the level of Intelligent, on the Maturity Model Impact Table, the school will have to reprioritize their focus on improving the budget, attaining more up-to-date technology for classroom instruction, and increasing teacher support.