Cindy Patterson, CETPA CTO Mentor Candidate

 

Learning Outcomes:

EdT-01.  Demonstrate a working knowledge with the Common Core standards that require technology ability, skills, or instruction.

·EdT-02. Demonstrate a working knowledge of a variety of technology tools, devices, and resources that can be used by the teacher to accomplish the Common Core standards and how those tools, resources, and devices will impact your department and your organization’s infrastructure.

 

Artifact Assignment

 

Utilizing your district’s 2013-15 plan and spending of the $200 ADA Common Core one time money, analyze the expenditures in all three areas (PD, Technology, Instructional Materials) and the results of those expenditures across the areas of teaching, learning, and infrastructure. Provide data as part of the analysis.

Develop a plan to spend the additional $140 ADA that each district will be receiving as additional one-time funding. Please include specifics (i.e. iPads, Chromebooks, Android tablets, Cisco routers, etc.) on devices, programs, software, professional development, infrastructure and instructional materials you feel are needed. Include how that plan will impact your department. Address how this spending will help teachers accomplish the Common Core.

 

http://laschoolreport.com/browns-budget-common-core-internet-charters-special-ed/ (Links to an external site.)

 

Present your plan to the Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services for your district. You may need to involve your supervisor in the conversation.

 

Please discuss the following areas:

o    Instructional Materials needs including the role of the technology department in selecting future curriculum and textbook adoptions.

o    Technology purchases and vetting devices for students based on data.

o    Infrastructure needs to address purchases, BYOD, 1:1, devices, etc.

o    Professional development including items such as 1:1 pedagogy, GAFE, Office 365, or other programs to be adopted for students and staff

 

Please be specific with the role of the CTO in determining instructional materials and analyzing the technology components of instructional materials to be purchased for Common Core.

 

 

Artifact

 

The purpose of this paper is to provide recommendations for the use of the $140 per student one time funding in the fiscal year 16 budget. These recommendations are based on currently deployed technology and trends for future technology.

 

Context

 

Santa Clara County Office of Education provides services directly to students in several different areas including Alternative Education, Special Education and Head Start.  The recommendations provided in this document are for the Alternative Education group.  This group has approximately 70 teachers and can range from 400-800 students.  The student population is very transient, moving from one facility to another and then back to their home district.  The Alternative Education population at Santa Clara County is located in several different facilities in Santa Clara County with a variety of levels of security.  Some of these facilities are residential and often referred to as ranches.  The technology has been well funded due to E-Rate funding and title 1 funding.  In the Alternative Education population 80% of the students are qualified for free and reduced lunch.

 

Reflection

 

During the 13-14 budget cycle the state provided a $200 per student allocation for implementation of common core funding.  This allocation from 2013 was used at SCCOE for Professional Development and Materials.  The original 13-14 SCCOE entitlement was $389,600.  The majority of the funds, approximately $300,000, were used for an additional 3 professional development days added to the end of the each school year.  An additional $48,000 was budgeted to purchase intervention curriculum.  These expenditures were not tied to any measurement or goals other than to provide additional opportunities for students in Alternative Education.  Due to the transient nature of our student body no specific data is available on the impact of these funds.

In January 2015 Governor Brown announced that the new fiscal year budget will include additional monies to support common core implementation.  The allocation of approximately $140 per student is intended to be used for Professional Development, Instructional Materials or Technology. 

 

The artifact presented is a review of the current technology state in Alternative Education at the SCCOE and a recommendation to fund IPads for teachers use.  This artifact demonstrates my understanding of the common core standards, technology implications and my ability to analyze and address needs associated with the common core standards and match budget to requirements.

 

This exercise was a journey for me.  Educational Technology, while an important piece of a CTO’s skill set, was my weakest point.  I am surrounded at work by people who understand the topic of Educational Technology and impacts; however, it is difficult to learn by osmosis.  The CTO program gave me an opportunity to learn about Educational Technology in a thorough and specific manner.  In addition, this exercise required that we read the common core standard and be able to use it as part of our analysis and discuss it with others.

 

My journey during this assignment began at attempting to obtain a copy of our SCCOE CCS plan from 2013.  Santa Clara County Office of Education is a large, geographically distributed organization.  Obtaining this item proved more difficult than I expected and demonstrated some of the political aspects of our organization.  Our Chief Technology Officer has always been a bridge between branches within SCCOE.  She fulfilled 3 roles; outreach to the community, support of SCCOE goals as a cabinet member, and the leader and visionary for the technology staff.  Unfortunately during this assignment the CTO position was vacant and in many different ways demonstrated how things become even more difficult when you do not have that leadership and representation. When I finally had the spending plan from 2013 I was initially surprised that the plan was focused on Professional Development and Instructional Materials.  What I had expected was more technology; Chromebooks, Networking, Infrastructure. 

 

My second area of learning and expanding awareness during this exercise was how busy the Student Services Branch is and how difficult it is to have a meeting with them.  Before this assignment I did not have any daily interaction with this group and still don’t.  While I was trying to arrange a meeting they were rarely in the office and very difficult to reach.  During 2013, when this plan was written, our office was very politically charged. The Technology Services Branch, although we had a CTO, was not included in the planning and analysis for use of this funding.  Now everyone seemed reticent to provide the plan from 2013 or discuss the plan.  I did have brief discussions with various people who worked in the Student Services Branch. I was not able to schedule a meeting with the Chief of that branch or the Directors.  I relied on discussions with my Supervisor and Mentor to complete this assignment.  This assignment highlighted an opportunity for me to try and improve communication and collaboration with the Student Services Branch and I will continue to try and find ways to become better connected with them.

 

In addition to my Mentor and Supervisor I also met with the Network Analyst and Technicians who support that group to improve my understanding of the Alternative Education environment.  We reviewed the network and bandwidth available in classrooms, and discussed what hardware was deployed in the classroom.  They helped me understand why it was important to have Professional Development for the teachers rather than more technology resources.  I saw through their lens that there was no need for additional technology but rather improved support for the teachers in the classroom because they already had enough technology.  Before this conversation I did not understand the impact of the E-rate funding and the new title 1 funding.  Again, these were all things I had read about but discussing current state with the people that support that area provided me with a real life example and experience.

I have benefited from the CTO mentor program because this exercise has led me to form better relationships with people in the Student Services Branch because I was interested in what they were doing and that created common ground.  It also helped me form better relationships with those that support technology in Student Services and understand their point of view. This exercise reaffirmed for me that it important to be persistent and look for alternative paths to the information and support you seek.  Through this exercise I have improved my understanding of Educational Technology including common core standards and classroom use of technology and am better prepared to shoulder the mantle of CTO.