Instructional Technology Group (IT)

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TECHNOLOGY GRANTS & INITIATIVES

Ongoing and Past Grants and Initiatives

Instructional Methods to Positively Affect the use of Classroom Technology (IMPACT) 2008-2009:
The goal of this project is to create a cross district professional learning community working collaboratively to improve both their own productivity and student achievement through integration of technology into content areas on academic teams at both Forest Park Middle School and Baird (Ludlow) Middle School.

Teaching New Things In New Ways:
The goal of this project is for twenty teachers from Springfield and West Springfield Public Schools to participate in a hybrid model professional development on interactive whiteboard technology (SmartBoards). MassOne and other Web 2.0 tools will be used in between face-to-face sessions as tools to enhance and promote active independent learning of participants. Each teacher will create and implement three fully integrated lesson plans using interactive whiteboards and together evaluate their success and make any additional changes to their plans based on the feedback from their students and their peers.

Technology for Data-Driven Decisions (TD3):
Project Summary - The Springfield Public School district is committed to continuous improvement for all students, faculty, and administrators. The goal of the Springfield Schools: Data-Driven Decisions Through Technology (S2D3T2) project is to enable Springfield Public Schools’ (SPS) staff to work collaboratively with the MA Department of Education to use the state's data warehouse system, hosted locally, to collect and archive student demographic and assessment, educator, human resources, financial, student transportation, and other data that is determined to be necessary to support data-driven educational decisions to advance student achievement. The objectives are to load all necessary data in an accurate, thorough, and timely fashion; to produce timely, thorough, accurate and easily-accessed longitudinal data and reports for analysis by and for all appropriate stakeholders; to work collaboratively with SPS staff to enable them to turn data into information, information into knowledge, and knowledge into action; to provide the data necessary for analysis and reporting through the district’s Value-Added Academic Achievement Growth Model Measurement System, and, whenever possible, to work collaboratively with other Massachusetts school districts who are using the state’s data warehouse. The outcome of the project will be to have appropriate staff at 100% of our schools and at the Central Office trained and able to easily access and utilize the valid, accurate, reliable data and information they need, in a timely fashion, to make effective curricular and policy changes to ensure academic achievement.

Project MEET http://www.doe.mass.edu/projectmeet
Project MEET (Massachusetts Empowering Educators with Technology) is a Massachusetts initiative and one of 20 projects nationwide that was funded through the federal Technology Innovation Challenge Grant for the years 1998 - 2003. Project MEET leverages the state's current investment in technology so that technology reinvigorates the teaching staff, motivates students, and produces real improvements in teaching and student learning. Project MEET provides a statewide collaborative of nationally recognized organizations to create a sustained focus on technology professional development in multiple districts across the state.
To achieve these goals Project MEET worked to create widespread understanding of the potential of technology in the classroom, and foster technology integration to revitalize classroom practice.

Springfield Educators and Administrators Online in Support of Student Achievement Grant (SEAoL)
Springfield’s initiative to develop online coursework for students, teachers, and administrators: Springfield Educators and Administrators Online (SEAoL) in Support of Student Achievement will focus on the use of online learning to continue to build the capacity of the Springfield Public Schools to provide quality professional development for administrators and teachers, enabling them to integrate technology and assistive technologies into the PreK-12 curriculum and improve student achievement and technology literacy at all grade levels. Administrator and teacher teams in this project are being trained to be designers and facilitators of online curriculum; and they will facilitate, design and deliver a rigorous program of standards-based technology-enhanced online courses to administrators, teachers, and students in the Springfield Public Schools. Participants are also being trained to use online tools to evaluate the effectiveness of the online professional development courses, and to use online assessment techniques and handheld technologies to measure the impact of the online courses on teacher implementation and student achievement. In addition, participants are learning to use the tools of VES and CLASP to inform and support their instruction. All curriculum materials created will be in alignment with the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks, the Massachusetts Recommended PreK-12 Instructional Technology Standards, the Springfield District Learning Outcomes, the Springfield Culture of Achievement Goals, and the Springfield Public Schools Core Values.

Regional Employment Board Technical Training for Teachers
Four teachers from the High School of Science and Technology were awarded $5000 scholarships by the Regional Employment Board of Hampden County. The Information and Telecommunication Technology training initiative, (IT²), is operated by the Regional Employment Board of Hampden County, Inc., in partnership with the Franklin/ Hampshire Regional Employment Board, through a $3M grant from the US Department of Labor-ETA-H-1B office. These grant funds are primarily designed to support upgraded skills training of employed and unemployed workers in technology-related occupations within the private sector.
However, in order to increase the pipeline of workers in these technology-related occupations, especially those that are under-represented in these fields, more students in the Kindergarten through Grade 12 education system need to become excited about, and interested in, studying these fields.
The first place to start is with the teachers of those students to make sure they are provided with the latest and best in information and telecommunication technology skills and education. Therefore, IT² was approved to develop a small demonstration project aimed at the educators of technology-related subjects at the high school level.

Hampshire College Partnership to Assist High School Teachers with Computer and Information Technology Classes
Professors from Hampshire College worked throughout the 2002-2003 school year with Computer and Information Technologies teachers from the Springfield Public Schools to examine our course offerings to ensure that they are rigorous, relevant, interesting, and career-enhancing for our students.

Intel Teach to the Future (Grant)
During the 2002-2003 school year, 7 Springfield Public Schools teachers were selected to become Intel Master Teachers. They attended technology professional development provided by Intel, received a laptop, software, and $5,000 to equip their classrooms with technology resources. In turn, they provided 40 hours of technology / curriculum integration professional development for 140 of their Springfield Public Schools colleagues.

Massachusetts DOE Homebound Grant:
The Instructional Technology Department is currently engaged in creating online course modules for students who cannot attend school. The online course modules are designed to facilitate student learning until the student can return to school.

Digital Dream Teams - 2003-2004 and 2004-2005:
Over the two year grant period, 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 school years, the Digital Dream Teams provided the following opportunities for Kiley Middle School:
7 year-one participants (one middle school team and administrator) participated in two workshops, one based upon the Project MEET model focusing on basic computer usage, internet resources, copyright and fair use, Microsoft Office tools including PowerPoint, Excel, and Word (24 hours), and the other from Hampshire Educational Collaborative (HEC) focusing on assistive technology and universal design (40 hours). Professional development totaled 75 hours and also included embedded professional development. The year-one participants created a team-based portfolio of technology infused lesson plans and cart management documentation.
27 year-two participants included 5 year-one participants who were trained to become technology facilitators and 20 new participants representing each of the sixth grade teams in the school. Professional development for the year-two participants also followed the Project MEET model and included the same topics with the addition of building web pages. Each individual participant created professional portfolios of technology infused lesson plans based upon each of the workshop topics, in addition to team portfolios of cart management documentation.

Massachusetts DOE Chemistry Grant:
The Science Department at High School of Science and Technology is utilizing mobile laptop carts and Chemistry software to improve student achievement using Molecular Workbench and ChemDraw.

MADOE Partnership for Online Professional Development:
Project Summary - Springfield Public Schools (SPS) and Virtual High School (VHS) will develop an Online Course for Elementary Teachers: Mathematics - Fractions. Once the course development is completed, VHS will facilitate the course for 6 SPS teachers who have committed to becoming instructors of the online course. Upon successful completion of the course as a participant, the 6 SPS teachers will then take a course in facilitating online coursework with VHS. Finally, in the summer of 2008 the 6 SPS teachers will facilitate the online course in teams of 3 for an additional two groups of 25 elementary teachers in each group.

MassONE VISION PLC - Virtual Instructional Support using Innovative ONline Professional Learning Communities:
Data-driven Instruction and Standards-based Thematic Unit Planning in Support of High Student Achievement in Middle Schools

Project Summary - MassONE VISION PLC is a virtual professional learning community working collaboratively to improve student achievement by focusing on data-driven instruction, thematic standards-based unit planning, and one-to-one computer integration of mobile cart technology in academic teams in the middle school. As a model for creating and implementing a professional learning community, MassONE Vision PLC can be used to develop other Vision PLC groups that focus on specific areas of need for districts and schools, based upon analysis of data and goals of district and school improvement plans. Through online professional development and support, teachers and administrators utilize MassONE to understand how analyzing data regarding student work in thematic standards-based units can drive instruction and improve student learning at the middle school level. Professional development and focus group discussions will include effective integration of one-to-one computing within the academic middle school team through standards-based thematic units incorporating math, science, English language arts, and social studies. As a result of the project, academic team teachers will receive professional development and support as they create their virtual professional learning community, integrate technology into the daily life their classrooms, and use data to drive instruction through collaborative experiences grounded in students’ work.

Project Partners -
Michelina Cahillane - District Instructional Technology Specialist cahillanem@sps.springfield.ma.us
46 Oakland Street, Springfield, MA 01108 - (413) 262-7915
Donna Boivin - District Director of Technology boivind@sps.springfield.ma.us
Deborah Gendreau District Supervisor of Technology gendreaud@sps.springfield.ma.us
Kristina Chapel - Information Systems Specialist chapelk@sps.springfield.ma.us

Striving Readers Grant:
The High School of Science and Technology, Roger L. Putnam Vocational High School, and the High School of Commerce will implement Read180 as a result of this grant award.

Current Grants

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