Going the Distance!
September 2006
Newsletter Articles:
Greetings from GCI SchoolAccess
You are receiving this email as a friend of GCI SchoolAccess. We hope you had a great summer and we look forward to the start of a new school year. This monthly newsletter is designed to provide helpful news and tips to teachers, administrators and school technology coordinators.
Anchorage School District's Graduation Rate Significantly Increases in 2006
The Anchorage School District recently announced that its four-year graduation rate climbed in 2006 to 63.9 percent, a 4.3 percentage point increase over 2005. The director of ASD's high schools, Mike Henry, said that the district is "giving individual attention to each student in [our] schools, making sure they get the encouragement and support they need to stay in school." Superintendent Carol Comeau expects the rate to improve even further in the upcoming years. The four-year graduation rate measures how many students who begin ninth-grade stay in school through twelfth-grade and earn high school diplomas. The district's graduation rate includes eight comprehensive high schools and twelve alternative and charter schools that serve high school students.
Source: Anchorage School District Online, http://www.asd.k12.ak.us/PR/DistrictNews/article.asp?storyID=1235
Arizona's State Testing Program Approved by USDOE
Based on the "No Child Left Behind" national requirements, all 50 states must obtain approval by the United States Department of Education for state testing programs implemented in schools. In early August, 40 states were rejected and ten states testing programs were approved-Arizona was one of the fortunate ten. The test was designed by Arizona teachers specifically for each grade level from 3-8 through high school and each test measures "academic proficiency using reading, writing, and mathematic assessments." Other states with the same state approval and recommendations include: Maryland, Oklahoma, Tennessee, West Virginia, Delaware, Indiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Utah.
Source: Arizona Department of Education, http://www.ade.state.az.us/pio/Press-Releases/2006/pr08-03-06.pdf.
SCHOOL TECHNOLOGY FUNDING NEWS
Rural Montana Plaintiffs Seek Evaluation of Education Budget
Attorneys representing the coalition of school districts, educational organizations, and individual plaintiffs suing the state in the Columbia Falls litigation have filed a memorandum with the Montana Supreme Court requesting a hearing in spring 2007 to determine and evaluate the state's new funding system in regard to education. If the hearing were granted, it would occur after the next legislative session, which meets every other year in Montana. The case involves education funding and the fact that the $72 million in addition to the $34 million in one-time funds increases given earlier in 2006 are not cost-based. Instead they are based on "how much money the legislature deems available" and the fact that "funding goes through a political process that rewards districts according to their political power more than their need."
Source: The Rural School and Community Trust, http://www.ruraledu.org.
BEST PRACTICES
Northwest Arctic Borough School District Leverages GCI SchoolAccess to Help Special Needs Student
Northwest Arctic Borough School District completed another successful school year due in part to its utilization of GCI SchoolAccess Distance Learning and Enhanced Internet Services (DLS and EIS). Karl Kowalski, the district's director of instructional technology, led the district's technology initiatives in eleven different schools spanning across more than 37,000 square miles, approximately the size of Indiana. With such geographical barriers, it was extremely important for the district to make use of the technology to connect to other districts and to the Lower 48 states.
One example has been the NWABSD's utilization of the service to connect a hearing impaired student to a sign language interpreter in Seattle. "GCI set up a special circuit for us," said Kowalski. The student carried a laptop and camera with him from class to class where he could connect to the GCI SchoolAccess service to receive a video connection to his interpreter. "We were connected [to the interpreter] for about five hours a day," added Kowalski. The interpreter could see and hear what was going on in the classroom on her computer using the GCI SchoolAccess service. At the same time, the student was able to comprehend what was going on in the classroom through the connection to his interpreter. Without the service, the district would have faced serious challenges accommodating this student's needs.
The district also leveraged GCI SchoolAccess for a number of administrative meetings across all the school locations. In addition, the district's Spanish specialist was able to teach shared Spanish classes to three different school sites by using the videoconferencing capabilities of GCI ScoolAccess. Kowalski says the district plans to continue to leverage GCI SchoolAccess for these uses and others in the current school year. For more information about the NWABSD's programs, please visit http://www.nwarctic.org/.
PROBLEM SOLVER
10 Smart Ideas for Using a Smartboard
The Smartboard is a wonderful tool to use with students-including the group work, guided practice, and independent practice exercises. You can also use the Smartboard as a center activity. Here are some tips for using the Smartboard in the classroom effectively:
- Have the students write examples on their own worksheet that is set up like the Smartboard template. For example, if you are doing a Venn Diagram on the Smartboard, the students should be writing answers in their own Venn Diagram at their desks.
- Create pre-made answers on pieces of paper that they can place in their own Venn Diagrams at their seats (using paper, cut-and-paste).
- Link plastic rings that can be hooked together to make a Venn Diagram. The students could use these at their seats for more of a guided practice activity.
- Provide the students sitting at their seats or in the circle with an activity that corresponds to the activity currently taking place on the Smartboard.
- Give students answers or questions on slips of paper, allowing them to take turns coming up to the Smartboard. This will keep them focused on the lesson as they wait for their turn to come.
- Create your own whiteboards for students to use at their desks with laminated white poster board, or have students use individual dry erase boards at their seats. Provide the template for the students to place on top of their "whiteboard."
- Slide in some heavy paper (or a hard copy of the template) into a three ring binder page protector. Students use dry erase markers to write on their pages.
- Create team activities for use with the Smartboard. Split the class into two teams and let the students take turns from each team to go up to the Smartboard and answer questions (such as math problems).
- Create a classroom job of "Presenter" or "Vanna" in which a student is responsible for helping with the Smartboard presentations for the week (for example, have that student help move the slides in a PowerPoint from one to the next).
- Create a list of rules and procedures for times when you use the Smartboard. These can parallel your current classroom rules (for example, no talking while a student is working on the Smartboard, listen carefully at all times, be gentle with the Smartboard). Make a sign that you bring out only during Smartboard lessons.
For the complete article on "Smart Ideas for Using a Smartboard," go to the link provided.
Source: School CIO, http://www.techlearning.com/
EVENTS
CEFPI's 83rd Annual International Conference: "Creating the Future"
Date: September 16-19, 2006
Location: Phoenix, AZ.
This is an event for educators and school board members interested in safe, healthy, high performing and sustainable learning facilities for students. For more information, please visit http://www.cefpi.org/phoenix2006/.
ASBO's 92nd Annual Meeting & Exhibits
Date: October 13-16th, 2006
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
School business officials will gather to face the challenge head-on of providing every student with a quality education in the face of dwindling resources. For more information, please visit http://asbointl.org/Meetings/index.asp?bid=17030.
Alaska Association of School Administrators (AASA)
Date: November 9-12
Location: Fairbanks, AK
The AASA invites you to join over 350 school leaders at its 53rd annual conference. For more information, please visit http://www.alaskaacsa.org/AASA/aasa.htm.
