SAU 59

Winnisquam Regional School District

Tilton, Northfield, Sanbornton, New Hampshire

Technology Plan

2006-2009

Plan Revised: June 7, 2006

School Board Approval: July 17, 2006

Table of Contents

I. Technology Task Force and Membership.............................................................. 3

District Demographic Information................................................................................. 3

District Mission Statement............................................................................................. 4

Technology Vision Statement........................................................................................ 4

II. 2006-2009 Technology Goals.................................................................................... 4

Correlation with LEIP and the Local Master Professional Development Plan......... 5

III. Implementation of Goals............................................................................................ 5

Hardware......................................................................................................................... 5

Software........................................................................................................................... 6

Connectivity..................................................................................................................... 7

Support Staff................................................................................................................... 7

IV. Budget........................................................................................................................... 11

V. Evaluation...................................................................................................................... 13

VI. Policies and Procedures........................................................................................... 13

Appendix A: Technology Action Plan Timeline............................................................... 14

Appendix B: High School/Middle School Acceptable Use Policy................................ 19

Appendix C: Faculty/Staff Technology Acknowledgement............................................ 23

Appendix D: Elementary School Acceptable Use Policy.............................................. 24

I. Technology Task Force and Membership

The Technology Task Force is established as a team working under the district Curriculum Committee. The district employs a Director of Technology who serves on the Technology Task Force and is responsible for organizing, prioritizing and maintaining all technology systems. The Director works closely with the district Administrative Team (Superintendent, Director of Curriculum, Director of SPED and all school administrators) to identify needs and set priorities. Needs are also identified through requests from individuals and school-wide committees. Needs are assessed based on technology and curriculum goals, implementation costs and are then allotted within the annual budget or incorporated into district grants.

Goals of the technology plan will be reviewed annually by the Curriculum Committee and Technology Task Force. The Technology Task Force is made up of the following district personnel.

Central Office SAU # 59 Sanbornton Central School

Thomas Duer, Technology Assistant Adele Hoffmire, Grade 4 Teacher

Paul Hebert, Technology Assistant Sandra Sterling, Principal

Sharyn Orvis, Curriculum Director

Kevin Sousa, Director of Technology Southwick School

Candy Pederzani, Grade 4 Teacher

Winnisquam Regional High School Richard Hines, Principal

Ellen Barry, Social Studies Teacher

Scott Maltzie, Business Teacher Union Sanborn School

Joshua Malloy, Mathematics Teacher Christine Roman, Grade 2 Teacher

Jim Stapleton, Special Education Suzan Gannett, Principal and Chairperson

Judy Farr, Principal

School Board and Community

Winnisquam Regional Middle School Kevin Washburn, School Board and Parent

Jackie Chapley, Media Specialist Ken Randall, Community member

Pam Comeau, Technology Education

Tom Croteau, Principal

District Demographics

The Winnisquam School District is located in central New Hampshire and is typical of communities in the rural central region of the state. The communities that the district covers include Northfield, Tilton, and Sanbornton. As of March 1, 2006, the district consists of the following schools and student populations:

Union Sanborn School Pre K-2 304

Southwick School 3-5 256

Sanbornton Central School K-5 208

Winnisquam Regional Middle School 6-8 419

Winnisquam Regional High School 9-12 517

According to the 1999 census: Tilton’s population is 3,335 (increase of 2.9%); Northfield’s population is 4,548 (increase of 6.7%); and Sanbornton’s population is 2,292 (increase of 7.3%)

District Mission Statement

The mission of the Winnisquam Regional School District is to pursue excellence in education and prepare all students to become lifelong learners and responsible citizens in an ever-changing world.

Technology Vision Statement

The district believes that we need to prepare our students for a global economy and a society that is rapidly changing with developments in technology and the electronic information age. Technology is no longer an appendage to the educational process but rather an integral component to student learning and achievement. We envision using technology to further build a learning community to:

· Provide the best technology resources possible for our students, faculty and staff;

· Provide the highest quality of instruction based on curriculum standards and methods infused with modern technology;

· Educate students in the safe, ethical and productive uses of technology;

· Enhance communication with parents and the community;

· Provide improved access to technology for the communities we serve.

II. 2006-2009 Technology GOALS

1. To improve access to modern technology resources for students, faculty, staff and the communities we serve;
2. Provide adequate support staff for district computer technology;
3. To meet or exceed New Hampshire State Ed 306.42 Information and Communication Technologies Program standards for all students in the district;
4. To utilize technology to best meet or exceed state Grade Level Expectations and Grade Span Expectation in all areas of academics and the arts;
5. To provide professional development opportunities for faculty and staff to better integrate technology in the classroom;
6. To build on administrative technologies and software to automate functions, increase communications and make academic, student and other district data more accessible and useable;
7. To help make district computer technology more available to serve the local community;
8. To increase the use of state and local data to evaluate computer resources and needs in order to assess progress toward these goals.
9. To develop plans to maintain and/or grow the current Technology Promoting Student Excellence (TPSE) laptop initiative in the seventh grade beyond its four- year single grade scope;

Correlation With the LEIP and the Local Master Professional Development Plan

The LEIP of the School District written in 2002 is reviewed annually. Its vision is that all individuals will pursue excellence in education; prepare to become life-long learners and responsible citizens in our ever-changing world. Supporting that, the Local Master Professional Development Plan, revised in 2004, provides a framework for planning for continuous improvement based on presenting and studying research-based teaching techniques and assessments that will create life-long learners and contributing citizens.

A critical part of the process is preparing teachers to work with students using technology so that it is seamlessly integrated with all curricular areas. In order to facilitate this, numerous professional development activities are available to staff. This also includes workshops explaining the how use of Northwest Educational Association’s MAP testing so that differentiate instruction can occur. Staff is encouraged to attend technology workshops held outside the district such as those offered through NHSTE, the Christa McAuliffe Technology Conference. Online coursework is available through Connected University, and PBS Teacherline.

III. Implementation of Goals

GOAL 1: To improve access to modern technology resources for students, faculty, staff and the communities we serve;

HARDWARE

The district has been successful in deploying technology at all schools. Every school and classroom has high-speed Internet access with minimally one networked computer. Each school has a classroom size computer lab and media centers with internet access and various numbers of systems for student and staff use. With the laptop initiative, Technology Promoting Student Excellence, every seventh grade student (approximately 160) has his or her own laptop computer for use throughout the school day. Seventh grade teachers have also been provided laptops. At the high school there are also two mobile carts (14 laptops each) shared between classrooms.

ACTION PLAN

1. Maintain the inventory database of all computer systems in the district with a formal plan beginning in the 2006 -2007 school year to upgrade one fifth or more of district computers each year. In five years or less all systems will be viable to running the latest operating systems and software that is available;
   
   
2. Improve access to printers by replacing inkjet printers with centrally-located, high functioning printers;

3. Install permanent LCD projectors in the computer lab and library at each school; Purchase additional LCD projectors for use in the classroom;

4. Purchase additional mobile computer labs for all schools to be shared in all curricular areas;

5. Gradually purchase more laptop computers to provide more students daily one to one access to technology;
   
   
6. Create a multi-media computer center in each school equipped with a scanner, digital camera, and color printer. The high school center will also include equipment for video editing;

7. Systematically replace servers and acquire new storage systems with the capacity to accommodate Technology Literacy Portfolios at the middle and high school levels;

SOFTWARE

The district provides a multitude of software on each school level which supports curriculum goals and computer literacy requirements. Software requests are made by individual classroom teachers and subject area departments. Software requests are made to the Technology Task Force submitted through local principals and are approved on the basis of the described need and evaluation of the product. New and/or updated software for general academic, SPED or other special programs is always developing. Online programs are also available in the district such as World Book Online Reference Center, NWEA MAP resources, Enchanted Learning and A to Z Reading. Other online programs and tools under consideration are United Streaming, NovaNET, WebCT and Blackboard.

ACTION PLAN

1. Continue to evaluate, purchase and inventory academic software including web based programs and subscriptions for use throughout the district;
   
   
2. Upgrade Microsoft Office to standardize software throughout the district;

3. Continue to implement virus protection software, spam blocking, Internet filtering and firewalls to protect the integrity of the system;

4. Upgrade computer lab monitoring/teaching software at all schools;

5. Explore more distance learning programs and other online resources such as NovaNET, Blackboard^® and WebCT^®.

CONNECTIVITY

ACTION PLAN

1. Continue to build and strengthen the infrastructure and backbone of school LANs and the district WAN to meet growing demands on servers, applications and bandwidth for local and Internet usage;

2. Addition of T-1 lines as needed to accommodate increased demand for online services and programs.

GOAL 2: Provide adequate support staff for district computer technology

SUPPORT STAFF

The technology support staff for the district is made up of the full time Director of Technology, part time secretary and two full time Tech Assistants (technicians), one primarily for the three elementary schools and one primarily for the middle and high school systems. The Assistants focus on maintaining all computer/printer systems and in addition the Director manages all network systems and servers. Additional contracted services are used annually for major upgrades and server issues. This meets or exceeds the state guidelines for the staffing formula.

Technician ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Technician MIDDLE SCHOOL and HIGH SCHOOL

The support staff also includes three part-time technology Lab Assistants who help with technology integration at the elementary school level. Each assistant works with classroom teachers in the lab settings for 20 hours a week.

ACTION PLAN

1. Continue the Service/Hardware request system to identify and respond to hardware issues promptly to minimize any lack of technology access for class instruction.

2. Provide more training, formal or informal, to technology Lab Assistants to help with triaging computer problems.

GOAL 3: To meet or exceed New Hampshire State Ed 306.42 Information and Communication Technologies Program standards for all students in the district;

GOAL 4: To utilize technology to best meet or exceed state Grade Level Expectations and Grade Span Expectations in all areas of academics and the arts;

The formal District Technology Curriculum guides the program of studies K-12. In summation: Students learn the basics of hardware and software operation, word processing, presentation software and safe Internet use in a lab setting throughout the elementary years. Embedded with this instruction is a focus on learning to type. They use many different software programs to support classroom subject matter and to assist in reading, writing and mathematics. They also use specialized programs such as Earobics to teach phonemic awareness and Inspiration to assist in visual thinking and learning.

At the middle school, skills previously learned are reinforced and there is a greater, more thorough use and exposure to MSOffice applications (word processing, spreadsheets, and database operations). Emphasis is placed on developing problem solving skills, accessing and managing data. They have exposure to a broader range of technologies to encourage creative abilities including scanners, digital cameras, laptop computers and a higher level of use of software for class projects, reports and homework. Greater access to the Internet and research is made available from classrooms and media center computers. The laptop initiative in the seventh grade (TPSE) uniquely builds the use and integration of technology in classrooms daily. Currently, by the end of eighth grade students are expected to pass a computer literacy examination.

Currently all students at WRHS must earn ½ credit in computer literacy to fulfill the NH graduation requirement. The high school curriculum offers basic computer application and keyboard skill courses for students who have not met computer literacy requirements from the middle school. More advanced courses include programming, CAD, desktop publishing and graphic design and digital photography with real-world projects such as layout of the yearbook and webpage development. These courses incorporate an in-depth use of programs such as the Adobe Suite, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, PageMaker, and for programming, Visual Basic, and Visual C++. The high school does offer limited credit recovery programs such as Advanced Learning System and supplemental Advanced Placement courses not offered at the high school are offered online through Apex Learning. All students have access to the World Book Online Reference Center in school or from home. The technology curriculum and assessment systems at the middle and high schools are currently being evaluated to better incorporate ICT Literacy Program Standards to updated rubrics and establish procedures for student digital portfolios.

ACTION PLAN

1. Provide additional training to teachers developing expertise to work as mentors with other teachers in the use of technology in curricular areas.

2. Profile our seventh grade teachers to share their experience (successes and limitations) of working with students and the laptops for the past 2 ½ years. Eighth grade and high school teachers have this local resource which could advance integration as we move closer toward a one to one computer environment;

3. Develop teacher use of the NWEA MAP testing to interpret student scores, track improvement and use affiliated resources such as Knowledge Academy and DesCartes continuum of learning to set goals for individual students and differentiate instruction to meet each student’s needs. Other programs to help teachers differentiate student learning will be available;

4. Hire a technology integration specialist to work with teachers at each grade level and develop methods and ideas to optimize the use of all available technology in classrooms. This person would work under the Director of Curriculum and with the Director of Technology and would be phased in over the next three years;

5. Increase student technology course offerings in the high school;

6. Expand the use of programs like Advance Learning System (A+) for credit recovery, remediation and other alternative education opportunities.
   
   

GOAL 5: To provide professional development opportunities for faculty and staff to integrate technology in the classroom;

Learning the new roles and ways of teaching that go hand-in-hand with technology integration requires that teachers have opportunities to participate in an extended process of professional development. Teachers need time to acquire technology skills and develop new teaching strategies for integrating technology into the classroom

ACTION PLAN

1. Increase the number of teachers attending the Christa McAuliffe Technology Conference;

2. Include technology integration as a district initiative on staff development plans;

3. Utilize Level of Technology Integration (LoTi) as a needs assessment to determine staff development needs;

4. Develop a technology integration plan (separate from this document) that provides a framework for staff development and technology integration;

5. Provide more training for classroom teacher’s knowledge of The Lexile Framework website and NWEA’s DesCarte system for differentiating instruction to meet the needs of students

GOAL 6: To build on administrative technologies and software to automate functions, increase communications and make academic, student and other district data more accessible and useable;

ACTION PLAN

1. Upgrade district student database information system to centralized program easily accessible to district personnel by appropriate level and security;

2. Enabling a web interface for parents/guardians to have easy access to current attendance and academic records of their students

3. Keep current and accurate teacher contact information available through the district web site.
   
   
4. Encourage teachers to develop classroom web pages for their classes to improve communication and parent involvement;

GOAL 7: To help make district computer technology more available to serve the local community;

ACTION PLAN

1. Establish a task force as part of the District Curriculum Committee to study the possibility of reinstituting adult education in computer technology.

2. Utilize the High School computer club and existing school open houses to offer technology demonstrations to help the community see the different aspects of computer use;

GOAL 8: To increase the use of state and local data to evaluate computer resources and needs in order to assess progress toward these goals.

ACTION PLAN

1. Survey parents/guardians to determine the level of technology available to students from home;

2. Annual completion of LoTi survey among all faculty in the district;

3. Annual completion of NH School Building Technology Survey

4. Conduct a study of Taking a Good Look of Instructional Technology (TAGLIT) from T.E.S.T. Inc. for possible use in the district;

GOAL 9: To develop plans to maintain and/or grow the current Technology Promoting Student Excellence (TPSE) laptop initiative in the seventh grade beyond its four-year single grade scope

ACTION PLAN

1. Develop a method to highlight or evaluate student achievement by the use of this technology and successful integration by teachers;

2. Consult with vendor representatives to project annual costs for a possible maintenance program;

3. Investigate the possibility of a leasing program;

4. Investigate other possibilities such as a shared cost program by parents or companies within the community;

5. Consult with current program support personnel in and outside of the district about future prospects;

6. Investigate other districts (e.g. in Maine) methods for sustaining and building the program;

IV. Budget

The WRSD Technology Budget is developed between October and December of each year for the following school year. The budget is accepted by the School Board, which then presents the entire school budget at Town Meeting held later in March. The budget year 2006-07 below is the officially accepted budget for that year while the later two years are unofficial estimates only, based on past and projected costs associated with the technology plan.

To assist with the technology budget, the WRSD has participated in the Universal Service Fund program, ERate, since its inception in 1998/99. The program is intended to ensure that schools and libraries have access to affordable telecommunications and information services. To date the district has benefited with over $270,000.00 refunded of the telecommunication costs incurred over the years. The district is committed to continue the application and process of the program.

WRSD TECHNOLOGY BUDGET	School Year
Cost Center	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09
Salary & Benefits	$232,974.00	$ 266,027.00	$ 299,654.00
Contracted Services	$ 12,000.00	$ 13,000.00	$ 14,000.00
Conferences	$ 400.00	$ 500.00	$ 500.00
Books and Resources	$ 250.00	$ 250.00	$ 250.00
Tech. Phone Service	$ 500.00	$ 500.00	$ 550.00
Internet/Telecom Lines	$ 32,940.00	$ 34,500.00	$ 35,500.00
Supplies - District Hardware	$ 13,830.00	$ 14,530.00	$ 15,257.00
Software - Academic	$ 13,800.00	$ 17