D135 Staff: Technology Could Boost Standards Ranks

Orland School District 135 may see different technology in the classroom by 2015, depending on the state’s feedback.

Laura Berry, director of curriculum for the district, outlined ideas for technology improvements in schools for the board during Monday night’s committee meeting.

In April, Berry will be seeking board approval on a three-year state technology plan that will be submitted to the state. If the plan meets approval from both District 135’s board and the Illinois State Board of Education, then the district can move forward in adding technological advances detailed in the plan. The district will be responsible to fund the tech updates outlined in the plan and that spending also needs approval from the local board.

“We are getting students ready for work and for life – from kindergarten on up,” Berry said. “It is not unrealistic to bring standards down to the kindergarten level. Standards are now more than just reading, writing, and arithmetic. We have specific skills to focus on – like teamwork and creative thinking.”

Berry said that the state has common core course standards in English, reading and math. The core standards are part of a state-driven education initiative intended to encourage students to learn skills used on standardized tests, such as the ISAT, and to be used in later schooling and professional work following education. Illinois will be proposing core science standards in the next six to nine months to schools.

The district is working with around 60 teachers to develop a stronger curriculum across all subjects, including technology. Berry will be asking the board to buy new textbooks a year from now, but the amount of funding needed is unknown. Over the next three years, Berry said the board should consider replacing 322 desktop computers, projectors, installing new software, and implementing streaming video instead of VCRs.

Berry also recommended updating school servers, adding Skype cameras so students can Skype with people around the country and overseas, including authors and students in other classrooms.  Another possible addition includes 1:1 digital e-readers for students. Berry said she planned to have cost numbers for the board by the April meeting.

Board member John Carmody wanted to know if increased technology would coincide with an increase in students’ standardized test scores.

“If we are going to spend an extra $350,000, will we see an increase in test scores?” Carmody asked.

Berry told the board that new technology has the potential to help students better understand the curriculum, especially those who have been lacking in certain areas.

Right now, the district is meeting state standards at the 92nd or 93rd percentile. Adding seven or eight percent could mean that almost all of the district’s students would be meeting standards.

Chris Bohula, a fourth and fifth grade technology teacher from Liberty and High Point Schools, offered ways students could use technology and other new standards in the classroom.

Bohula suggested creating homework assignments where students would write responses on secure Internet discussion boards. Students could also use special student-centered software that would create an answer-based quiz system, where each correct answer on a quiz would give the student a more challenging question, to engage their critical thinking skills.

 “We need to integrate technology into everyday education,” Bohula said. “The first generation of the Internet was teacher centered – you provided information to students and the information went one way. Now, communication goes two ways, using discussion boards. Now, our technology is a mile wide and an inch deep. We throw so much information at students that they cannot absorb it- we are just filling up their hard drives. We want to work on the processor of the student-we want to see how well they can use the information we give them.”

Bohula sent out a survey to various teachers in other school districts asking them about students and their technology use, and told the board that updating software and computer hardware was necessary, as well as creating trainings for teachers on how to use different Internet tools, like blogs and discussion boards.

Bohula said he understood that finances were a concern, but that the value of education was more important.

“We need to make changes in the classroom, not just the computer lab,” Bohula said. “I don’t value my teaching based on my paycheck – as a teacher, I look at the value I have to the students.”

Board members jokingly asked Bohula to be part of the district’s budget committee.

Staffing Report

Julie Oberwise, the human resources director for the district, told the board that they were a bit lower than normal with their staffing level budget. The staffing report followed an enrollment report presented in February that showed enrollment fell by about .

“We compared administrators' salaries to the percent of the budget using the Illinois Interactive Report Card,” Oberwise said. “Our staffing level is 1.9 percent of our budget. Our staffing budget is below average; but we are in the general range of other school districts for the administrator-to-student ratio. We are right where we want to be.”

Board member John Carmody said the next step was to look at staff salaries.

“We need to get the staff salaries and find out what we are paying on the whole,” Carmody said. “We have negotiations coming up.”

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to correct inaccurate details about funding and clarify information about the intent of the program, the potential outcome if implemented and plans for adoption. Patch regrets the errors.