A.+Needs+Assessement

Link to ETIL 2009-1012 = = =**A. Needs Assessment**=

//Conducting a needs assessment involves identifying ET-IL program needs within the larger context of organizational needs and goals. It is recommended that for a start, you should evaluate the progress of the previous ET-IL plan. There are many forms of needs assessments and districts should choose a method that meets local needs, be it a survey process involving students and staff or a more formalized process.//

Guiding Questions:
//1. What progress has been made towards meeting needs identified in the previous ET-IL plan? 2. Describe the needs assessment you conducted to develop this ET-IL plan. 3. Does your needs assessment(s) include the acquisition of technology and information literacy skills? 4. Does your needs assessment(s) include the acquisition of other 21st century skills?//

Three years ago, the Thompson School District performed a comprehensive review of its Educational Technology and Information Literacy frameworks, practices, goals and action strategies. During the beginning of this school year, 2008-2009, we began this cycle anew.

//Type of needs assessment//
The members of our the Thompson School District Technology Steering Committee gathered information from the members of various committees and stakeholder groups: Technology Advisory Committee, Technology Coaches, Technology Facilitators, district Technologists, Network Systems Engineers, Help Desk professionals, principals, students, teachers and staff at-large disaggregated by level (elementary, middle, high) and job type (administrator, certified, classified). The Technology Steering Committee used formal and informal focus groups, formal surveys, project completion indicators and an open system for general feedback to obtain the necessary information to make an assessment of needs.

//Progress made towards previous ET-IL plan//
The Thompson School District has made significant progress towards it's previous ET-IL goals in the area of access, information literacy, competency, and professional practice. Listed below are the target goal areas from last cycle's ET-IL goals. As noted, significant progress has been made in certain areas. However, additional attention must be directed to unmet goal targets and emerging needs.

Access

 * Stakeholders have equitable access to technology tools
 * __Most staff members, 74% and above, believe they have access to the tools they need to be productive.__ Thompson's 1 to 1 ratio of certified teacher to computer creates a strong foundation for a feeling of general access. Classified staff has seen an overall improvement of access. More computers are available to campus monitors, para-professionals, and faculty assistants.
 * __However, less than 50% of certified staff feel they have access to the technology they need to be successful with students in their classroom setting__. An increase in demand for peripherals and productivity tools like document cameras, LCD projectors, interactive board technology without the ability to satisfy the demand has increased the percentage of certified and administrative personnel feeling they do not have what it takes to adequately educate students for the 21st century.
 * Students have equitable access to learning opportunities, regardless of location
 * __Most staff members, 86% believe students have equitable access to learning opportunities across the district__. Thompson's 5 to 1 student to computer ratio allows schools to maintain an adequate level of access for most students. Nearly all students surveyed reveal they use the computer at school regularly, for a variety of purposes and projects. The number of students using technology at school has increased overall. Many feel the increase in mobile lab carts have created an increased opportunity for just-in-time technology integration within the classroom. Teachers report a preference to checking out a mobile cart to work in their classrooms over checking out a computer lab to bring students to for work. This increase in flexibility has benefitted student access. In the last ET-IL cycle, Thompson met its goal of providing an email account to every secondary student and parent portal access to review grades and disciplinary referrals. In fact, 95% of our students self reported that they have access to computers and the internet at home, this number much larger than originally believed.
 * __However, less than 50% of our students report using the computer for 21st century kinds of learning__ like collaborating with experts or peers worldwide; producing blogs, podcasts, web pages, or wikis; and evaluating the validity and reliability of information found on the internet, databases, and other kinds of media. In fact, more students report using technology at home than using it at school. Finally, information gathered through focus groups reveal that the level of student interaction with technology and 21st century learning opportunities continues to be more of a function of which teacher the student has been assigned, rather than a guaranteed and viable learning expectation.
 * Support for technology is equitable and ubiquitous for all staff and students
 * __After the passing of the 2007 Thompson Mil Levy Override and Bond election, additional funds earmarked for technology support have benefited students and staff alike__. The Professional Development (PD) department was able to maintain 1.0 FTE in the form of a districtwide TOSA for instructional technology integration. Levied funds will also provide the department of Information Systems & Technology Services (ISTS) technologist support for the two new schools scheduled to open and a bond engineer for development of technology infrastructure in general. Our department of Community Relations and Community Serivices increased their staffing with videographers and a part-time webmaster in order to meet the increased needs of distance learning opportunities and internal/external communications. Funding was also provided for server and WAN/LAN upgrades, increased bandwidth, distance learning initial needs for elementary, and digital video/database subscriptions.
 * __Even though most staff feel that technology support and service has increased in the recent years, we are concerned that the increasing demand of technology__ through a variety of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) programs, comprehensive computer-based assessment systems, comprehensive computer-based intervention systems, improved technology integration within curriculum, and increased use of peripherals like document cameras, interactive board technology and clicker tool technology may tax the support system if we are not monitoring our needs and abilities to serve continuously.
 * Systems and infrastructure are robust and adaptable
 * __The passage of the 2007 Thompson Mil Levy Override and Bond election provided much needed funds to increase bandwidth and other infrastructure which has allowed an increase of productivity across the district__. The WAN and LAN enhancements provide greater internet and networking speeds to end users across the district. This has been especially helpful with the addition of web-based applications. The funds are allowing our district to implement a comprehensive personnel and financial management application. This database will streamline various older systems that did not speak to each other, and will effectively decrease redundant data entry in finance, human resources, special education and other departments. The additional funds have allowed our school district to maintain its previous budget for capital improvements. If the mill and bond did not pass, we would have needed to start dipping into our general funds to pay for these items.
 * __As mentioned previously, an increasing demand for additional technology is outpacing our available funding__. The Technology Steering Committee is searching for a way to provide equitable infrastructure for classroom learning. Mills pay for video content at the secondary, while we need to locate funds for elementary programming. Outdated hardware, like 27 inch televisions, need to be replaced with flat monitors and/or LCD projectors. Schools are using their own precious funds to pay for these types of purchases along with interactive board technology, document cameras, and other peripherals like iPods and PDAs.

Information Literacy

 * Stakeholders are information literate
 * __In order to achieve the vision the Thompson School District set for itself, "developing students to be creative thinkers, informed citizens, and productive workers," all users must be information literate__. Great strides have been made in this arena. All secondary students have access to district email accounts and virtual workspaces. Thompson School District is proud to call attention to its four new focus schools for critical thinking, and three schools working towards IB designation. According to teacher and student surveys, an increasing number of lessons utilizing blogs, wikis, podcasting, collaborative projects, mixed-media research, problem-based learning projects, and moodles are being incorporated into what is considered "normal" and expected practice. The number of students accessing information databases, video content, and other electronic materials has increased as well, according to district user statistics. In times of economic downturn, our district has been able to maintain funding for its district media specialists and assistants. Additional mill funding has provided part time and full time instructional coaching at each elementary and secondary school sites. Instructional coaches, technology coaches and media specialists/assistant are learning to become a powerful collective resource to teachers as they increase their knowledge related to 21st century learning strategies like creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, ICT Literacy, initiative and self-direction, social and cross-cultural skills, leadership and responsibility, communication and collaboration, media literacy, flexibility and adaptability, as well as productivity and accountability.
 * __While the users in our district, both student and staff, have increased their information literacy skills, we acknowledge that we must do more to support our users as they learn to create these dynamic learning environments and opportunities__. According to our needs assessment survey data, teachers and staff report that they would incorporate more 21st century learning strategies if they had access to the tools, the time to learn how to incorporate them into their lesson design, and the job-embedded support to do so. The lack of integration of information literacy does not appear to be due to cognitive dissonance or philosophical disagreement. Instead, we believe that the lack of 21st century learning integration comes from good old-fashioned lack of sustained guidance and support. Our staff in the Thompson School District feels fragmented with a number of simultaneous initiatives that compete for their time and attention. Two years ago, our teachers began a large-scale literacy implementation. Information literacy, while a target of the new curriculum, was not nearly such an important focus as the new essential learning targets, materials, and instructional strategies.
 * Stakeholders are able to communicate globally, and improving academic achievement in all areas
 * __An increase in technology access has resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of students and staff who self report to be engaging in projects that involve global communication and social networking collaboration which translates to improved student achievement__. Just this year, French 4 students from one of our local high schools won an international competition to create a video advertising commercial advocating language learning. More and more teachers and principals are sharing conversations about their ePals projects, interactive blogs, and collaborative wikis. We feel a building excitement across our district to integrate these new kinds of learnings. School technology committees are increasingly more activated to bring professional learning opportunities to support this kind of instruction to their teaching staff. In addition, more students and families are actively advocating for this kind of learning. Such advocacy inspires schools to reevaluate their lesson design, curriculum maps, purchase orders and strategic planning.
 * __Even though we have made great strides in this area, we know that we are far from erasing the digital divide__. Every moment new opportunities emerge and we feel that the gap widens. We must push ourselves at every level to create dynamic learning environments where students can learn the skills they need to be globally competitive and adaptive. It is also imperative that we stay on top of new developments and manage effectively the concern between safety and access. To allow cell phones, or to not allow cell phones: for too many schools this question is indicative of the balance of managing school safety concerns for expediency sake and planning effectively to teach students to use 21st century learning tools appropriately. Another example, just a week ago our Technology Steering Committee discussed how to manage staff Facebooking and Twittering with students. How do we educate our staff to be able to use these social networking tools in such a way that allows them to engage students in robust learning? At the same time how can we help them be very aware of potential liabilities and problems they may be called on to manage in this new communication arena?

Competency

 * Users are technologically competent
 * __Needs assessment data reveal that a majority of our users are technologically competent.__ Nearly 70% of our 8th graders are meeting core proficiency standards by the time they finish 8th grade. Through our participation in a multi-district consortium, we created and implemented an 8th grade technology assessment tool during the 2007-2008 school year. Our assessment focused on determining if students could demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations; perform research fluently; as well as understand the ethical dilemmas related to the use of technology. We are currently determining how we can adequately assess the other student learning benchmarks related to 21st century learning and collaboration skills. Data gathered from principals and other supervisors report that their staff is adequately prepared and technologically competent up to the minimum standards and expectations set by our district. Data gathered from directors and those who supervise principals report that a noticeable increase in technology competency has been observed. District trainers report that our staff is learning to use new tools more rapidly and integrating them into practice: tools like student data management, user workspaces, user discussion threads, productivity tools that include Google Docs, Access, PowerPoint, Word, Excel, wikis, moodles, financial data management software applications, interactive board technology, clickers and Blackberries! In fact, keeping up with the need for technology staff development has been more difficult than managing competency. More information will be revealed in the next section on professional practice.
 * __Data reveals that our district must close an achievement competency gap before we can meet our goal of ALL users being technologically competent__. School improvement plans are regularly reviewed to ensure that student and staff technology competencies are addressed in the form of goal targets and detailed with key success indicators. Technology Coaches, Media Specialists, Instructional Coaches, school technology committees and other passionate persons regularly support site use and report that while the general population is becoming more competent what was considered exceeding the standard is quickly becoming the minimum standard. For example, in our district, minimum competency for staff is using email regularly to communicate with staff and families, and communicating with students and those outside our community exceeding the standard. When we look at what is required to create 21st century learners, we realize that communicating with students and those outside our community must become a minimum standard. By making this move, we are increasing the competency gap while we are still trying to bring some up to the old minimum standards.
 * Users are supported in meeting or exceeding essential learning targets through technology
 * __The total number of learning opportunities for students to increase their knowledge, understandings and skills through the use of technology is dramatically increasing__. While overall CSAP scores in our district remain flat for the most part, except a small increase in math, district walkthroughs and student work samples show an increasing number of learning activities which engage students in improving their academic achievement through the use of technology. Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses are increasing as well as overall high school course requests. Programs that integrate contextualized learning like geometry and construction, algebra and automotive transportation, and distance learning pilots to teach elementary students Spanish are paving the way for the next wave of instructional creativity to embed rich, authentic teaching through the use of technology. More students are blogging, creating wikis, and threading their ideas where teachers can assess and facilitate student learning 24/7. Additionally, student are becoming more sophisticated consumers of information regarding their own learning progress. Parent and student grade portals allow access to grades real-time, and newly embedded universal screening tools and progress monitoring tools will allow students to analyze their own skills in relation to proficiency targets and set their own learning goals.
 * __Using technology to improve instruction must become the norm, not the exception__. As we move ahead and learn as a district, we have come to realize that student competency engenders more than base skills. If we truly desire our users to be truly competent we must see how information literacy as well as what we keep calling 21st century skills are fully embedded into our expectations around minimum competencies. We can no longer expect that students will engage in technologically integrated learning opportunities through elective or exploratory classes. We must work to ensure that //all// students are impacted by well-designed, thinking-rich learning activities that regularly utilize technology to improve their academic outcomes in //all// their classes.

**Professional Practice**

 * Professionals integrate technology in order to address diverse learning styles, accommodate individual learning rates, encourage cooperative learning, and engage students in taking responsibility for their own learning
 * __Data gathered from our needs assessment indicate that an increasing number of professionals feel skillful when accomodating diverse learning styles, individual learning rates, supporting cooperative learning and engaging students to take responsibility for their own learning__. This year 14 of our 19 elementary schools and 6 of our 9 secondary schools participated in a team-based workshop titled "Using Data to Inform Instruction". Attendees learned to sift through a variety of student achievement data, design lesson to meet and monitor individual student learning needs, and involve students in analyzing their own learning needs and learning plans. Professional Development training and support has also included utilizing media, equipment and software resources, communication tools, and grade book/portal software. Additionally, more teachers are using a variety of technologies to meet diverse student learning through interactive board technology, interactive student response systems, calibrated student curriculum applications, student assessment software, self-paced tutorials, and cooperative projects using wikis, threaded discussions, and workspaces.
 * __A district focus group identified "differentiation" as an urgent need for systems alignment and review__. While our district-wide needs assessment data reports that the level over overall professional practice is increasing to meet the needs of diverse learners, parents, community members, students and staff alike believe that we need to refine our instructional practice to better meet the needs of our students. Currently, a 10 person work group is meeting to review and design differentiation strategies integration across the district. The goal of this project is to define and implement a common process throughout the district which will ensure that student needs are accurately identified and addressed, improving student achievement.

Additional Guiding Questions:
//5. Are there specific challenges in terms of service delivery that you face because of changes in student achievement or in the demographics of your district population? 6. List the key results of your needs assessment that will drive your goals, objectives and strategies. 7. Describe the current infrastructure and list any upgrades. Include the current and proposed level of service.//

__Specific Challenges of Service Delivery__ Even with the advent of the downturn in the national and state economy, our the percentage of students receiving free or reduced lunch is just less than 30% (and increasing) and English Language Learners make up less than 8% of the total population. However, we have a few schools where over 50% of the population is considered socioeconomically disadvantaged and several that are nearing that percentage. These schools to face additional challenges in meeting student proficiency targets, as the achievement gap is wider. Many of these schools employ teachers with fewer year's teaching experience as well, and so training becomes a specific service delivery challenge. Ensuring that staff at these schools have the necessary resources is vital. Our district endeavors to provide these schools with additional funds, administrative support, and targeted staff development.

__Key Results of our Needs Assessment__ While we are pleased, as a district, regarding our consistent progress in meeting our targeted goals in the areas of access, information literacy, competency, and professional practice, we are entirely cognizant that the world is not waiting for us to catch up. In fact, we recognize that what was previously considered a minimum expectation for student and adult learning and use is insufficient to meet the needs of the 21st century learner. We realize that we must raise the bar for ourselves and set the appropriate goals and funding in order to meet these goals.

__Current Infrastructure and Upgrades__ The current technology infrastructure is detailed in section E. Technology Infrastructure and Support. Identifiable upgrades which have occurred during the 2006-2009 ET-IL plan was the addition of Distance Learning capacity, enhanced Digital Video to the computer desktop, secondary student E-mail accounts, enchanced collaboration tools, the purchase of electronic CBLA and Universal Screening assessments, a web-based central grade book and attendance system, a central web based student information system, and a central web based financial system. In the next three years, the Thompson School District proposes to add additional services in the form of a web-based Individualized Education Plan (IEP) authoring tool, enhanced video content for elementary and secondary audiences, a robust data warehouse, and a web-based digital content repository.