2010-2011 Budget Enhancements

by Lynn K. McMullin

Some people call it “doing more with less;” but whether you accept that phrase or not, next year’s budget does have some enhancements to the educational program despite the bleak 0% increase. We are planning on doing a few things differently … and better!

We’re adding three new “Experientials” to the Middle School curriculum

What we’re doing and why!
First, there are two new technology-based mini-courses called “Experientials” in the works: one will be about the responsible use of electronic communication and the other about 21st century problem-solving and challenges. Principal Joe Scheideler and the Middle School Quality Council had been wrestling with the question of how best to help adolescents become responsible users of electronic communications and the Internet. Topics for these two 30-day Experientials might include the S.M.A.R.T. curriculum: 1. Safety and security on-line; 2. Manners, cyberbullying, and ethics; 3. Authentic learning and creativity; 4. Research and information fluency; and 5. Twenty-first century challenges.

A third Experiential at the Middle School is also under development: “The Science of Healthy Living,” taught by the Hybrid team's science teacher, but in the culinary arts room.  We had previously added the “Super-Size Me” curriculum to science.  This new mini-course would build on that program, adding the science of nutrition as well as hand-ons experience with healthy alternatives to unhealthy food choices.

How we’re doing it!
Mr. Scheideler creatively designed a schedule in which each of the teachers on Team Hybrid will be able to teach four courses in their content area and an additional Experiential 30-day course. Students currently take six Experientials each year. This idea means that two of the staff members currently teaching Experientials can be reallocated to the high school saving the district a little money in what we call FTE (full-time equivalency).  An additional amount of money will be saved when one of the Team Hybrid teachers takes on the existing Drama Experiential.
A lot of specific details and the actual curriculum still need to be worked out, of course, but you get the gist.

We’re expanding the ACT Program to Cherry Brook

What we’re doing and why!
Next year, we’re expanding the successful ACT Program down to Cherry Brook Primary School and putting it in the capable hands of the Library Media Specialist, the Technology Integration Specialist, and the Math Science Curriculum Coordinator.  Students will soon be able to complete content and skill enriching activities in a wide variety of interest areas.

How we’re doing it!
Again, the idea is still new to us, but next week we’ll begin our planning meetings and discuss specifically how this program will roll out to students. We do know that one of the tools will be an internet-based program called Odysseyware. With Odysseyware, students will have their own folders and the teacher can 'drag and drop' specially chosen activities into the folders. Then, anywhere there is access to a computer – in the classroom, the school library, or at home -- the student can open his or her personal folder and work on these enrichment activities.

The teacher has several options including selecting Odysseyware’s enrichment content based on a topic of interest or a higher skill level (as in math). Or, the teacher can create and upload in-house developed activities that align with CBPS’s curriculum and then drag and drop these activities to students.  Odysseyware also tracks progress.

Students, of course, will still need the individualized attention of the ACT teachers, and that is one of the key components of this idea that we need to talk about in depth and ultimately schedule.

We’re adding technology integration support to CHS/CMS

What we're doing and why!
We need to creatively assign technology integration support to the Middle School and High School. This is curriculum-based support, which is a much different role than our technology specialists who provide equipment, installations, repairs, infrastructure, network monitoring, back-up, and database services.

We know that teachers have a very difficult time integrating new technologies into their classrooms without some instructional support. The first few times a new strategy is attempted, it is essential that a technology integration specialist who knows the equipment well is available to assist both the students and the teacher. This is how we "grow" our teachers' capacity for change. Let’s say a high school teacher wants to try a new lesson with the white board, LCD, and student responders, but upon start-up of that lesson, four of the student responders simply don’t ‘respond’?  Does the teacher stop the lesson and try to troubleshoot the equipment?  Or… move on in the lesson without the participation of the four students? I think the potential for technology failure and the need to troubleshoot, without the time or expertise to troubleshoot, is the number one fear teachers have about using technology in front of their students. They know that technology integration done well looks seamless. 

In addition, teachers need ideas for how a particular technology tool could improve the content of their lesson and their method of instruction. They need ideas for technology-based assessments that challenge students’ problem-solving skills as well as display their content knowledge. And, they need training in how the technology tools work. That’s the role of a Tech Integration Specialist, and literally, we need one at every building. But that was a pipe-dream early on in the budget cycle for the past two years; it’s simply not a reality in today’s economy.

How we’re doing it?
We don’t know yet, but the Administrative team and I will resolve this question over the next month; and recognizing upfront that sharing a technology intergration specialist won’t be perfect, we’ll at least take an important step in the right direction. Technology instruction and assessment are a key component of the 21st century skills our graduates will need in college and the workplace.