Educational Technology Plan

2003-2006

Unified School District

 Superintendent

James R. Brown

Board of Education

Chakib Sambar, Pam Ellis, Greg Krikorian,

Lina Harper, Mary Boger,

Anna Arutyunyan  (Student Member)

“The Glendale Unified School District does not discriminate with regard to sex, race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry/ethnicity, marital or parental status, age, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation or any other unlawful consideration.” 

GUSD Board Policy # 4030

1.  INTRODUCTION

2.  STAKEHOLDERS

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 3.  CURRICULUM

b.         Technology Use

Forty-two percent of the certificated staff had completed the CTAP² survey when the plan-writing process began. The average proficiency for most sections was Intermediate. Teachers reported higher skill levels for the word processing component. The lowest reported skill levels were in the areas of database and spreadsheet use. 

Technology use in the classrooms varies from classroom to classroom and school to school, ranging from minimal use to model classroom status.  A significant number of teachers in the district have received some training in the use of computers to improve teaching and enhance learning, as measured by surveys administered by the Educational Technology and Information Services Department. The top ten percent of teachers in the district model the use of technology to gather and disseminate information, using the most modern of tools to achieve that objective including digital media production tools, digital animation tools, the creation of web pages, high level use of databases, spreadsheets and email and optimum use of technology for record keeping and communication with parents.  Based on a survey approximately sixty percent of the teachers use the Internet for research, use video resources and Power Point for lesson presentation, frequently use email and require the use of word processors for student work and for preparation of learning materials.  Based on survey data approximately twenty percent of teachers are eager but beginning users of computer and video technologies for teaching and student learning and another ten percent are reluctant users of technology in their classrooms.  The chart below illustrates in a subject-matter matrix, the specific uses of computer for instruction in GUSD.

c.         Curricular Goals and Content Standards

The number-one priority at all Glendale schools is to maximize student achievement with particular attention to literacy, the area of lowest achievement for the majority of California students.  Consistent with the GUSD 2005 Strategic Plan the intent of the Technology Plan is to assure that “Academic standards align with rigorous state, national and international standards to guide instruction and assessment and serve to ensure increased student learning for all students.” 

The plan also assures equal access consistent with the GUSD 2005 Strategic Plan that “All students have equal access to instructional programs that effectively promote students reaching District standards.  Challenging courses are designed to increase learning among all students, and do not limit access to high quality course content and instruction.  Students receive the services, supported by sufficient resources, to meet these world-class standards.”  Targets and strategies in this plan are consistent with the Strategic Plan, stated as follows: “Each school will provide students with access to a rigorous curriculum and sufficient opportunities to learn by meeting or exceeding District determined participation and pass rates.  The District will develop the technological infrastructure to support the collection and analysis of student achievement data on an ongoing basis.”

The context in which the maximization of student achievement will take place is based on the following five overarching goals:

·        Develop rigorous academic standards that prepare students for college and/or employment.

·        Integrate parents and community members as education partners.

·        Target skills that prepare students for the high-tech, multicultural 21st century.

·        Create a safe and supportive learning environment.

·        Establish overall district responsibility based on student performance

All reform efforts in the district, including educational technology, are aligned with these goals.

The goals below reflect the district’s philosophy regarding technological support for curricular goals. The implementation plan for these goals is woven into the Professional Development and Infrastructure sections of this document.

d.         Goals for using technology to improve teaching and learning by supporting the district curriculum

I.  Curriculum & Instruction

1) GOAL:                                Identify and support ALL students’ individual needs.

                                    a) Objective:                Provide assessment data to each teacher’s

                                                                        workstation to guide instruction

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                              b) Objective:                Provide appropriate computer based resources to

                                                                  design   and deliver instruction based on student

                                                                  assessment data

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                              c) Objective:                 Provide all students access to current (“multimedia

                                                                  and network capable”) technology for instruction

                                                                  striving for a ratio of five students to one computer

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                                    d) Objective:                Require students to demonstrate a sequence of

                                                                        technology skills to achieve district graduation

                                                                        (technology) requirements

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e) Objective:                Provide technology based intervention strategies to ensure that each student meets grade level standards

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2) GOAL:                                Enrich the curriculum so that it is engaging, rigorous and aligned to standards

a) Objective:                Provide course outlines with written strategies to integrate technology

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b) Objective:                Provide methods and practices to deliver lessons to meet district technology-based performance standards for students

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3) GOAL:                                Online courses will be provided to students to increase their access to curriculum content.       

a) Objective:                Provide students with access to a variety of online elective and core courses that might not otherwise be available to them.

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4) GOAL:                                All special populations will have access to the technology that helps them meet their learning needs.

a) Objective:                Continue existing programs for low-incidence disabilities

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b) Objective:                Provide universal access and adaptive technology to support learning-disabled students.

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c) Objective:                 Provide appropriate technology to English Language Learners (ELL)

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e.         Technology and Information Literacy Skills

The acquisition of technological and information literacy skills has been somewhat inconsistent within and across school sites. Some middle school students learn word processing and keyboarding skills, and some high school students decide to take a Computer Applications elective class as available. Some students acquire technological and information literacy skills outside the district, either at home or in elementary school. All the high schools in the district are Digital High Schools (DHS), and each school has chosen, with varied success, different means to teach technology and information literacy skills. The District has provided 4 alternatives to demonstrate their mastery of technology and information literacy skills. These are:

1.      Successful completion of the Information Literacy class at the high school level. This is the option most frequently chosen by students.

2.      Successful completion of a proficiency test demonstrating mastery of technological and information literacy skills.

3.      Successful submission of a portfolio demonstrating experience and proficiency in technological and information literacy skills.

4.      Submit evidence of successful completion of class that is equivalent to the Information Literacy class.

The District has adopted a computer proficiency requirement for all graduating classes, starting with the class of 2005. This requirement is based on the National Education Technology Standards published by ISTE. After analysis of the data collected for the DHS grants, the district have decided to ensure that all students acquired technological and information literacy skills through one class. The skills are then reinforced in other classes as students complete Internet-based units, research projects, and other assignments. The proficiencies expected of each student include the following:

1.      Locating information using subscription services, print resources, reference materials, and the Internet.

2.      Distinguishing between fact, fiction and opinion when conducting research.

3.      Evaluating the appropriateness of sources and validating and synthesizing information acquired from these sources.

4.      Analyzing and organizing data and information and using it to make oral, written and/or visual presentations.

5.      Using computer resources safely, responsibly, ethically.

6.      Understanding and using the software that makes computers useful, including word processors, spreadsheets, e-mail, web browsers and presentation tools.

Goals and Objectives

1) GOAL:                                Students will acquire technological and information literacy skills.

a) Objective:                Train students to be proficient with the technological literacy skills in the GUSD Scope and Sequence of Technological Skills (SS-TS—consisting of basic operations and concepts, word processing, Internet search and retrieval, e-mail, spreadsheet, ethical use and presentation skills).

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b) Objective:                Train students to be proficient with information literacy skills the ability to access, evaluate, and use information from a variety of sources) as outlined by the GUSD Scope and Sequence of Technological Skills.  (SS-TS)

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f.          Technology Access

The overarching goal of this Technology Plan is provide equity of access to technology to all students. Equitable access to technology has always been central to district policy. However, there are certain populations for whom specialized technologies are particularly important. Students who have special needs and require adaptive or assistive technologies as well as students who speak a first language other than English will be guaranteed equal access to all technologies included in the Plan. In addition to these student populations, other “minority populations” exist. These include and are not limited to students on accelerated academic schedules who may be unable to schedule the required advanced classes they need, students in certain advanced placement classes, students desiring requirements for the International Baccalaureate certification and GATE students need special consideration to assure access.  Should schools not have the resources to provide a specific class for a limited number of students, online classes will be made available to meet this challenge.

Funding for adaptive technology is available from the State of California for special education students with low-incidence disabilities. The district’s current Adaptive Technology program meets the needs of these students on an individual basis. Students who are not special education students and who need devices are provided for under the American Disabilities Act, Section 504. Learning Disabled students do not benefit from resources available to students with low-incidence disabilities.

Nearly 10,000 English Language Learners in the district could benefit from technology support tools especially in literacy.  The technology system will benefit these students by guiding the analysis of students’ levels of language acquisition (primary language and English) from multiple sources of data, including state assessments and classroom level assessment.  The technology systems will also assist in designing the English language development program, student placement, classroom instruction and informative and summative assessment of program effectiveness.  It will ensure English learners’ access to the core curriculum through differentiated instruction, Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English (SDAIE), and Structured English Immersion and ensure their full inclusion in the academic content of the mainstream curriculum.  These technologies provide audio feedback, word prediction and text reading capabilities.  Approximately 3,000 Learning Disabled students may also be able to take advantage of literacy support tools.

g.         Student Record Keeping

The District is the initial implementation phase of a new student information system (School Max) that significantly improves the accuracy and accessibility of all student records and related school and teacher data. At the beginning of the 2000-2001 school year, the District, recognizing the need for timely and accurate data to create data-driven classrooms, charged a team of selected staff members to work diligently on the replacement of the then current student information system (SIS) - SASi.  During the summer of 2000, two groups of staff members, the focus and secondary sub-committees of the Student Information System Replacement Committee, were selected to review and evaluate SIS products.  The focus committee, consisting of 12 members, had the primary responsibility of reviewing SIS systems and making a recommendation for adoption to the Superintendent and the Board of Education. The focus committee met on six occasions to review the job to be completed, to learn about the scope and availability of products on the market, to receive demonstrations of commonly used products and to develop a detailed “request for proposal” (RFP) that was made available to SIS vendors who wished to submit proposals regarding their systems to the District.

After a formal process, the District selected School Max. This student information system will form the core of the data management system used to improve teaching and learning in GUSD.

1) GOAL:                                All stakeholders will have the data they need to guide and support student needs.

a) Objective:                Deploy a Student Information System that will securely provide all stakeholders with access to job-specific student information including attendance, discipline, grades, health and contact information.

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h.         Goals and Implementation Plan To Make Teachers and Administrators More Accessible To Parents

Technology is currently being used to improve home/school communication in the Glendale District in a variety of ways:

·        Products such as Gaggle, School Notes, and Black Board are being used at many school sites. These products are all web-based applications that allow access by students, teachers and parents around the clock. Many teachers depend on these services to provide information about classes to students and parents.

·        Each school in the district has its own web site with links to administrators and teachers. Parents can find information about important dates, events and policies there.

·        Every school in the district uses an Automatic Notification Program to send automatic phone messages to students’ homes. Typically parents are notified of a student’s absences, but the program can also be used to notify parents of any pertinent information about the school.

In a student survey conducted April 2001, 75 percent of students reported having Internet access in their homes. This suggests that the Internet could be an effective means of communicating with parents. There are still some unknowns, however. The district has no data on parent usage of the Internet or computers in general. The Glendale Unified School District will, during the course of this Plan develop the capacity to serve as an Internet Service Provider to assure that there is guaranteed access for children and families.

Goals and Objectives

1) GOAL:                                The school district will use technology to increase and improve home/school communication.

a) Objective:                Deploy telecommunications capability to all classrooms.

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                                    b) Objective:                Allow parents to securely view their students’ grade

information on the Web.

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c) Objective:                 Post the e-mail addresses of all teachers and administrators on district website.

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d) Objective:                 Provide parents with updates on the state of technology in the district.

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e) Objective:                 Investigate emerging technologies that provide parents and students at home with a connection to a district-provided educational electronic workspace.

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2) GOAL                                 School sites will use technology to increase and improve home/school communication.

a) Objective:                Use the School Web Site Rubric to provide clear content and timely and accurate information to parents via school web sites.

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b) Objective:                Use e-mail to communicate with parents

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c) Objective:                 Allow parents to securely view their students’ grade and assignment information on the Web.

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d) Objective:                Provide teacher contact information for parents on the school web site.

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i.          List of Benchmarks and Timeline For Implementing Planned Strategies and Activities.

Objectives, benchmarks and timeline can be found in Section 7 on pages 51 – 82 of this document.

j.          Process To Monitor Benchmarks And Timeline

Evaluation schedule, person responsible, and plan modification process can be found in Section 7 on pages 51 – 82 of this document.

4.  PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

In the GUSD staff development occurs in the context of systemic change management.  Focus will be placed on attitudes, readiness and skill levels of all employees in the school district.  Staff development programs in technology will be comprehensive coordinated with other district goals and cover a variety of skills, applications, and technologies.  Based upon current research, training will address how teachers can effectively integrate technology into teaching and learning to improve student achievement.  A systems approach will be employed focusing on the capacity of teachers to use data in instructional decision making.  Focus will be placed on using diagnostic academic data in conjunction with available technology resources.  As stated in the GUSD 2005 Strategic Plan “Professional development is based on research and proven learning theories.  All employees have access to professional development that inspires excellence; promotes skills, knowledge and areas of expertise; and enhances services to students, ultimately resulting in increased student learning.”  Over an extended period of time all employees of the district will understand how educational technology strategies match with strong academic data management systems will create the highest level of student performance.  All employees of the district will model the use of technology in their own work and levels of proficiency will be integrated into employee evaluation.  Professional development opportunities will be tailored to specific needs of staff at all levels and parents will be trained to become effective partners in the teaching and learning process.

a.         Current Skills and Needs

As a result of the strong investment in educational technology made by the district since 1995 approximately 60% of the 1500 teachers in the district are frequent users or “experts” in the use of instructional technology to improve student learning, as measured by surveys conducted by the Educational Technology and Information Services Department.  Thirty percent of teachers in the district are late adopters of technology and only 10% are beginners in effective uses in educational technology.  The trends indicate that strongest users are at the high school level with the second strongest group of skill levels appearing in teachers of grades 4-8.  This to a large degree parallels the funding priorities of the state of California.  The 2001 CTAP surveys were returned at a 26% return rate.  The table below indicates staff responses to questions on the survey.

The chart above clearly indicates that teachers are prolific users of email, word processors, web browsers, presentation software and classroom management software.  The same chart indicates less use and skill in multi-media authoring, databases, graphics, spreadsheets and academic courseware.

b.         Professional Development Goals

To take advantage of the powerful infrastructure in place in GUSD and to accelerate high performance on the part of students and teachers professional development becomes a critically high priority.  The district has recently installed a comprehensive student information system, School Max, and training of staff to use this powerful tool to manage data will continue as a  priority in 2003.  The potential and capability of the system is very powerful and will meet numerous objectives established in the district including academic data management, home school communication effective grade reporting among other uses.  The district has moved forward in a strong way to implement systemic change for all employees and students in the district.  In this context professional development will involve encouraging of ongoing learning in technology for all employees, the modeling of technology by administrators, the modeling of technology in regular communications and publications within departments and schools and will involve increased opportunities and incentives for learning for all employees.  These incentives will include prioritization of technology training into staff development days and inclusion of technology proficiencies into certificated and classified evaluation systems. 

The district will launch an effort to train all employees in the use in application of a variety of technologies.  This will be launched with a technology staff development needs assessment and the development of a plan to respond with training opportunities to needs defined.  A trainer of trainers model will be at the heart of the broad implementation of the professional development program in order to reach as many teachers as possible in the shortest time period possible.  The professional development program will assure that teachers attain proficiencies in the use of technology as an informational resource for teaching, managing and learning.  Students will be afforded distance-learning opportunities and to that end teachers and classified staff will be trained in the appropriate use of such technologies.  The home school component of the GUSD technology plan will be enhanced by training of staff, students and family members by the use of sharing academic and other pertinent data between students, teachers, home and school.

Sharing Best Practices:

Throughout the course of GUSD planning in technology, teachers have strongly expressed the desire to share best teaching practices. The Professional Development will take advantage of available technologies such as digital media production tools, utilities for on-line learning, web casting and other utilities to create a bank of resources of best practices to enable such sharing among teachers in the GUSD.

Online Classes:

The emergence of a variety of software and hardware tools to facilitate on-line learning will be used wherever appropriate to provide teachers with anytime, anywhere learning opportunities. These courses will always be targeted to meet specific learning goals based on GUSD standards and will be evaluated on an ongoing basis.

Goals and Objectives

II.  Professional Development

1) GOAL:                                Encourage ongoing learning in technology for all employees

a) Objective:                Administrators will model utilization of technology

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b) Objective:                Utilize technology in regular communications and publications within departments and schools

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2) GOAL:                                Create opportunities and incentives for learning for all employees

a) Objective:                Build a technology training component into staff

development days, senate/banking days, and/or monthly staff

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                                    b) Objective:                Credentialed employees will have technology

                                                                        integrated into at least one of their evaluation goals

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                                    c) Objective:                 Classified employees will have a technology

                                                                        proficiency component in their evaluation as it

                                                                        relates to their position

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3) GOAL:                                Train all employees in the use and application of appropriate technologies

a) Objective:                Determine technology staff development needs

within schools and departments to tailor professional development opportunities

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                                    b) Objective:                Encourage a trainer of trainers model at each site

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                                    c) Objective:                 Provide teachers and students access to technology

                                                                        as an informational resource for teaching,

                                                                        managing, and learning

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                                    d) Objective:                Provide students access to various/existing distance learning opportunities

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4) GOALS:                              Provide students and family members information about student progress

a) Objective:                Provide secure access via the Internet to real time data regarding student attendance, performance, and progress

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c.         List of Benchmarks and Timeline For Implementing Planned Strategies and Activities.

Benchmarks, timeline and strategies can be found in Section 7 on pages 51 – 82 of this document.

d.         Process To Monitor Benchmarks And Timeline

Evaluation data, person responsible, and plan modification process can be found in Section 7 on pages 51 – 82 of this document.

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5.  INFRASTRUCTURE

a.         Needs Assessment

The Board of Education reflects the strong commitment of the Glendale community to achieve the teaching, learning and professional development goals defined in this technology plan.  In order to fully accomplish all aspects of these goals and objectives it is critical to provide a strong and scalable infrastructure that is dynamic in nature and may grow to meet the increasing demands of the educational community.

Infrastructure and Connectivity:

All district school sites are connected to a powerful infrastructure that supports secure and reliable access to all appropriate and necessary information for staff, students and parents.  The district is connected via two DS3/ATM running at 40 MBs.  All elementary and middle schools are connected to SBC with a T1 connection and each of the 4 high schools are connected via two T1 lines.  This connectivity in a switched 100network environment with five Ethernet ports in every district classroom creates the access required to accomplish district objectives.

Access to Data:

The District is in the initial implementation phase of a new student information system (School Max) that significantly improves the accuracy and accessibility of all student records and related school and teacher data to more accurately target learning needs of students. In the classroom, the data that will be required to improve student achievement must be available using a large array of potential criteria, given the diverse nature of students. School Max software was chosen due to its versatility and ability to enable effective data disaggregation of achievement data taken from multiple measures and criteria.  The software will ensure accurate and timely data to all district employees in order to support data driven analysis and decision making it will also allow for standardized procedures for data collection that are consistent with requirements at the site district state and national levels.  The additional highlight of the School Max system is its ability to improve communication between student, teachers, support staff and parents.  The district will continue to move away from legacy computers and data systems in order to fully implement School Max at the desktop of every employee of the district.  Academic growth of students will clearly follow as learning materials and strategies can be targeted to specific learning needs.

Resources to Support at a World Class Technology System

Technology tools will be made available to students and teachers that will allow them to achieve the highest level of teaching and learning goals that is possible within the environment. Technology tools that are efficient dependable and easy to use will be the guarantee made by the district to all users of the Glendale Technology system. The support that teachers will receive will include tools that:

1.          Allow for preparation of instructional materials, with easy access to pre-evaluated tools and resources and allow for out of the box thinking to help kids learn. 

2.          Support the gathering of source materials from many sources of multiple media

3.          Teach through profiling of students and the class, all related to California State standards and all part of a system that supports cross-curriculum development.

4.          Support real-time classroom feedback that supports teacher understanding of who knows what and when.

5.          Support multiple learning styles in delivery and will support resources that can be accessible by both parents/guardians and students outside of the classroom that extend upon classroom instruction. 

6.          Provide a collaboration model to support all aspects of curriculum development and delivery

7.          Provide periodic, in addition to year-end, assessment and provide for multiple ways to access lessons.

 The system must be dependable and save teachers time, not cost them set-up time, reload time or time trouble-shooting the technology to be used in a given lesson. To achieve this, from the infrastructure perspective, the District must provide a reliable, scaleable and future-proof system that accommodates growth and new technologies, providing for support of multiple systems, different instructional settings and virtual classrooms. Access to community-based resources and home access are integral to the long-term success of the GUSD Technology Plan. GUSD is committed to standardization of infrastructure to support resource sharing, maintainability, enhancement and employing common protocols, while allowing multiple platforms to more closely accommodate all teaching and learning needs. The system will provide for tie-ins to the California State Information System (CSIS) and to the Digital California Project (DCP).

The ETIS department will facilitate a district-wide committee of staff members, comprised of representatives from every school in the District, community members, and members of the college/university community to continually monitor the strategic development of technology in the District.

Support

The district is committed to ensuring that the dependability of technology systems and tools is always maintained at the highest level of efficiency.  The district maintains 24-hour, 7-day, 365-day monitoring of all technology systems through both local and remote monitoring methods.  To further support the infrastructure the technology plan defines the support required to ensure such dependability and reliability in the districts hardware, software, connectivity, infrastructure, communications, hardware and related systems to ensure access at all times.

Security

The district considers the safety and security of the data, communication and technology systems to be a major consideration.   Administrative Regulation  AR 0440, District Technology and Planning - Guiding Principles, states that “the District will insure that adequate security measures are in place to safeguard network operations and limit access of students and staff as needed to specific data.”  To accomplish this the district protects the physical network and its data through a Novell Border Manager firewall and proxy service, through Novell’s Network Directory Services (NDS) for authentication of authorized system users and through SurfControl’s  software to protect the district network from inappropriate material.  Computer desktop workstations are protected by various levels of local security based upon the specific user, as is access to programs and data on the physical network.  Finally, the district is fully in compliance with CIPA (Children’s Internet Protection Act), maintaining an approved AUP (Acceptable Use Policy) and providing three-phase filtering of all data traffic into the district (Border Manager filtering methods of access, SurfControl’s filtering of inappropriate content, and an e-mail software filter, “Guinevere,” protecting against SPAM and virus attacks).

b.         Inventory

With student to computer ratios ranging from 2:1 at the Clark Magnet School, to 4:1 at the three comprehensive high schools, to a 8:1 at middle and elementary schools, the District is moving forward strongly to provide maximum access to state-of-the-art, effective technology for all students. All schools in the Glendale Unified School District are connected to the Internet and can use a variety of computer platforms to accomplish learning tasks.  This was accomplished using a combination of local general funds, modernization bond (Measure K), federal E-rate, and Digital High School funding.  The District connects to SBC via 2 DS-3 connections and connects to SBC Internet via a DS-3 ATM connection, both running at 40 MBs.  The network is a switched 100 network with multiple server systems.  The district has (28) T1 lines available for each OC-3 line and is currently operating at 66% use.  All are point-to-point connections. The (3) comprehensive high schools and (1) magnet high school are connected via (2) T-1 lines per school.  The (4) middle and (20) elementary schools are connected via (1) T1 line per school.  Several of the schools have wireless networks in place.  All classrooms in the district will have Internet connectivity, with 5 Internet ports per classroom, each running at 100 MBs, at the completion of planned modernization.  Currently 80% of the classrooms are connected.  An overview of the district infrastructure and classroom design are included in appendices A and D of this document.

c.                   Ongoing Technical Support

Recognizing that dependability is critical to the successful long-term implementation of a good technology system, the Glendale Unified School District is committed to supporting administrators, teachers and classified personnel in their use of technology.  To this end, the District has committed 4 full-time classified employees to general customer service to keep systems and the network running. In addition, the District has committed 6 positions occupied by current or former students who work on a part-time basis to support technology systems. The goal, as stated in the Plan, is to add staff on an incremental basis, in order to reach a support staff to computer ratio of 1 to 800.  The District is also committed to informing all technology support personnel regarding relevant and effective resources on the Web, such as the State-supported TechSETS project, which brings together information learned by other support personnel in the State to an information base which grows exponentially each month.  The final level of technical support is supplied by the partnerships that have been made with businesses and corporations in the Glendale Unified School District.  Examples of the high level of support relationship exist with Cisco, Pacific Bell and Apple among others.

Goals, Objectives and Benchmarks

III. Infrastructure

1) GOAL:                                Provide the necessary leadership, training, technical support services and resources to accomplish the vision at both district and site levels.

a) Objective:                Establish a Ratio of 1:800 hardware support staff to

computers

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b) Objective:                Provide each teacher with a district-networked

workstation

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c) Objective:                 Provide on site instructional support personnel to integrate technology into the curriculum

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d) Objective:                Periodically adjust resources to meet needs of information systems, staffing levels and equipment obsolescence issues as identified by ongoing review and evaluation

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e) Objective:                Implement a training internship program to provide

technical support by students to lessen the need for more technicians without compromising data and

network security.

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c.         List of Benchmarks and Timeline For Implementing Planned Strategies and Activities.

Objectives, benchmarks and timeline can be found in Section 7 on pages 51 – 82 of this document.

d.         Process To Monitor Benchmarks And Timeline

Evaluation data, person responsible, and plan modification process can be found in Section 7 on pages 51 – 82 of this document.

6.  FUNDING AND BUDGET

GUSD has made a significant investment in order to provide students and teachers with technology tools and a highly capable infrastructure so they may be as effective as possible in increasing student achievement.  The five access points now available or to be available in each classroom connecting to a high speed infrastructure with a student to computer ratio of 1:4, 1:5 or 1:6 provides for the excellent foundation needed to utilize software and other computer related learning tools to maximize student learning.  The funding for infrastructure and computers has come from a variety of sources including a combination of local general funds, a modernization bond (measure K), federal E-rate, Digital High School and AB 2882 funding.  This provided the bulk of funding with local school resources invested in equipment and software as appropriate to the respective educational setting.  In the last five years the district has also invested in the creation of an educational technology department to be combined with information services for the most effective utilization of technology tools.  The ETIS department has also been housed in modernized facilities funded by supplementary grant dollars serving as the hub of development of infrastructure, acquisition of technology tools and partner in designating and delivering training.  This investment in the ETIS department has launched the district into a strong position of readiness to fully implement its technology program.

a.         Established and Potential Funding Resources

The district at its meeting of the Board of Education in December 2002 reaffirmed its commitment to technology by adopting a set of revised goals and objectives to be implemented over the next three years, (2003-2005).  To fully implement the Glendale technology plan the district intends to continue to utilize federal E-rate dollars.  The latest example of which is the $2,100,000 discount received for the 2002-2003 school year.  Nine of the district schools will benefit from remaining modernization dollars with Measure K funds providing for appropriate infrastructure and wiring up to classrooms.  During the three year life of this plan the district’s goal is to create district wide support for acquisition of funds and resources for technology development by continuing to review district standards and needs on a regular and planned basis.  This will include annual reviews of computer systems and software, the requirement for a support fee for all computer equipment purchases.  This will allow for the total cost of ownership from a standpoint of hardware support and maintenance to be funded over the life of the plan.  The fee will be adjusted as appropriate in years 2 and 3 should the fee be too high or too low.  In addition, in order to maximize grant and corporate funding the district will create a resource map so that all stakeholders may receive guidance.  In applying for such funds this resource map will enable all stakeholders to apply for available funds from a variety of sources.  This effort will be led by the grants office which will lead all stakeholders in the pursuit of grant opportunities, corporate sponsorships and donations. State and Federal grant sources will, of course, continue to be pursued. Finally and most importantly the district has committed to develop priorities and allocate resources to support technology implementation in curricular and business operations area.  Specifically this will enable the support of general fund dollars for district wide technology fund development.  The district intends, after development of the allocation for district wide technology, to publish the information to available stakeholders and intends to increase general fund support by approximately 10% given the escalating cost of technology and the growth of technology need to support teaching and learning objectives.  The characteristics of that program listed below.

• Instruction that is driven by current assessment data.
• More time spent on working with students, less time spent on classroom management and site administration.
• Students actively engaged in learning with up-to-date, motivational and interactive resources.

·        Collaboration between home and school toward student success.

• Teachers using technological tools appropriately to enhance the learning environment.
• Equitable access for all students to technological resources.

Goals and objectives of the Funding and Resource Section of the Technology Plan are listed below:

IV. Funding and Budget

1) GOAL:                                Create district-wide support for the acquisition of funds and resources for technology development.

a) Objective:                Update district standard computer systems and

software on a regular planned basis

BENCHMARKS

b) Objective:                Determine the validity of a “support fee” for all computer equipment purchases that is formula based and provides for funding of training and professional development (and hardware support)

BENCHMARKS

c) Objective:                 Create a resource map to include existing funding, grants, corporate sponsors and donations

BENCHMARKS

d) Objective:                Create a support system to secure grants and

donations that provide ongoing funding

BENCHMARKS

e) Objective:                Focus department staff and grants office resources to pursue grant funding opportunities, corporate sponsorships and donations

BENCHMARKS

2) GOAL:                                Develop priorities and allocate resources to support

technology implementation in curricular and business operations.

a) Objective:                Provide general fund support for district-wide

technology development

BENCHMARKS

b) Objective:                Provide site-based personnel for support, staff development and integration of technology into the classroom

BENCHMARKS

c) Objective:                 Collaborate within the K-16 continuum and with local, state and national foundations and businesses to maximize resources

BENCHMARKS

b.         Estimated Implementation Costs

Information Technology

Proposed Budget

Educational Technology Department

Proposed Budget

Curriculum Department

Professionl Development Costs