Share your school/district’s success with digital learning.
We are a K-8 district north of Chicago, with four K-5 schools, two 6-8 schools, and 3100 students total at these six schools. Although we just this year went fully 1:1 for all students in all grades, this was a move we began planning almost a decade ago. We ended up purchasing iPads as the 1:1 device in grades K-2 and Chromebooks as the 1:1 device in grades 3-8. Since planning to move to a district wide 1:1 environment and, subsequently, achieving this goal, we have made strides in teaching and learning that have allowed our teachers to become more empowered to, in turn, empower our students to spend more of their learning time each day engaged in the 4 C’s of 21st Century Learning Creativity, Collaboration, Communication, and Critical Thinking. In classrooms across our district we have teachers who have transformed their classrooms, designing lessons that are aligned to specific standards but that incorporate instructional practices designed to meet these standards in new and exciting ways. We have teachers and students engaged in Genius Hour activities, Mystery Skype sessions, Virtual Field Trips, 3D printing, Flipped Classroom learning, Blogging, and class Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest pages to document and share their products and processes. Just this year we also added two new 9-week “exploratory” smart lab classes at our two middle schools, a Communication Media Arts lab and a STEM lab. These two labs replaced our more traditional Technology Applications class and our Family and Consumer Science class. In our new labs, students are focusing on student-centered learning, using a wide variety of digital tools to allow them to explore, engage, elaborate, explain, and evaluate their learning. Through all of these changes, we remain one of the highest-performing districts in the entire State of Illinois, as measured by state and local assessments.
What planning process did you use for implementation?
During the summer of 2005, the Deerfield District 109 Board of Education charged our Superintendent and the administration to examine the uses of technology in student learning and to develop a plan to improve the application of technology into instructional practices to expand learning opportunities for students. The Board of Education’s vision was to create an articulated program of the highest quality that is effectively implemented, fiscally responsible, and one that would prepare students for future use of technology in their work and daily lives. Taking this charge, the administration, teachers, community members, and external consultants began studying the skills and characteristics people will need to live and work in the 21st century. This group examined the challenge of preparing our students for their future and, in 2006, discovered that: “Today’s education system faces irrelevance unless we bridge the gap between how students live and how they learn. Schools are struggling to keep pace with the astonishing rate of change in students’ lives outside of school. Students will spend their adult lives in a multitasking, multi faceted, technology-driven, diverse, vibrant world–and they must arrive equipped to do so.” (Partnership for 21st Century Skills).In 2009, District 109 hired Jill Maraldo as Director of 21st Century Skills. Bringing experience as a classroom teacher, online course developer/instructional designer, and teacher education project manager to the table, this new director was tasked with engaging faculty in the process of developing 21st Century skills into our curriculum. Under the guidance of Ed Coughlin of the Metiri Group, the Deerfield staff began the long process of working together to identify which skills to focus on and how to develop the curriculum, assessments and rubrics to best evaluate these skills. From 2009-2011, the 21st Century Skills Committee met several times to complete this work. The result: a comprehensive plan for integrating 21st Century Skills into the K-8 curriculum in DPS109. The committee, consisting of teachers and administrators from across the district, reviewed and revised their work, striving for continuous improvement and successful implementation and communication to all grade levels. In the 2011-2012 school year, the assessments were finalized and piloted by staff.In November 2010, we began work on the three year Technology Integration Plan (TIP) required by the Illinois State Board of Education. This process engaged teachers, administrators and parents in to development of a comprehensive three-year plan. This plan’s mission was as follows: District 109’s vision is to leverage technology that encourages student achievement in a safe, collaborative environment. Innovative technology will be seamless throughout the district, allowing teachers to differentiate instruction in order to enhance individual achievement. Students will integrate 21st Century Skills of global awareness, self-directed learning, visual media literacy, information literacy, critical thinking and creativity and innovation into their daily learning which, through technology, can continue outside of the classroom, creating connected, global citizens. Telecommunications and IT will be used to track student progress and growth, provide timely interventions and help improve student achievement both throughout and beyond the years of the plan. We will build capacity to address the needs of all learners (including special education students)through the use of innovative technology hardware, software and telecommunication.
Using this mission and goal as a framework for decisions, the District continued to make purchases and to conduct professional development to support student achievement and fulfill the mission and vision of the plan. During the 2011-2012 school year, students and staff began to struggle with gaining access to their work electronically and having a viable solution for collaboration and communication using our current technology solutions. Simply stated, we had outgrown some of our current technology solutions and the students and staff asked for new options. Out of this call for help, a new technology committee was formed.The committee met several times during the 2011-2012 school year to study and evaluate different solutions. We reached out to surrounding school districts and sought the input of students, parents and staff in order to find the best solution for District 109.In January/February 2012, the committee recommended that two solutions be piloted , data collected and teachers and students provide feedback on the choices before a final decision was made. The Technology Review Committee studied the issues and recommended that the district pilot Google Apps for Education and Microsoft 365 as two possible solutions to meet our District’s collaborative communication needs. The pilot took place during the months of April and May 2012.The DPS109 Technology Review Committee met for the final time that school year. During that meeting, the team carefully reviewed the survey results and data that had been collected throughout the course of the Pilot period. Over 60 teachers and over 900 students piloted Google Apps for Education and Microsoft 365 for two months. During the pilot, the Technology Coordinators, Net 56 and I provided training and support for the pilot teachers and students. Teachers were able to integrate the new tools into their lessons and trial various collaborative features throughout several curricular areas. The results of these efforts were recorded in survey and anecdotal reports, which were all presented to the committee.
June 2012 The results were overwhelmingly in favor of Google Apps for Education. Both the teachers and the students expressed a strong desire to move forward with Google Apps for Education over Microsoft 365 as the collaborative solution for Deerfield 109.
2012-2013 This school year has seen several exciting advancements in the ability of our students and staff to communicate and collaborate. With the rollout of Google Apps for all staff right after the new year, our students and staff have already created over 15 thousand documents, with and average number of collaborators of two or more. This meant that our students, only four months after rolling out Google Apps for Education, were applying the 21st century skills of communication and collaboration on a daily basis her in Deerfield 109.
In October 2012, it was time to present the new purchase plan to the Board of Education Technology Committee . During this meeting several options were presented to the Board regarding mobile devices and laptop computers. The need to purchase additional devices that would support future assessments was also discussed. With the use of MAP testing which is computer-based and the coming of the computer-based PARCC assessments which will replace ISAT in 2015, the District needed to decide which devices would best support student learning. The Board committee worked together and directed the District administration to research alternative solutions that other school districts were trying, including BYOD ( Bring Your Own Device) and other 1:1 initiatives using Chromebooks , iPads, PC laptops and other tablets.
After careful study and consideration, this study group found that a 1:1 option using Chromebooks and tablets would be a beneficial direction for our school district and meet the needs of our students and staff. Several options were then presented to the Board Technology Committee in February 2013 and they decided that a conservative rollout of Chromebooks and tablets over a few years would be the best options for the district at this time. Therefore, at the March Board meeting, we presented a purchase recommendation of 700 Chromebooks and 450 tablets to be used throughout the district. Stay tuned to this blog for future technology and 21st Century Skills updates.
The 2013-14 school year brought our district a new superintendent and assistant superintendent for teaching and learning. These two leaders immediately expanded the 1:1 pilot awarding “Innovation Grants” to 21 teachers who expressed an interest in piloting a 1:1 classroom starting in January 2014. After this successful pilot, the Board of Education ultimately voted in May 2014 to go fully 1:1 in all classrooms across the district.
Which Project 24 Gears were most relevant in your implementation?
Although each of the seven Project 24 gears are extremely important and relevant to all stakeholders in our district, the gear which we have most focused on during the past 24 months of 1:1 implementation is that of Professional Learning. Although we have many teachers who were 100% ready and willing to move forward teaching in a 1:1 environment, we also had many who were not at all confident and/or excited about doing so. We have instituted a number of professional learning opportunities to ensure that every teacher in the district understands our expectation to move forward with digital teaching and learning as a way to fulfill our mission of engaging, inspiring, and empowering all students every day. We also, however, insist on supporting each teacher in the district so they are able to meet this expectation, continuously moving from their personal point of current efficacy to their next point along the spectrum. We have created an optional, after-school professional learning structure we call, “Deerfield College.” Many of these courses focus on teaching in a 21st century classroom and using digital tools to increase efficiency and effectiveness as a teacher. These courses are taught by teachers, coaches, and administrators in the district who are experiencing success in a certain area. We also hold an annual Teaching & Learning Conference districtwide in which we hold 80 sessions throughout a day of professional learning from which staff can choose several to attend. We also have two “iCoaches” in place at each school, who are instructional coaches focusing on digital teaching and learning in addition to more traditional instructional coaching. These coaches often offer “Lunch and Learn” opportunities for teachers to attend to learn about some aspect of teaching with tech tools. In addition, we have a districtwide Twitter hashtag (#engage109) which we use to promote success in our classrooms across the district.
What was your biggest challenge in implementation?
The biggest challenges have been the management of the iPads due to the fact that Apple has made several changes with requirements for students under the age of 13 and the ongoing challenge of ensuring we are providing appropriate and differentiated professional learning support to all staff.
What has been your greatest success?
Our greatest success has been teacher support of our 1:1 initiative. If you walk into any of these classrooms, no matter what level of technology proficiency our teachers may have, students are using the devices in class which has increased their level of engagement. We have contracted with Bright Bytes to periodically survey staff, student, and parents about our 1:1 implementation and while all three stakeholder groups report positive responses thus far, our students are the most positive about our move to a 1:1 environment.
What advice do you have for others looking to implement something similar?
Talk to other districts that have gone before where you are intending to go. Solicit input of students, staff, and parents every step of the way. Focus on pedagogy, not technology; it is not about the device, but about instruction. How can the technology/device support instruction and learning? Provide plenty of ongoing support for all teachers; have most of this support come from in-house “experts,” those who are already succeeding and can lead others to success.
How can people find out more about your efforts?
Anyone interested can contact me via Twitter (@jeff_zoul), or email (jzoul (at) dps109.org), or my blog (jeffzoul.blogspot.com).
astute leader knows to pull/stretch/push to a point before breaking the band … In my current experiences, many changes have been presented, implemented, planned, and “digested” … now it is time to let the momentum continue, the changes set in, and allow for some breathing room. My aim is to reduce the pressure on the rubber band, hold steady with what seeds have been planted, and move from change to support. Support for new directions, support for new attitudes, support for new experiences, and support for new approaches. What is quite affirming is the degree of acceptance, the high degree of acceptance for the current reality. This new reality differs greatly from the reality once known at my school system. This reality allows for learning support in the classrooms. This reality allows for innovative approaches to instruction. This reality is wonderful, rewarding, and affirming to be part of.
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