Technology Levy: Goals & Analysis
What Will the Tech Levy Pay For?
- Classroom Tools for Students: Interactive smart boards, classroom response systems, entry level tv-video production, podcasting, video-audio conferencing, net meetings, virtual reality, mobile presenters and smartpads, book readers, tablet kiosks (handhelds for note taking, test taking, smart phones, downloading assignments using wireless communication), computer monitoring with programs that allow teacher control of student machines for techtorials as well as monitoring behavior, and sound enhancement systems are a few of the newly developing tools that are on the cutting edge of classroom technology innovation.
- Classroom Tools for Teachers: Video projectors, document cameras, sound amplification systems, and video connections have become standard teaching tools in classrooms across America. These instructional tools amplify effective instruction and provide vastly expanded access to resources in text, image, video, and audio formats. Technology levy funds will enable systems to be installed in the remaining classrooms that lack the equipment, will upgrade older systems, and will allow the district to implement a regular replacement cycle.
- Libraries: School libraries today are becoming technology centers as well as the focus of informational and other 21st Century skills applications. In today’s libraries, digital resources are accessed alongside print resources. School libraries recognized early on that access to information needs to be provided 24/7 to meet the needs of their users. Levy funding will allow needed updates of library management software to provide access to school catalogs via the web, allowing staff and students the ability to find material and request it no matter where it might be housed in the district at a time and place tailored to their individual needs. It will also supply subscriptions to informational databases and e-books which support curriculum and supplement the current collection with up-to-date, authoritative information. In addition, levy funds will provide libraries with basic equipment to access the libraries’ resources for on site and remote use and to loan classrooms equipment such as laptop computers, e-book readers, audio book players, sound systems, digital still and video cameras, and portable video and audio conferencing units.
- Technology levy funds will upgrade libraries’ ability to provide “head end services” to rooms and buildings associated with their campuses. With the change to High Definition signals coming in February 2009, it’s important to make sure that Port Angeles’ schools are ready to receive those signals.
- Since libraries provide computer lab space for classroom teachers and their students (the case at the high school), levy funding will provide for the general upgrade of machines, an opportunity to provide ergonomically correct workstations, and address the issues of inadequate facilities to protect vulnerable wires and cords.
- Technology levy funds will also provide an upgrade of the presentation systems and software for student instruction in information skills and for professional development presentations. It would be reasonable to include Bluetooth (wireless) upgrades for presentation, printing and monitoring computers as well. The latter can be used not only for general monitoring of behavior at the computers, but also to assume control of each machine to demonstrate in professional development or other instructional opportunities.
- Expanded Wireless Access: Improvements to wireless zones in school buildings will allow flexibility in the placement of technology and permit teachers to move out of the classroom yet still be able to access technology in alternative learning settings.
- Replace Computers: Levy funds will enable a planned cycle of replacing aged computers throughout the district.
- Computers are used by teachers to amplify effective instruction in classrooms, for collaboration between staff members, and for outreach to families (Skyward® Family Access, Moodle, remote email access).
- Students use computers in research and learning projects. Elementary, middle and high school instruction in reading and math are supported by computer-based instruction in those skills through the use of instructional software including STAR Reading™, STAR Math™, and Read180®.
- Special education students with a writing disability speak into a microphone connected to a computer and their writing appears on a screen, which decreases their frustration level and empowers them to write.
- Occupational Therapists use computers to help students develop eye-hand coordination, for visual perceptual activities to improve visual acuity, tracking from left to right and top to bottom of a page, improve finger movement and strength, and to increase reaction speed and accuracy. They use computers as an adaptive device for those students who aren’t strong enough to use pencils. They also use computers to provide larger print for easier reading, allowing students to maintain independence in their respective classes.
- Replace Printers: Replacing aged inkjet printers with stand-alone and networked laser printers will improve user access to printing services and reduce per-page printing costs, resulting in lower operating budget costs over time.
- Replace Furniture: In the past, scarce technology dollars were spent nearly exclusively on computers, with little funding left to support deployment needs or to respond to ergonomic issues. The result is computers crowded onto flat tables or set on the floor to gather dust while students and staff either hunch over or reach up to keyboards creating undue strain throughout the body. Wiring clusters are controlled as much as possible with Velcro tape bundles, but in many spaces create potential tripping, tangling, and fire hazards.
- Server/Storage Replacement: Network servers and infrastructure have been aging along with other technology equipment and needs to be replaced. Levy funds will enable a planned cycle to replace servers and expand storage capacity to support the goal of providing networked storage for student work files, projects, and portfolios. Digital storage of student work is critical to the success of recent learning initiatives such as portfolio assessment, classroom-based assessments in social studies, fine and performing arts, health and fitness, and the high school Senior Culminating Project.
- Proven Resource Security: The network firewall provides security against malicious attack over Internet connections from computer hackers outside of the district network. Such attacks could potentially cause the loss of critical data and lead to network downtime. The current firewall is at the end of its useful life and does not provide adequate protection against potential threats to the security of the district network.
- Video Networking Equipment: Collaboration with other educational professionals across the state and nation and beyond is possible through digital video conferencing links. The technology plan calls for a phased implementation of mobile video conferencing capabilities at numerous sites throughout the district.
- Teacher and Para-Educator Training: Training for teachers, para-educators, and other support staff to more effectively use technology to support learning is necessary to leverage the district’s investment in equipment, software, and services. Staff technology training takes many forms, including group training sessions, team collaboration, one-to-one coaching, and video and on-line delivery.
- Career and Technical Education Technology: In Fine Woods, students use a computer-controlled CNC router to produce precision-tooled parts for woodworking projects. Marketing students use industry-standard office productivity tools to acquire skills that enable them to move directly into a self-supporting career after high school. Business Education students must have current technology that meets industry standards, fulfills articulation agreements, aligns with our Program of Work and Three Year Plan and meets Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and district requirements. Auto Technology program students need an updated engine scanner to allow students to work on late-model autos, and a fuel injector cleaner is a critical piece of equipment that the teacher has had to borrow from the college for students to learn. In Machining Technology, the present CNC lathe needs an upgrade because the older equipment is DOS-based and will no longer talk to the computers and software students use to program the machine. The surface roughness tester and optical comparator are needed to teach the high end of inspection of parts which industry expects students to be trained to use properly.
- Science and Math Technology: Middle and high school math classrooms need class sets of graphing calculators, graphing calculator projectors, and professional development to keep pace with new developments in the use of technology for math instruction. In middle school math classes, students use a document camera and LCD projector to display their work and explain their thinking to the entire class. Science classrooms need, in addition to computer workstations, specialized equipment and software to enable hands-on learning of scientific concepts and procedures.
- At Stevens Middle School, electronic probes will allow precise measurement of temperature, pH, and dissolved oxygen, allowing students to analyze water quality and display data in front of the class. Digital video cameras will allow teachers to record demonstrations and labs for students who are absent and to bring visuals to lessons and projects.
- At Port Angeles High School, needs include replacing 20 year-old obsolete microscopes, purchasing data-collection technology such as probes to measure temperature, gas pressure, force, motion, dissolved oxygen, current, turbidity, EKG, radiation, carbon dioxide, and others; a spectrophotometer for determining concentration of solutes in chemistry, biology, and physics classes; and a thermal cycler and incubator for DNA fingerprinting and labs essential for the Inquiry Science II program as well as Advanced Biology. The high school science programs also need specialized software to support teaching of key scientific concepts.
- Arts and Music Technology: Our district’s recent reorganization has resulted in more itinerant music teachers serving elementary schools. These teachers need portable laptop computers to provide basic connectivity and productivity tools. Music teachers use technology to record and access music, as an instructional aid to teach music composition and theory, and to project music in front of the classroom. Art teachers and students use technology to research and view art images, and to scan, photograph, and display student-produced art. Teachers need high-resolution video (document) cameras and projectors to display anchor compositions for the Visual Arts CBPAs (Classroom-based Performance Assessments). Students rate and discuss the work using rubrics to prepare for mandatory arts testing which begins in 2008-09. Teachers also need the camera/projector technology for close-up demonstration of manual techniques during instruction. Students need a digital camera and flatbed scanner to document work to apply to art schools, as a tool for senior culminating projects, to add visual art works to the student’s cumulative school portfolio (as started at Stevens Middle School), and to digitize traditional media compositions and manipulate in digital format using Photoshop™. The AP Art program needs a traditional film camera to meet College Board requirements for 35 mm slide images of student work for AP Portfolio submission.
Levy questions, comments and suggestions may be sent via email to: levy@portangelesschools.org, or by U.S. Mail to: Superintendent, Port Angeles School District, 216 East Fourth Street, Port Angeles, WA 98362.