ProgramEvaluation

ITC5720
LincolnMasters

AveryCountySchoolsisrichwithtechnology.Beinga1:1districtallowseachstudent
accesstoanindividuallaptoportablet.Eventhoughthiswealthoftechnologyprovidesaunique
learningexperiencetoallstudentsinthedistrict,AveryCountySchoolsisstillinneedofsupport
andappropriateplanningtoensurethatthistechnologyisutilizedefficiently.Thisneedcanbe
seeninthefactthatAveryCountySchoolsdoesnothaveatechnologyplaninplacethatlaysout
thevision,mission,andgoalsofincorporatinga1:1initiative.Thereare,however,many
unspokengoalsthateachschoolinthedistricthasforsuccessfuluseoftheavailable
technologies.Thepurposeofthisproposalistolayoutanevaluationplanthatassessesthe
effectivenessoftechnologyuseasitcurrentlyexistsinthedistrictandtoprovideafoundation
uponwhichatechnologyplanmaybecreatedtoprovidefocusatthedistrictlevel.

EvaluationCommittee

EachschoolintheAveryCountySchooldistricthasitsownuniquegoalsandvisionsfor
whateffectivetechnologyuselookslike.Evaluationcommitteesformedateachschoolcan
providedatathatcanbeusedbyadministratorsandtechnologysupportstafftomonitorthe
needs,progress,andeffectivenessofthe1:1settingasitcurrentlyexists.Thisdatacanthenbe
usedtocreateaworkingmodelofadistrictwidetechnologyplan.

Itisimportanttonotethatanevaluationcommitteeshouldbecreatedthoughtfully,with
participantsthatarecommittedtothegoalofgatheringandanalyzingdata.Eachcommittee
shouldbecomposedofatleastoneteacherfromeachgradelevelteam,oneadministrator,parent
volunteers,andotherstakeholderssuchasboardmembers.Inordertogathereffectivemembers
fortheevaluationcommittee,memberselectionshouldbebasedontheEvaluationCommittee
ContributionCompositionmatrixprovidedinthetext.
Anefficientandeffectiveevaluationcommitteeattheschoollevelshouldutilize
structureddatagatheringtechniquesinordertoprovideclearandconciseinformation.Thiswill
requirethatmembersofthecommitteedevelopasetofevaluationquestionsaswellasindicators
thatcanbeusedtodemonstratethesuccessofthe1:1initiative.Inadditiontothesequestions
andindicators,theevaluationcommitteecanusetoolssuchasGoogleFormsandSurvey
Monkeyasformativeassessmenttoolsthatcanhelpstructurethedevelopingdistrictwide
technologyplan.Also,byobservingclassroomsthatareutilizingtechnologyaswellas
observingthosethatarenot,membersofthecommitteecangetaformativesnapshotofhow
technologyisbeingutilizedandwhatmeansmaybenecessarytoassistthosewhoarenotusing
ittoitsfullestpotential.

SummativeAssessments

Asmostschoolsalreadyknow,largesummativeassessmentsarecommonplacein
monitoringstudentprogressandteachereffectiveness.Intermsofmonitoringtheeffectiveness
ofschoolsina1:1setting,thesestandardsbasedtestsdonotaccuratelyportraytheeffectiveness

orimpactoftechnologyonstudentlearning.Assuch,itisimportantthatteachersbeawarethat
studentproductssuchasprojectsandotherconstructivistactivitieswillbeusedasaformof
summativeassessmentbytheevaluationcommittee.Thecommitteeshouldcreateafocusgroup
ofteachersthatwillbeusedtoprovidethissummativedata.Thisfocusgroupshouldconsistof
teachersthatdemonstrateexemplaryteachingpracticesintermsoftechnologyutilization.This
canhelpsetthestandardforthedistrictwidetechnologyplanthatwillbeconstructedfromthe
data.

Conclusion

EventhoughtheAveryCountySchooldistrictdoesnotcurrentlyhaveadistrictwide
technologyplaninplace,harnessingtheinputofschoolsthatareoperatingintheunique1:1
settingcanallowforaworkingtechnologyplantobecraftedsothatallschoolscanwork
towardsacommonvision.Byusingboththeformativeandsummativeassessmentdatagathered
bytheschoolwideevaluationcommittees,adistrictwideevaluationcommitteecancreatean
effectivetechnologyplanthatfitsintothecurrentworkingenvironmentofteachersandstudents
alike.