Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School of Excellence

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`MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. CHARTER SCHOOL OF EXCELLENCE
285 Dorset Street, Springfield, Massachusetts, 01108
EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY PLAN
School Years 2012-2013 through 2016-2017
Benchmark 1 Commitment to a Clear Vision and Implementation Strategies
A. Vision: Goals and Implementation Strategies
Our vision is to create a learning community of technologically literate life-long learners able to
interact successfully in a technological environment to achieve their personal, educational, and
workplace goals. Our students and faculty will use technology to access, retrieve and use
information, and to communicate within the school and community.
Specifically, our technological goals for the next five years are as follows:
1. All students and staff have access to the Internet.
2. Utilize a Voice over Internet Protocol telephone system.
3. Acquire latest technology interactive whiteboards and utilize in all classrooms including
specials – Technology, Music, and Art.
4. Acquire and utilize tablet PCs for special education, literacy and other programs that may
benefit from assisted technologies.
5. Provide professional development to train teachers in use of the interactive whiteboards.
6. Expand the number of computers available at the school, and purchase additional
computers as finances allow.
7. Access E-Rate funding to build systems to accomplish goals 1 and 2.
8. Expand the website 2.0, with teachers’ pages, information about local public computer
access, and a regularly-updated school events’ calendar.
9. Develop and implement a school intranet system.
B. Technology Committee
We will maintain a Technology Committee composed of volunteer faculty members,
administrators, and interested Board members, who will have the following responsibilities:
• Oversee the implementation of the Educational Technology Plan.
• Assess the technology currently used by the school.
• Assess the technological needs of the school.
• Evaluate “the effectiveness of technology resources toward attainment of educational
goals,” as suggested by the “Local Technology Plan Guidelines” (Benchmark 1, E.1).
• Maintain an up-to-date Acceptable Use Policy.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Charter School of Excellence Technology Plan 2012
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C. Needs Assessment and Evaluation
An informal process of assessment and evaluation from the Technology Committee and other
staff members will inform the administration’s technology purchasing decisions, based on the
effectiveness of existing technology in achieving educational goals.
D. Budget
Technology financial resources:
• We utilize E-Rate discounts.
• For technology costs not covered by E-Rate discounts, we utilize Massachusetts State
funds. These costs include the purchase and installation of interactive whiteboards.
• We receive a per-pupil tuition reimbursement from Massachusetts State.
• Our current SMART BoardTM interactive whiteboards were donated in 2010.
• Twenty-six laptops were donated for student use in 2012.
• Staff is funded through Massachusetts State funds.
Financially, we follow our Board-approved fiscal policy, which is based on a recommended
policy for charter schools. Our fiscal policy, in combination with our goal to expand technology
at the school and also with the feedback we receive from the Technology Committee and other
interested staff, shapes our technology purchasing decisions.
2012-2013 Technology Budget
Technology Staff
Infrastructure
Hardware
Software Applications
Professional Development
Support and Contracted Services
TOTAL
$63,900
17,000
28,500
16,800
5,300
78,500
$210,000
2013-2014 Technology Budget
Technology Staff
Infrastructure
Hardware
Software Applications
Professional Development
Support and Contracted Services
TOTAL
Martin Luther King, Jr. Charter School of Excellence Technology Plan 2012
$65,800
17,500
49,500
12,600
5,500
80,000
$230,900
2
2014-2015 Technology Budget
Technology Staff
Infrastructure
Hardware
Software Applications
Professional Development
Support and Contracted Services
TOTAL
$67,800
18,000
41,900
14,600
5,700
82,400
$230,400
2015-2016 Technology Budget
Technology Staff
Infrastructure
Hardware
Software Applications
Professional Development
Support and Contracted Services
TOTAL
$69,800
18,500
33,900
10,000
5,900
84,900
$223,000
2016-2017 Technology Budget
Technology Staff
Infrastructure
Hardware
Software Applications
Professional Development
Support and Contracted Services
TOTAL
$71,900
19,100
33,200
17,400
6.100
87,400
$235,100
E. Evaluation
The Technology Committee includes members of the technology staff. During committee
meetings, the purchases of technologies items will be discussed prior to their purchase to ensure
that the items are appropriate, cost-effective, and sustainable.
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Benchmark 2 Technology Integration and Literacy
A. Technology Integration
All students in grades K through 5 will attend Technology Class. Our Technology Faculty will
coordinate with classroom teachers so that Technology Class supports core academic learning.
Technology Class will address the Massachusetts Technology Literacy Standards and
Expectations, as defined by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary
Education. Students in grades K-2 will work toward the “exploratory concepts and skills”
competencies. By the end of fifth grade, students will have “gained a positive view of
technology as a tool for learning.”
All faculty members will use technology every day, to stay up to date on intraschool
communication. Our faculty will use technology regularly to plan lessons and collaborate with
other faculty.
B. Technology Literacy
Teachers will receive training on SMART BoardTM whiteboards and future interactive
whiteboard technologies purchased by the school. Over the next five years, other technology
professional development will be made available for all teachers. Teachers will aim to set
regular technology goals for their own technology literacy.
C. Technology Staff
Laura M. Gaston is our current Technology Director and Administrator.
We employ one .8 FTE instructional technology teacher, and we have forty-five instructional
staff, which satisfies the State’s goal of “one FTE instructional technology teacher per 60-120
instructional staff.” Our instructional technology teacher will aim to collaborate with classroom
teachers and promote technology integration within the curriculum.
We contract with Non-Profit Technology Assurance Group for in-classroom and in-office
technical support. Our IT specialists are on-site five days a week.
We have three staff members who work on data management and assessment.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Charter School of Excellence Technology Plan 2012
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Benchmark 3 Technology Professional Development
At the end of five years, at least 90% of our faculty will participated in high-quality, ongoing
professional development that includes emerging technology issues, technology skills, universal
design, and researched-based models of technology integration. The technology professional
development that we will expand in the next five years may include coaching, mentoring,
modeling, and online professional development, in addition to the opportunity for teachers to
provide feedback on their technology needs. All teachers will complete the Massachusetts
Technology Self-Assessment Tool by the DESE deadline. Teachers will continue to be assessed
informally on their technology skills, and will aim to set their own goals for increased
technology literacy.
Benchmark 4 Accessibility of Technology
We aim to provide and increase all of our students’ access to educational technology. The
school has a unified communication system, using a 100 Mb Cat 5 switched network that
provides staff with access to file sharing and e-mail.
Every classroom has an Internet-connected computer (100Mb), which, for the time being,
remains primarily if not exclusively for teacher use. At peak, the bandwidth at each computer is
100 Mb, and the network card for each computer is 100 Mb. Beginning in the Fall of 2010, nine
classrooms were equipped with SMART BoardTM interactive whiteboards. In 2012-2013 school
year, each grade 1 through 5 classroom were equipped with two laptops to use in a center format
for use by all class students for research and project activities.
We currently have a computer lab through which all of our 360 students rotate. While in the lab,
each student has access to her own Internet-connected computer (100 Mb). Our goal continues
to be to expand the number of computers, and, as a result, expand students’ access to technology.
Furthermore, our Technology Committee will explore the possibility of providing students with
handheld electronic devices, such as iPods, for a variety of potential uses, including the
following available applications: literacy and fluency training, sight words, math flashcards,
math drills, early reader books, word families, phonics, practice making letters by using touch
screen, American Presidents, Spanish, times tables, states and capitals. Finally, we are
committed to meeting the needs for assistive technologies of all students, based on their
Individual Education Plans.
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Benchmark 5 Virtual Learning and Communications
We encourage the development and use of innovative strategies for delivering high-quality
lessons through the use of technology using interactive whiteboards and computers. Classroom
teachers in collaboration with the Technology faculty collaborate on projects that include virtual
learning experiences and discussions.
We maintain an up-to-date website that includes information for parents and community
members.
Benchmark 6 Safety, Security and Data Protection
We maintain a CIPA-compliant Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) regarding Internet and network
use. The policy is updated as needed to help ensure safe and ethical use of resources by teachers
and students.
We educate teachers and students about appropriate online behavior. Topics include
cyberbullying, potential risks related to social networking sites and chat rooms, and strategies for
dealing with those issues. We use filtering technology and reasonable precautions to supervise
student Internet usage.
We have a Written Information Security Policy. This policy is designed to create effective
administrative, technical and physical safeguards for the protection of personal information of
staff and students and complies with our obligations under 201 CMR 17.00. It sets forth our
protocol and procedure for evaluating our electronic and physical methods of accessing,
collecting, storing, using, transmitting, and/or protecting personal information of the protected
parties. Personal information does not include publicly available information, and/or
information from federal, state or local government records lawfully made available to the
general public.
We inform staff and students that any information distributed over the district’s network may be
a public record.
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