Daisy Dyer Duerr- Digital Principal Essay November 2013
As a native of rural Arkansas, the opportunity to “come home” and make a difference as a Principal in
our schools/communities has been a dream come true. The past nine years I have served as an
Administrator in rural Arkansas; the past three, have been in my home school district in the
geographically-isolated public school of Saint Paul.
When I accepted the challenge to become the Principal of Saint Paul in July 2011, this was a school
struggling in many areas, including very little in the way of 21st Century teaching and learning practices
and even less in the way of technology tools. We had a few Smart Boards and a CTE Cart with 10 Mac
books (which weren’t being used). That was it for our 7-12th grade High School. Student enrollment at
Saint Paul High was trending down; enrollment had decreased over 50% in the previous eight years. The
school had been designated by the state of Arkansas as in need of school improvement, year two for
both literacy and mathematics. In short, the challenges facing our school and school community were
daunting.
To give you a picture of our school, I serve as the PreK-12 Principal and am the only administrator within
thirty minutes of our campus. Our socio-economically disadvantaged rate fluctuates between 82-88%.
When I arrived at St. Paul Schools, students did not value the education they were receiving and the
teachers did not feel valued. Evidence of this included a low graduation rate, poor teacher satisfaction
survey comments, and lack of community participation in school events. Something had to change fast!
My first day on the job I formed a teacher leadership team and we set both short- and long-term goals.
These goals included: 1) Increase student enrollment 2) Get off school improvement status 3) Improve
staff morale 4)Improve technology school wide. We felt these were all great goals which we would
somehow find a way to achieve. However, please keep in mind our district—which itself was in a
financial crunch—afforded us little to no funding to accomplish them.
I have always been very innovative both as a teacher and administrator. I have often “jumped ahead”
and tried things when others were afraid; sometimes with great success, others with a “well, that didn’t
work so great” result! I have always viewed technology as the great equalizer for poor, rural students;
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s Tweet, “In America, Zip Codes Should Not Determine the Quality
of a Student's Education” truly illustrates one of my core values as an educator. I was fortunate to lead
an interactive presentation at Edscape in October 2013 on this topic and it provided me the opportunity
to engage other amazing educators in this important conversation and cause. Perhaps because I was a
poor, rural student myself growing up, I champion the cause of equality for rural and impoverished
students more strongly? Perhaps, but I think I do it simply because it is the right thing to do.
Without money at St. Paul Schools, but with the need for immediate changes that required money, I
started applying for grants. I was able to apply to the state of Arkansas through the Federal Title I
program and receive a large “Turn Back Grant” for Saint Paul Schools which enabled us to bring Saint
Paul into the “Digital Age.” We solicited student and teacher input about what type of technology
would best meet our needs and were off and running.
Our first technology initiative was to put an iPad in the hands of every St. Paul teacher. These iPads were
preloaded with educational apps and all teachers’ received a full day of in-service teaching them how to
use this Ipad. I encouraged teachers to use these at home, to become as familiar with them as possible. I
believe strongly in the research which has shown the more comfortable teachers are with the
technology themselves, the more likely they are to use it in their classes with their students.
We then purchased two iPad carts and a netbook cart for use across campus, and three sets of Nooks
with charging carts for use in our English classes. (This may not seem like “A LOT” of technology, but
remember, we are an isolated campus with only 220 students preK-12, so by the end of these initiatives
we had approximately 200 portable devices, plus three computer labs.) We use the iPads for everything
from math remediation to filming pep rallies. Our netbook cart is used throughout the disciplines for
research and report writing. We use the Nooks to obtain our CCSS Anchor texts and also pleasure
reading that isn’t readily available in our rural locale (it’s an hour to the nearest bookstore).
With this new technology came lots of questions. I was able to designate a teacher to serve as our
“technology integration specialist” one period a day. He is able to physically help teachers use all the
great technology we now have. This has been an invaluable tool. He models lessons, gives suggestions,
and tries new ideas alongside our teachers. It’s also my job to lead my school by example. To do this I
am working to “build my electronic platform” as Michael Hyatt would say, by using Twitter and other
means to form an educational collaborative alliance. Even though I am a principal in a rural locale, I am
able to learn globally, thanks to technology. I have created my own website (daisydyerduerr.com), from
which I blog, and I am encouraging my teachers and students to blog as well.
I have established a state Educational Twitter Chat for Arkansas (#ArkEdChat) which takes place every
Thursday night at 8:00 p.m. CST. This chat trends weekly, and draws educators from my school, the state
of Arkansas, and worldwide. This has brought the use of Social Media as professional development to
the forefront in Arkansas. I was also able to lobby the State of Arkansas for more bandwidth for our
school. Both years I have been at Saint Paul we have received a bandwidth “boost” from the state. It’s
not been much, but it’s been something that helped us improve—and it was free!
How do we make sure this technology is being used effectively? We follow up in teams and discuss
what we are doing with each other. We conduct “Flipped Faculty Meetings” which have allowed much
more protected team time during our meetings. I have also started using Edmodo with my staff. We
have engaged in book studies on Enhancing Professional Practice , by Charlotte Danielson, which is the
Teacher and Administrative model the state of Arkansas has adopted. Our staff completed assignments
throughout the chapters and tests. It was a great way for us to engage with each other in the study of
the book and also become an expert on a great classroom technology tool. My staff and I agreed that
since we have these new tools, part of teachers’ lesson plans should include “technology integration.”
So now, along with checking for standards, student engagement, and level of Bloom’s Taxonomy, I also
monitor lessons for technology integration. We have also done similar book studies on Todd Whitaker’s
Shifting the Monkey and Teach Like a Pirate using PADLET.
With this new technology we focus once a week through our advisory period on Digital Citizenship and
what it means to have a “Carbon Footprint.” Our students are intentionally educated about how what
they put into cyberspace today can impact them when they are 25 years old and seeking employment
opportunities. We model and promote positive digital citizenship as a staff and in our community. We
have established monthly community technology courses, beginning with basic computing, ranging to
the more detailed programming courses. Throughout my interaction on Twitter I have recently become
engaged in the idea of promoting a “Digital Legacy” versus a “Digital Footprint” so this is something our
student/teacher/parent group is currently looking at moving toward in our educational program.
Our teachers and students began “Genius Hour” this year as a Passion Based Learning Project. Our
teachers wanted something to empower students to improve their attendance; Genius Hour is what we
came up with to accomplish this when meeting with our students. Our students wanted to choose their
learning. Some of our first semester offerings include “Beginning Blogging,” “Computer Coding,”
“College & Career Planning,” “Be in a Rock Band,” and “Knitting 101.” This Passion Based Learning
initiative has proven effective in boosting our school wide attendance over 20% during our first marking
period. Students really look forward to this innovative learning time, every week!
Another amazing opportunity for our school was partnering with a local community coalition to write
and receive a Federal 21st Century Community Learning Center Grant which provides just under
$700,000 for our small isolated school to provide an after school program, including the addition of even
more technology: our first Chromebooks! We engage over 1/3 of our school daily in this three-hour
after school program; that is amazing to me! We have truly become a model of Digital Learning here in
Saint Paul, Arkansas.
Several great things have happened at Saint Paul High School since I have been principal: 1) We have
stopped losing students. For the first time in eight years we are actually increasing in terms of student
enrollment. 2) The 2012 Senior Class earned a record number of scholarships, which was then surpassed
by the 2013 class! I attribute that to them seeing all the “possibilities” that exist “out there” and
believing in themselves. There is something about putting technology in kids’ hands that makes them
have a new level of self-worth; I see it every day. Students will do a better job on an assignment they get
to use the iPad for than they will for one in which they use paper and pencil. We see it every single day
at our school: I’ve begun using the term “DIGITAL EMPOWERMENT”. 3) We are off school improvement
status for math and literacy! In fact, the Office of Educational Policy at the University of Arkansas has
recognized St. Paul Schools for Academic Excellence! (WOW! Now that is a turnaround!) 4) We have
increased the amount of technology we have in our school- from 10 portable devices to approximately
200!) 5) Our students, parents, and community are engaged through activities and Social Media; OUR
SCHOOL IS A COMMUNITY! 6)We have a Positive School Culture; I attribute this to the DIGITAL
EMPOWERMENT our Students, Staff, & Community feel from our increase in Tech resources and our
savvy in using them.
Recently, I have been honored to be invited to share our story via several different National Platforms:
National Rural Education Conference, October 2013, Edscape, October 2013, EduCon 2.5, January 2013,
ICLE Ohio Best Practices Conference, February 2013, NASSP Ignite13, Feb 2013, “Model Schools”
Summer 2012, and many other amazing events throughout the State of Arkansas. Another gratifying
honor for myself and our school was being selected as one of the five finalists for Secondary Principal of
the Year for the 2013 BAMMY! Awards. My journey since arriving at this wonderful rural school has
simply been a transforming experience for this rural southern girl—and hopefully for the students,
teachers, parents, and community members I serve!
St. Paul Schools……..We are a “Small Town School Providing a Global Education.”