Central Carolina RESA
Notes from the Technology Council Meeting
April 22, 2014
Members Attending: Debby Atwater (CHCCS); Ed Chase (Edgecombe); Charlene
Covington and Dan Hicks (Johnston); Sheila Lowe (Halifax); Donna Malloy and
Wynn Smith(Wilson); Mary Gray Leonard (Durham); Cynthia Sartain (DPI); Chris
Shearer (Franklin); Angie Veitch (Orange); Chris Withrow (Warren); Vanessa
Wrenn (Granville); Neil Pedersen (CCRESA)
Guests: Tom Williams and Mary Ann Wolf
Angie Veitch convened the meeting at 1 p.m., welcomed members, and asked all
members to introduce themselves.
Distinguished Leadership Program for Digital Learning – Tom Williams and
Mary Ann Wolf
Tom Williams and Mary Ann Wolf shared information with the Council about the
Distinguished Leaders Program for Digital Learning that has been initiated this
winter under the direction of Shirley Prince and NCPAPA. A copy of the PowerPoint
used for the presentation will be posted on the Technology Council page under this
meeting. The content of the discussion can be gleaned from this PowerPoint.
Tom Williams identified the objectives for today’s session. He also provided
background and context for the DLP-Digital Learning program. There are 53
participants in the first cohort. This first cohort will finish up in December 2014.
The program uses a blended model that includes six face-to-face sessions and online assignments in between classes.
The program requires principals to delve into the leadership qualities and actions
that are necessary to consistently implement a more personalized approach to
instruction taking advantage of Digital Resources.
Council members expressed their desire for superintendents and principals to learn
more about this program. They observed that the effective use of technology in
schools is spotty and is heavily dependent upon the leadership of the principal.
Tom Williams indicated that funding for next year is not certain, but he is optimistic
that there will be funding for at least a second cohort.
There was an interest in the Friday Institute providing a couple of days of PD that
pulled from DLP-DL for a district team of principals.
State Board’s Virtual Charter School Study
A copy of the Virtual Charter School Study that was received by the State Board in
April and forwarded to the General Assembly was shared with Council members. Ed
Chase asked why the sharing of digital content across districts is still against the law
in North Carolina. Chris Withrow provided background information from Cabarrus
County’s initiative to establish a virtual school. For districts that want to provide
virtual AP and other courses, NC Virtual is the only option within the state. The
prohibition against districts being able to share virtual courses across districts
creates inequities across the state.
Angie Veitch expressed concern about the lack of curriculum content for districts
that are going 1:1. Who is reviewing/screening the curriculum and resources that
are out there?
Vanessa Wrenn explained that Granville felt compelled to implement more digital
learning due to competition with charter schools. The Granville County Schools also
took advantage of this opportunity to put the curriculum and resources for all
courses on line.
Neil Pedersen will communicate this concern regarding the state statute in question
to DPI to see if there is any support for seeking its amendment.
Districts’ Experience with Piloting Smarter–Balanced Assessments
Most of the districts represented at the meeting had piloted the Smarter-Balanced
Assessments this winter/spring and had not encountered any major problems.
Their infrastructure seemed to be sufficient. There were some minor glitches in the
software, but districts were able to work around them. The future of the
implementation of these assessments statewide remains somewhat uncertain,
especially in light of the political controversy over Common Core State Standards
and increased testing.
Proposal for Home Base Users Group
Neil Pedersen asked the Council if it would be interested in the CCRESA forming a
Home Base Users Group. It would consist of a team from each district composed of
the HomeBase lead and the leads for PowerSchool, School.Net, and TrueNorthLogic.
It would meet on an as-needed basis, but probably three or four times per year. The
purpose would be to provide a forum for these leaders to share their experiences,
frustrations, and solutions with each other and to provide feedback to DPI. It is
envisioned that the whole Users Group would convene and then break into the three
subgroups.
Ed Chase suggested that the CTOs who serve on the Technology Council or
participate in the Users Group that also serve on state technology committees
should be asked to communicate messages from the Users Group to DPI. Angie
serves on the READY Anywhere committee and Marlo, Ed, and Chris serve on the
single-access management committee.
Currently, school districts have provided DPI with the names of appointees for the
three areas included in the Users Group. However, mostly they serve as conduits for
emails between DPI and staff in the local districts. DPI does hold monthly meetings
to which everyone is invited; however, very few attend face-to-face. Representatives
can participate virtually.
Ed Chase pointed out that school and district administrators are going to be flooded
with data next fall. Could we as a group start to discuss how this data might be used
by administrators? Cynthia said that School.Net provides dashboards and districts
will be able to generate their own reports. Principals need to be prepared to digest
all this data. Ed is concerned about multiple sources of data and how to aggregate
all of this. He advocated for “Business Intelligence Dashboard for Educators.”
Evidently, SAS has such tools for companies. Ed would like to know how to start..
The Technology Council will hold its last meeting of this school year on May
13th. Angie Veitch asked that members send suggestions for agenda topics to her or
to the Executive Director.
The meeting adjourned at 3:10 p.m.