ITI Celebrates 2016 Accomplishments

ITI Celebrates 2016 Accomplishments 

• PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
• The model of practitioner schools was developed and implemented by ITI at 40 schools; the model identifies schools that are focused on building their instructional design capacity as it relates to leveraging digital resources to personalize learning for all students.
• The practitioner schools currently serve as pilot sites for the District’s learning management system, Schoology.
• ITI developed and implemented a three-day Instructional technology cohort program to support all schools District-wide in developing a plan for implementing digital tools and resources aligned with their school's goals. Four cohorts were held during 2016, which trained a total of 530 participants. Alignment with the task for recommendations served as a foundation. 
• ITI expanded professional learning opportunities to all educators District-wide, which resulted in over 1100 teachers engaging in instructional technology trainings[1] .
• ITI also focused on building capacity among Division of Instructional team members to ensure instructional practices were aligned District-wide.
  
  
• 1:1 DISTRIBUTION
• During Spring 2016, ITI partnered with various departments such as MMED, SPED and the Mastery Learning team to calibrate instructional practices and ensure efforts are aligned District-wide.
• All 1:1 initiative distributions and associated efforts were completed by January 2016. The construction of safe rooms for all 1:1 schools was completed, and all 1:1 schools now have a knaack box for the summer storage process. Workflows and job aides were collaboratively created by ITI and ITD in order to build school site capacity around summer storage and distribution processes. Schools were also supported in transitioning to using Destiny as the system of record for check-in and check-out processes for devices. Fall 2016 served as the first semester were school site distributions were facilitated by the school site staff with as-needed support from ITI and ITD.
• ITI supported the provisioning of additional devices to middle schools for SBAC testing, Primary Schools for access to technology, and 1:1 ITI schools for Expanded Transitional Kindergarten (ETK) and Transitional Kindergarten (TK) programs.
  
  
• ITI TASK FORCE
• The ITI Task Force Recommendations were published in June 2016 and presented to the Board for review. The recommendations have served as the foundation for all ITI efforts, which are focused on academic rigor, learner agency, and developing learner-centered learning environments.
• The ISTE Standards for Students were formally adopted by the District via the ITI Task Force efforts in developing the recommendations.
  
  
• COMMUNITY AND DISTRICT-WIDE PARTNERSHIPS
• California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) - School2Home Program
• School2Home (S2H) is a program focused on assisting low-performing middle schools and helping them successfully integrate technology into their teaching and learning efforts to improve academic outcomes. The program is managed by the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF), a not-for-profit foundation with the mission of closing the digital divide across California. School2Home currently supports 7 District middle schools and is prepared to support a cohort of 6 newly identified District middle schools. School2Home will provide program management support along with funding for the implementation of key program components.
• International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)
• An Memorandum of Understanding between ISTE and ITI was established to explore a variety of areas of mutual purpose between the District and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) as the District works toward implementation of the 2016 ISTE Standards for Students.
• Common Sense Media
• In partnership with Common Sense Media, ITI is supporting educators in this work by providing a comprehensive toolkit, including grade-appropriate lesson plans about digital citizenship, activities that can be implemented school-wide, and materials to engage parents, guardians, and communities.
• Collaborated with MMED in the creation of an application process in order to facilitate the distribution of Kajeets and Chromebooks in the Summer and Fall of 2016.
  
  
• EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY GRANT
• ITI administered the Educational Technology Grant, which was a competitive grant program, through which selected schools made investments in instructional technology resources, and the District matched their investments by providing them with devices.
• The purpose of this grant was to: 1) encourage use of instructional technology; 2) promote collaboration between schools around the use of instructional technology; and 3) invest in schools that have not yet received devices from the District.
• A total of 242 schools were awarded a grant District-wide.
  
  
• COMPUTER SCIENCE
• ITI coordinated a Computer Science Education Week event at Madison Middle School to create District-wide awareness, where students featured their computer science projects for invited school and community leaders in December 2016.
• ITI facilitated the recruitment and expansion of high schools offering Exploring Computer Science & AP Computer Science Principles in addition to creating an awareness campaign for the upcoming Computer Science Discoveries course for middle schools.
• ITI Computer Science Coordinator participated in the state-level focus group meetings discussing the California Computer Science standards creation.
  
  
• DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP
• Digital Citizenship Week was successfully carried out with a signature event held at Griffin Ave Elementary School, which was comprised of a student performance and guests from the Disney channel who facilitated a presentation on digital safety and citizenship.
• Four schools have been recognized as Digital Citizenship Certified schools, which is the goal for all practitioner schools.
  
  
• ONLINE GRADEBOOK PILOT
• ITI created on-boarding and professional development materials, such as the scope and sequence, and provided training to school staff to assist the 17 Online Gradebook Pilot (OGP) schools sites in meeting all green light milestone indicators for continued piloting of the learning management system in collaboration with ITD and the Schoology team.