CETPA Databus Winter 2010

Winter 2010 Volume 2010 • Issue 1

THEME FOR THIS ISSUE: Digital Literacy Progress Toward Digital Literacy The Powerful Image of Learning CETPA Turns 50 Meet New CETPA President Dr. Kelly Calhoun

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Table of CONTENTS

California Educational Technology Professionals Association

Winter 2010 | Volume 2010 | Issue 1

ARTICLES 6 President’s Message

By Dr. Kelly Calhoun

8 Best Practices

By Phil Scrivano

10 Progress Toward Digital Literacy

By Magali Meza

12 The Myth of the “Digital Native”

By Fred Mindlin

14 Visual Literacy: The Power of Images for Learning

By Lynell Burmark

16 Professional Learning Communities—Web Enhanced

By Sarah Zykanov

20 2009 San Diego Conference Review

By Andrea Bennett

22 CTO Mentor Program Completes a Third Successful Year

By Andrea Bennett

23 Legislative Update

By Dr. Jeffrey Frost

25 E-rate Update

By Fred Brakeman

26 Member Profile

A Chat with CETPA’s new President Dr. Kelly Calhoun

30 Resource Guide and Ad Index

Databus is the official publication of the California Educational Technology Professionals Association (CETPA).

Databus is published four times a year as a service to our members and information technology managers for California’s K-12 school system.

The CETPA and the Databus assume no responsibility for the statements or opinions appearing in articles under an author’s name. The services of an attorney or accountant should be sought in legal and tax matters.

All rights to the materials and editorial content of Databus are reserved. All copyrights and trademarks are property of their respective owners. Reproduction or use in whole or part without the permission by CETPA is prohibited.

Publisher California Educational Technology Professionals Association Managing Editor Tim Goree tigoree@norris.k12.ca.us

Advertising Manager Cici Trino Association Outsource Services (916) 990-9999 Fax: (916) 990-9991 cicit@aosinc.biz

Layout and Design Lori Mattas Printing and Mailing Copeland Printing

Editor Lisa Kopochinski (916) 481-0265 Fax: (916) 481-1181 lisakop@sbcglobal.net

Winter 2010 • DataBus 5

president’s MESSAGE

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

CETPA Turns 50

PRESIDENT

By Dr. Kelly Calhoun, CETPA President

Dr. Kelly Calhoun, Chief Technology Officer Santa Clara County Office of Education 1290 Ridder Park Drive San Jose, CA 95131 PRESIDENT ELECT

Stephen Carr, Executive Director, Technology Services

Ventura County Office of Education 5189 Verdugo Way Camarillo, CA 93012 PAST PRESIDENT

L. Russ Brawn, Chief Operations Officer FCMAT/CSIS 770 L Street, Suite 1120 Sacramento, CA 95814 TREASURER

Terrell Tucker, Director of Information & Technology Services

Panama-Buena Vista Union School District 4200 Ashe Road Bakersfield, CA 93313 SECRETARY

Gregory W. Lindner, Technology Services Director

Elk Grove Unified School District 9510 Elk Grove-Florin Road Elk Grove, CA 95624 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Andrea Bennett

915 L Street #C424 Sacramento, CA 95354 DIRECTOR OF PUBLICATIONS

Tim Goree, Director of Technology Services Norris School District 6940 Calloway Drive Bakersfield, CA 93312

DIRECTORS AT LARGE

Sandra Ching, Director of Information Services Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District 1301 Orangethorpe Avenue Placentia, CA 92870

Todd Finnell, Chief Executive Officer, CA K-12 High Speed Network Imperial County Office of Education 1398 Sperber Road El Centro, CA 92243

Dr. Carl Fong, Information Technology Executive Director

Orange County Department of Education 200 Kalmus Drive Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Oswaldo A. Galarza, Director of Technology Services

San Juan Unified School District 3738 Walnut Avenue Carmichael, CA 95608

Wade Williams, Director of Network Services Stanislaus County Office of Education 1100 H Street Modesto, CA 95354

6 DataBus • Winter 2010

A

nniversaries can be a special time. The passage of time brings accomplishments, milestones, things we want to acknowledge and celebrate. Sometimes the time itself becomes something to celebrate, such as when something, anything, lasts for 50 years. This year marks such a time, as we kick off a year of celebrating the 50th anniversary of the California Educational Technology Professionals Association. It is a great honor of mine to have been elected to serve as your President in such a remarkable time in the history of this great organization.

Anniversaries are a great time to look back and really nnn survey the road leading to where we are today. I’m so Anniversaries excited to see how many of you want to participate in this effort to pull together all the stories, memorabilia, people can also mark and sure, funky old technology (and those of you that cola time to pause lect that stuff know who you are) that we’ll put on display and reflect. and share with each other at our conference celebration You’ll hear me next year. (Did you remember that’s October 19-22 in say this a lot this Monterey? Put that in your calendar so you don’t forget!)

Our esteemed Past President Russ Brawn is going to take year, but I really the lead on heading up the effort to make a 50th birthday do see CETPA party there that’ll be unforgettable. And Steve Carr, this as being an year’s President Elect/Conference Chair, will be tasked with putting together yet another amazing conference, organization on the edge of great following a line of them that just seem to keep getting better every year. opportunity.

Sure, we still find ourselves in the midst of an economic nnn crisis of fairly epic proportions. Most of us are fairly certain that we haven’t quite seen the bottom of this in education yet. But under that adage that we should “never let a good crisis go to waste” (and I’d love to cite that for you, but there are a bunch of Republicans and Democrats all taking credit for having said it first), we have to remember that many of the very best ideas and solutions around us have been born and refined out of the fires of the most desperate of times. Our membership has made it 50 years on the tenacity and can-do spirit of our members and we’ll get through these times too.

Anniversaries can also mark a time to pause and reflect. You’ll hear me say this a lot this year, but I really do see CETPA as being an organization on the edge of great opportunity. We face many questions about how to move the organization forward into the next 50 years in a way that fulfills all its promise and potential. Questions about membership, participation, governance, staffing and more will be before us.

What should we change? What should we keep? What are the most important issues we need to be focusing on today? What are the areas where we most need to bring our influence in government and business? I’m going to make it my business to push for new ideas this year that will move us squarely onto that highway to our best future, and I am hoping you will join me in that effort. We’re moving our website design forward to ensure that our membership has the best tools available to participate in and take advantage of all that CETPA membership will have to offer.

Looking forward to a great year, and to seeing you in Monterey! 

best PRACTICES

Digital Literacy and Its Impact

Phil Scrivano

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Teacher accountability has a direct correlation to student achievement and engagement in this digital age. nnn

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ow will the advances in digital learning affect your classrooms and the way that students are taught and learn? What technologies do you have or are forthcoming that will change the classroom and what are their impacts? What other topics might impact digital literacy in the near future?

Recently Pat Alexander, Instructional Services Division Administrator with Kern County Superintendent of Schools, gave me a book to read called Revisiting Professional Learning Communities at Work: New Insights for Improving Schools by Richard DuFour, Robert Eaker, and Rebecca DuFour. I highly recommend reading this book because it dissects all of the parts of an education system that impact or influence improving the education of each individual student. From our CETPA member viewpoint, No Child Left Behind (NCLB) forced the importance of digital literacy for every person working in your district.

Reading this book from the IT perspective, every chapter describes and gives a direction to follow for the role of technology. At the core of NCLB is the mission for the teacher to assess, teach and now prove that what is taught actually impacts student growth. The expectation is that if a concept based on a state standard was not learned, the teacher will immediately see the data, work with other teachers to figure out why the concept was not learned, apply remediation, and assess for effectiveness again. This accountability rides on the technology we provide at the classroom level.

You may be fortunate to work in a district that does not have schools that are in some form of state improvement. From an instructional and technology standpoint, I can only deduct that what school improvement sites are doing to improve student learning should be on everyone’s radar. If a teacher must give instruction in a manner that enables student data to be input into a program to assess that particular lesson, you have a teacher who must now be engaged in technology. The argument is no longer that adding Internet resources will improve curriculum. Teachers now must embrace using advanced technology systems as a core function of their job.

Teacher accountability has a direct correlation to student achievement and engagement in this digital age. When teachers articulate that a particular technology is needed in order to boost student performance, the IT department must respond with the best implementation. I see this often on the EdTech list with questions such as what is the best digital projectors and interactive board technology. These demands are bringing IT people into the mix of education curriculum into the classroom. Like each department in a school system that supports learning in a classroom, we have basic responsibilities such as network infrastructure, business systems, SIS, telephones and Internet that are expected to always function. These technologies indirectly support the learning environment but are not often observed by the school site unless those particular systems are not functioning. The IT department must find ways to get involved at the school site level in classroom instruction if for no other reason but to prepare for up-and-coming technology requests at the local level. This is a role that is changing, from sending a technician into the room to fix a software issue to involvement in the curriculum decisions that will impact technology resources.

Although we do not expect teachers to learn about our technology terms, reading Revisiting Professional Learning Communities at Work will help you understand the current responsibilities and challenges our classroom teachers, principals and superintendents are being held accountable for. If you can accomplish this with one well-written book, I believe reading this author’s insight is time well spent.  Phil Scrivano is Vice President of Customer Services for Lightspeed Systems. He can be reached at (661) 716-7600 or phil@lightspeedsystems.com.

8 DataBus • Winter 2010

Progress Toward Digital Literacy

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By Magali Meza

dvances in digital learning are bound to have a tremendous impact on classrooms and the way students are taught. We can already see a shift from traditional classrooms and instruction, which were mainly teacher-oriented, to instruction that is interactive, student-centered and collaborative.

While today’s students, who regularly use MySpace, Facebook, text messages, video chat, and many other tools at home, are still forced to “power down” when they come to school, a growing number of schools are now committed to bringing digital technology and digital learning to their full potential.

At the state level, digital literacy and digital learning are becoming a priority. In May 2009, Gov. Schwarzenegger established the California ICT Digital Literacy Leadership Council to ensure that California residents are digitally literate and to seek strategies that will incorporate Digital Literacy into K-12 and higher education.

At the same time, he launched a digital textbook initiative, placing California in the vanguard of an online movement that will undoubtedly transform education.

Today, educators agree that an important goal of education is to teach students 21st-century skills. Included among these skills are communication, collaboration and literacy, which is the ability to locate, organize, understand, evaluate and create information using digital technology. Students themselves understand that their peers who do not have access to online resources are disadvantaged in academic endeavors. Equitable connectivity and access to sources of digital information is a threshold issue—and one that the California K-12 High Speed Network (K12HSN), a state program funded by the California Department of Education— continues to work to improve. Equitable connectivity and access to enriching and edifying content are keys to a successful society, and this is why connectivity, content, access and equity are so important.

Teachers who are now charged with promoting 21st-century skills are incorporating digital content and new technologies into the curriculum as a way to engage students and improve student learning. Verizon Thinkfinity is one example of an organization providing digital content to enhance the 21st-century learning experience. Thinkfinity.org offers free, high-quality and engaging resources allowing educators to effectively prepare students to become productive citizens. These amazing resources facilitate project-based instruction and real-life application, helping educators teach math, civics, science, collaboration, leadership and more.

Verizon Thinkfinity gives teachers access to thousands

10 DataBus • Winter 2010

of educational resources, including standards-based, grade-specific, K-12 lesson plans, student interactive tools and reference materials. Thinkfinity.org is a great resource teachers can use to enrich their lessons, promote discovery learning, student-based learning and collaboration.

But Internet access and the availability of highquality collections of digital content are just one example of the advances in digital learning. Many other technologies are also transforming the classroom. In recent years, educators have gained a wide range of technological tools to assist in teaching and learning.

Web 2.0 tools such as blogs, wikis, podcasting and video hosting are now widely adopted. Interactive whiteboards and response systems are becoming the norm. Digital textbooks are rapidly gaining momentum.

And while mobile devices are still largely prohibited at school, a growing number of districts are starting to incorporate cell phones and iPods into the curriculum.

School administrators, ed tech and IT departments are instrumental in the transition to digital learning. Their willingness to initiate change and support innovation is essential. Cooperation between ed tech, information technology and teachers has never been as critical to ensure the success of digital learning.

Professional development is key as it allows teachers to use these new technologies efficiently. Good communication also helps ensure that the digital experience works well and that teachers can access the information and tools they consider useful. To address some of the issues related to content filtering, K12HSN decided to leverage the “trusted community” of its registered users and created a sheltered environment for the use of some of these tools. Calaxy is a suite of Web 2.0 tools that teachers can access when Web 2.0 tools hosted in the public domain are blocked. Calaxy allows educators to utilize the latest web technology and tools while simultaneously addressing concerns about appropriate content and providing access with risks minimized.

Creating an environment that promotes technology and digital learning will allow schools to engage students, enhance student learning and ultimately raise academic achievement. By embracing these advances in digital learning, schools have an opportunity to finally make education fit with today’s world.  Magali Meza is Outreach Specialist for the California K-12 High Speed Network at the Imperial County Office of Education. She can be reached at mmeza@ icoe.org.

Lightspeed Customer Success

Real-World Story: Balancing Learning & Safety in Schools “The Educational Video Library allows us to easily review and approve a video and put it out there for access, and everyone benefits from that.”

Situation

Solution

As technology becomes an increasingly important part of students’ lives, the role of technology in schools will continue to grow as well. The Sierra Sands School District in southern California recognizes this, and its forward-thinking technology department knows that its job is about more than keeping the computers working—it’s about making the network a valuable tool for education.

The Sierra Sands Acceptable Use Policy prohibits users from activities like harassing other students and accessing inappropriate sites. Lightspeed Web Access Manager provides the filtering, monitoring, and reporting to ensure that those policies are enforced.

“I review reports like blocked content, search engine queries, and suspicious search engine queries every morning,” Donnie says. “I’m able to look at everything and see if there are any issues I need to look into further. And I pass along reports to the principals so they can see what’s happening at their individual sites as well as the entire district.”

“The students are used to technology; it’s what they relate to. If we want to keep them engaged, we have to match the things they do at home, and the things they enjoy. That is technology,” shares Donnie Morrison, Director of Technology for the Sierra Sands School District.

Smartboards, web access, online videos and 1:1 initiatives all play into the district’s vision for technology—but it is critical that it is done with safety in mind. And Donnie and his technology team are working with administrators and teachers to find the right balance: “We have to make sure we’re protecting the kids, but also giving them access to valuable resources,” Donnie recognizes.

Like every other California school, the other challenge Donnie faces is budget.

With Lightspeed Systems, Donnie has the powerful web filter and reporting engine he needs—and a lower price tag. “Lightspeed gives us comprehensive reports, and lets us create custom reports. In my opinion, it has more features, and is still more cost-effective, than other options.”

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A new feature Donnie is excited about is the Educational Video Library, which allows teachers to share approved YouTube videos with students—without the concerns of inappropriate content, peripheral links, or comments. “We get a lot of requests for teachers to be able to share good educational videos from YouTube, but allowing that in the past has really been quite a hassle,” Donnie recalls. “The Educational Video Library allows us to easily review and approve a video and put it out there for access, and everyone benefits from that.”

As Sierra Sands prepares its students for success in the 21st century by increasing the role technology plays in education, it relies on Lightspeed Web Access Manager to help ensure that those endeavors don’t compromise student safety, regulatory compliance, or Acceptable Use Policy adherence. “If I have a question about anything, I can go in and run a report and see what’s going on. Having access to that information ties to acceptable use as well as student safety and legal issues,” Donnie concludes.

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The Myth of the “Digital Native” Why Generational Stereotyping Won’t Improve Student Learning

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By Fred Mindlin

he phrase “digital native” (Prensky, 2001a &b) has been much publicized by Marc Prensky, a video game designer. Its use implies that the current population of students younger than some age, based on whenever one decides to date the “birth” of the digital age, have somehow acquired an inborn mastery of and facility with electronic tools. Prensky has been criticized from many angles, from the implicit denigration of immigrants as inherently inferior (Siemens, 2007) to his sloppy citations and the lack of a research basis for his assertions (McKenzie, 2007; Bennett, et al, 2008). Putting aside these and other questions about class, privilege and unequal access, which make the usefulness of such generational stereotyping problematic, there is a more basic flaw in the picture conjured up by the phrase “digital native.”

While clearly many young people are adept as digital consumers, their immersion in this world also heightens their susceptibility to the manipulations of advertisers, unless they’ve also acquired the critical and analytic skills needed to navigate our complex information landscape. And while today’s students certainly have a bigger menu of diversions before them than did their parents, entering the digital world as a creator and producer of content and mastering the tools to do so require a new and different skill set.

Mastery should mean having a depth of understanding and a historical perspective on the thing mastered, and facility with technology is merely facile without the motivation and opportunity to create in the digital landscape. While many youth are quite adept with these tools, as a generation, these digital

12 DataBus • Winter 2010

consumers need lots of helpful context framing and coaching from many perspectives.

An assertion made by proponents of the “digital native” myth is that these kids who grew up with the Internet already a part of their lives are somehow Internet experts by birth. On the contrary, my experience working with students K-12 is that most have a limited understanding of the Internet’s power and potential and lack the critical and analytic skills to harness it for their own uses. In terms of the Internet, I am the native, present since it was browsed with the original Netscape dragon.

I have watched it grow from a fascinating, but tiny, world of academic and community connections, where almost anyone could become a “friend” and quickly earn deep levels of trust, without ever a faceto-face meeting, into the vast and complex social web of deceit and chicanery and creativity, which it is still becoming. We all need each other, and all can contribute, and all need help of one kind and another from time to time.

The writer’s strike of November 2007 to February 2008 afforded a wonderful teachable moment, as the talk show hosts so admired for their wit and humor suddenly had nothing to say. It became much easier to identify them as performers dependent on “behind-the-scenes” creators for the cleverness once thought to be intrinsically theirs. One of our tasks as educators is to find ways to help these young people, immersed in the information sea, to stop and take time to look around and reflect on its implications and contours. Even more importantly, we must offer them opportunities to take control of the tools and use them to tell their own stories.

Here there is a point well taken in Prensky’s argument: blocking social media in the classroom cuts our students off from some of the most powerful of these publication opportunities. As technology using educators and administrators, we must find ways to comply with our responsibilities to secure networks and meet legal filtering requirements that nevertheless do not cripple students’ access to robust interactive and collaborative environments.

We must also acknowledge and confront the curmudgeons in our ranks, providing rich staff development opportunities and ongoing follow-up interventions to enable those colleagues who may be reluctant to embrace creative technologies. When teachers accept that their students may have superior skill levels to theirs in some areas of manipulating and navigating digital tools, it can help the students to acknowledge, in turn, that there are critical and analytic skills they need to learn from the teachers. I’ve had students angrily denounce me: “There’s no advertising

in movies!” When I ask them to notice the way actors always seem to hold their soda cans with the labels towards the camera, and reflect if they take such pains to show their friends what brand they’re drinking, their perceptions begin to shift. The most important “technological” skill is judgment.

Teaching students how to evaluate the veracity and reliability of the Internet and other digital resources is another key skill.

From reading Alan November’s classic analysis of a holocaust denial Web site (November, 1998) to acquiring a basic understanding of top-level domains, students need to know how the Web is built and what’s behind the text and images on the screen.

Always asking ourselves about context and background helps us with another key information age skill, negotiation. Who controls this space I’m entering? What are its norms? What will happen to the information I share here? The importance of asking these questions and knowing how to find their

answers is not generation specific.

Finally, making good use of technology requires what I like to call “tapping the well.” Ultimately, creative processes are all forms of narrative, and if students are unable to connect to and trust their own imaginations, there are no stories to tell.

Sherry Turkle, a clinical psychologist and the director of the M.I.T. Initiative on Technology and Self, says schools also need to allow students to experience stillness, because the rest of their lives is not making it easy for them to find stillness (Turkle, 2009). Dialog in social media about the books we read can create rich interaction, but we still have to be able to sit still long enough to read the book in the first place.

Fred Mindlin is Associate Director for Technology Integration with the Central California Writing Project (CCWP). Visit www.thedigitalstoryteller.com.

REFERENCES Bennett, S., Maton, K. & Kervin, L. 2008. The ‘digital natives’ debate: A critical review of the evidence.

British Journal of Educational Technology. Accessed in draft form at http://www.cheeps.com/karlmaton/ pdf/bjet.pdf McKenzie, Jaime. 2007. “Digital Nativism, Digital Delusions, and Digital Deprivation.” From Now On, the educational technology journal, Vol 17, No 2, November 2007. Accessed at http://fno.org/nov07/ nativism.html#GenerationM

Infinity already serves 15% of all California school districts.

http://www.educause.edu/blog/gbayne/EDUCAUSENow19ImplicationsofSoc/179382 November, Alan. 2009. Teaching Zack to think.

Originally published 1998. Accessed at http://novemberlearning.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/ teaching-zack-to-think.pdf Prenksy, Marc. (2001a). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1-6.

Prenksy, Mark. (2001b). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Part II. Do they really think differently? On the Horizon, 9(6), 1-6.

Siemens, George. 2007. “Digital natives and immigrants: A concept beyond its best before date.” http:// www.connectivism.ca/?p=97

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Turkle, Sherry. 2009. “Saving Stillness.” Video at http:// www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/ learning/concentration/saving-stillness.html?play

Winter 2010 • DataBus 13

CUE VIEW

Visual Literacy: The Power of Images for Learning

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By Lynell Burmark, Ph.D.

he signs are everywhere—for those who can read them. The primary literacy of the 21st century will be visual: pictures, graphics, and images of every kind. Engineering, architecture, computer trades, health care professions, even jobs as pedestrian as cooking fries at McDonald’s (now done with sophisticated robotics) all require visual literacy. It’s no longer enough to read and write text. Our students must learn to process both words and pictures. They must be able to move gracefully and fluently between text and images, between literal and figurative worlds.

Not only does visual literacy improve students’ options in the work world, but more immediately, from the educator’s perspective, it also enhances and accelerates learning in K-12 classrooms. From print materials to computer-based presentations and the myriad of graphical sites on the Internet, image-rich curriculum reaches and teaches more students more quickly and more meaningfully than traditional written student reports and text-based, talking-teacher instruction ever could.

Good teachers have always known that visual images help learners understand and remember complex information and abstract concepts. In 400 B.C.E., in the Phaedo, Plato recounts Socrates describing two worlds: the murky, tangled world of speech versus the perfect, well-lit world of imagery. In 1658, pansophist philosopher John Amos Comenius published The Visible World, considered to be one of the first illustrated books for children. Both Freud and Piaget recognized that young children handle concrete images more easily than abstract words.

14 DataBus • Winter 2010

In a 1982 study, Levie and Lentz reported findings from 55 experiments comparing learning from illustrated text versus text alone. They noted that illustrations contributed to reader interest and enjoyment, affected attitudes and emotions, and provided spatial information that was difficult to express in words. They also calculated that groups using illustrated texts performed 36 percent better than groups using text alone on measured criteria.1 In his landmark publication, Multimedia Learning, University of California, Santa Barbara Professor Richard Mayer shares the results of his research: retention and recall are boosted 42 percent and transfer a whopping 89 percent with illustrated texts!2 Whatever the subject area, teachers must anchor information to an image or a series of images. Is it time for religious studies, character education, or a few quiet moments of introspection? Help yourself to the “Beginnings and Endings” section of the NOAA Web site at www.noaa.com with its breathtaking sunrises, sunsets, moonbeams and moonlight.

Little Eugene must have been looking at a similar image when he wrote the following letter: Dear God, I didn’t think orange went with purple until I saw the sunset you made on Tuesday. That was cool.

– Eugene “I didn’t think . . . until I saw.”

Eugene takes us to the heart of visual literacy. It’s not

just looking at pretty pictures. It’s understanding how we think—how we connect what we already know about the world, life, relationships and values to those pictures—and then use them to make sense of our expanded world.

When we experience visions, daydreams, nightmares, spiritual revelations, poignant memories, “Aha!” moments, or even delightful flights of imagination, they tend to come to us in images rather than words, most often as a kind of cinema that combines dialog and images into action sequences. As my colleague Lou Fournier Marzeles says, “Imagery is the language of the spirit,” by which he means that an image bypasses linguistic and rational hurdles and impacts us with meaning immediately and viscerally.

Pictures are like islands in the sun, the visible tips of remembered experiences and feelings that plunge far below the surface.

As with Rorschach tests, images all around us induce deeply personal perspectives and highly affective projections. Visual literacy is about understanding how and why such projections work and how we can affect our students and other audiences clearly, responsibly, and purposefully.

I like to think of “visual literacy” as 3-D eyeglasses for the mind. They are the lenses through which we see the meaning—the words and ideas—behind the images. When we teach our students to view images— everything from universal symbols like the stick figures on public rest room doors to artfully composed professional photographs—we are guiding them through a visual experience that takes us beyond the two dimensions of the medium itself.

Learning to articulate the real-life experiences behind photos we cherish, extracting the “storyboards” from plays, poems, and

novels, students can begin to read images and words with new eyes. They can embark on travel in both directions—from pictures to words and words to pictures—and be enriched by both the outbound and the return journey.

An Associate of the Thornburg Center, Lynell Burmark, PhD has been a member of CUE for 30 years and is a former Executive Director of CUE. She is widely recognized for her presentations and publications in the field of visual literacy. She can be reached at lynellb@aol.com. This article first appeared in the journal OnCUE, Vol. 30, No. 4, Fall 2008. This article includes material excerpted from the eBook, Visual Literacy, by Dr. Lynell Burmark, available at educatebetter.org.

REFERENCES ¹Levie, W. H. and Lentz, R., “Effects of Text Illustrations: A Review of Research,” Educational Communication and Technology Journal, 30 (4), pp. 195-232.

2 Mayer, Richard E., Multimedia Learning, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2001.

Winter 2010 • DataBus 15

Professional Learning Communities – Web Enhanced

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By Sarah Zykanov

eflection on practice, collaborative lesson planning, examining evidence of student learning, creating common assessments; each of these activities helps teachers define problems, consider options and plan ways to adapt classroom practice to meet the needs of diverse learners. Most educators agree that these activities are important and valuable, but few believe there is enough time in the typical school day to do any of them well.

Schools using the professional learning community (PLC) model find ways to embed at least two focused half-hour meetings per month for PLC meetings in the school schedule (Schmoker, 2006). Meeting protocols that help teacher teams stay focused as they clarify goals and action steps are recommended (Boudett et al, 2005). Teacher teams often need guidance as they learn to work together and then ongoing monitoring and support from school leaders (Dufour et al, 2005).

I propose that one way to contend with time constraints and the need for guidance and monitoring of PLC work is through the use of information and communications technologies (ICT). The following are some examples of ICT that could facilitate PLC work. E-mail and shared calendars can ease coordination of group meetings. Online discussion forums, preferably restricted to school users, can be used to post meeting minutes, goals and action plans. Teachers can reflect on practice and brainstorm new approaches to teaching challenges in

online forums (Whipp, 2003). Web sites or wikis can be used to share teacher created resources and lessons (Sheehy, 2008). Internet-based programs can facilitate collaborative curriculum unit planning (Wiske, 2005). Data systems for creating assessments and analyzing results allow teachers to share information about student learning with ease (Steele & Boudett, 2008). Using ICT would allow teachers to participate in team work at a time and place that is convenient for them. It would also make it easier for principals to monitor and support the work of multiple PLC teams.

There are a number of free online ICT tools that can facilitate teacher collaboration. Most of these tools are simple to set up and easy to use: Google Apps for Education includes a shared calendar, chat, simple video conferencing, teacher and group Web sites and the ability to collaboratively create documents, presentations and spreadsheets.

Wikispaces or PBworks are popular wiki sites with free versions for educators. Wikis are simple Web sites for resource sharing and online discussions.

Creating a social network using Ning may be an option some school teams wish to consider. A social networking site would allow teachers to create a personal profile page and also support collaborative work. The Calaxy suite from the California K-12 high speed network includes Moodle online course software that could be used to set up a private learning environment for PLC. continued on page 18

16 DataBus • Winter 2010

Professional Learning Communities continued from page 16

Teachers working together in online learning spaces should learn about and practice rules of netiquette, interacting online in ways that do not make other participants feel offended or defensive. In a face-to-face discussion, intonation and nonverbal cues help people discern humor or know when someone is offended by a comment. Written communication is permanent so participants need to use words with care. Teams must consider the level of privacy they need. For example, discussions of student work, especially using student names, should not take place in an unrestricted online forum. The tools listed above all allow for various levels

of privacy. Data that must be kept confidential such as student discipline or transcripts should not be recorded in these unencrypted online tools. If the group’s primary goal is to share teacher created materials such as units or lessons, teachers can share these on a wiki that is open to the public. Be sure that only group members can publish to the wiki, to avoid posts from unwelcome visitors.

In summary, ICT can facilitate the work of collaborative teacher teams, such as PLC, allowing them to share resources and ideas, and document their work. ICT can allow teachers to participate in team work at a time and place that is convenient for them.

Various free online tools can be explored to determine what will best meet group needs and interests. Attention should be paid to netiquette, confidentiality and privacy.  Sarah Zykanov is a Curriculum and Technology Resource Teacher for the San Rafael City Schools and adjunct faculty at the Dominican University of California— School of Education. She can be contacted at szykanov@srcs.org or on the Web at http://web.mac.com/szykanov

REFERENCES Boudett, K. P., City, E. A., & Murnane, R. J. (2005). Data wise. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Dufour, R., Eaker, R., & Dufour, R. (Eds.). (2005). On common ground: The power of professional learning communities. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.

Schmoker, M. J. (2006). Results now. Alexandria, Va.: ASCD. Sheehy, G. (2008). The wiki as knowledge repository. TechTrends. 52(6), 55-60.

Steele, J. L., & Boudett, K. P. (2008). The collaborative advantage. Educational Leadership, 66(4), 54-59.

Whipp, J. L. (2003). Scaffolding critical reflection in online discussions. Journal of Teacher Education, 54(4), 321-33.

Wiske, M. S. (2005). Teaching for Understanding with Technology. Jossey Bass, San Francisco

18 DataBus • Winter 2010

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CETPA Annual conference

San Diego, California

Keynote speaker Erik Wahl

Keynote speaker David Jakes

2009 San Diego Conference a Success

By Andrea Bennett

T

his year’s conference attendees were rewarded with informative sessions, amazing networking opportunities, great food and the best weather California can offer. Set in beautiful San Diego, the Town and Country Resort and Convention Center is an outdoor campus that let the nearly 500 attendees sit outside between sessions to reflect on and organize the valuable information received in the last breakout session. Everywhere you looked, people were smiling. In true CETPA spirit, attendees shared information with each other at every opportunity, enhancing the valuable experience even more.

It has been a challenging year in so many ways. As we planned for this year’s conference and watched California’s financial situation crumble, the CETPA Board and I looked for ways to help our members get to the conference. Offering unique and essential sessions filled with relevant information has been a norm for us, thanks to the many speakers who volunteer their time and resources. But we knew we had to do more so we offered one-day registrations, negotiated a room rate that was lower than last year’s rate and added sessions to Tuesday morning.

Tuesday began with a continued round of discussions on digital learning. State Secretary of Education Glen Thomas was among those discussing the current and future of digital learning in our schools. Educators, technologists, publishers and vendors sat down together to discuss strategy and other possibilities for enhancing the use of technology in the classroom. We also had David Jakes give a keynote entitled “Beyond the Web 2.0 Hype: Focusing on What Really Matters.” Jakes gave the audience a lot to think about regarding disruptive technologies and their use in education. The day ended with our opening reception and vendor hospitalities that continued the valuable networking—and was fun too!

Wednesday was a full day of breakout sessions and the CTO Mentor Program commencement ceremony where 19 candidates were honored for completing the program. Another keynote was Erik Wahl, a motivational speaker who paints amazing pictures during his speech. A painting of Bono was given to a lucky attendee. Others of Tiger Woods and Abraham Lincoln were 20 DataBus • Winter 2010

donated to the CETPA silent auction that helped raise money for CETPA’s Bridge to the Future Scholarship program. Wednesday evening was our traditional President’s Reception, which had great food and music and gave attendees a chance to unwind after the long day of learning.

The hands-on labs were standing-room only and the Technology Pavilion was set up with mock classrooms, a tech talk area and two gaming systems so attendees could do, um, research on the effectiveness of gaming in the curriculum. Yeah, that’s it, research.

The exhibitor’s show was packed with vendors who do business in K12, all eager to provide the latest information on hardware, software and services for schools. With more than 200 booths and 500 booth staff, there was plenty of information being shared and I’m sure attendees headed back to their organizations with new ideas and plans for the future. Many exhibitors were also sponsors who made the quality of this year’s conference exceptional. More vendor hospitalities were held this evening that kept attendees busy into the night. Friday’s sessions and business meeting were followed by another “Best Ever” Golf Tournament at the River Walk Golf Course that gave those who attended not only a perfect day for golf but another chance to network.

We hope that this year’s conference gave attendees the tools to provide “Leadership When It Counts” as we know that it will be needed in the foreseeable future. We would also like to thank the many volunteers and sponsors who helped us make this conference a success. We know we can’t do it alone and your contributions are very much appreciated.

We have already begun the plans for next year’s conference.

This is our 50th conference! Held in Monterey at the Portola Hotel, Marriott Hotel and Monterey Convention Center, it will be special. With your help, we will again provide essential professional development, great vendor resources and have a great time at the President’s Reception, which will be held at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. If you were there last time, you know it cannot be missed! 

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CTO Mentor Program

CTO Mentor Program Completes a Third Successful Year

T

he CTO Mentor Program continues to help technology leaders learn the essential skills needed in the K12 environment. Another challenging year has ended with all 19 candidates completing the program successfully. Congratulations to:

By Andrea Bennett

Sandra Arellano, Jamul-Dulzura Union School District Michael Cole, Petaluma City Schools Alex Evans, Colusa County Office of Education David Findley, Rosedale Union Elementary District Jonathan Foth, Bakersfield City Unified Diane Foulks, Mariposa County Unified Martha Friedrich, FCMAT/CSIS Joanne Glantz, Madera Unified Julie Judd, Moorpark Unified Mary Rose Monney, Paradise Unified Kim Murray, Larkspur Unified Rick Otto, Sequoia Union High School District (formerly) John Patten, Sylvan Union School District Ryan Quesenberry, East San Gabriel Valley ROP Marcos Rojas, Laguna Beach Unified Sean Rozell, San Francisco Unified Rick Sanchez, Wasco Union School District Chris Smith, Baldwin Park Unified Robert Talley, Lassen County Office of Education

About the Program The CTO program provides classroom training that takes place in eight sessions, once a month (Friday night and all day Saturday). This year, the classes will be held from February through September. Participants improve their understanding of fundamental issues that drive school technology and will learn or improve the skills needed to be an effective CTO in the K12 environment.

A curriculum that is reflective of current functions and responsibilities required of a district CTO has been adopted for this program and is reviewed throughout the program for relevance and rigor. Each meeting is faceto-face and includes lecture, group exercises and guest speakers who are experts in their field.

In addition to a rigorous curriculum, the program pairs each candidate with their own mentor. Mentors are experienced technology leaders currently working in the K12 environment in California. Mentors guide their candidate through the curriculum, giving feedback, advice and providing resources.

Candidates are required throughout the program to complete both prerequisite assignments prior to each 22 DataBus • Winter 2010

session and all homework assignments after each session.

They are able to discuss assignments with each other, their mentor and/or the instructor. Each student is evaluated on their class attendance and performance in class, homework assignments and comments by instructors, class presentation, mentor relationship, final oral presentation and final written summary. The most important criteria is that the candidate shows growth during the program and understands the CTO vision concept as taught in the program.

The CTO Mentor Program certification identifies the individual as a person who understands the skills required to be a CTO in California K12 public schools. Experience cannot be replaced by this certification and, in some cases, individuals may need more practical experience before they can be successful as a CTO. As they gain experience, they can apply the knowledge received in this program and be confident in their abilities.

The program is managed and sponsored by CETPA and is also sponsored by the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT/CSIS). In addition, the program is supported by the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association (CCSESA) and the California Department of Education (CDE).

Resources are provided by the Association for California School Administrators (ACSA), the State Superintendent Jack O’Connell’s office, The State Secretary of Education, Glen Thomas’ office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Current Status The CTO Mentor Program has just concluded its third year of classes. We honored the class of 2009 at the CETPA Annual Conference with a commencement ceremony that raised awareness of the program and sparked interest among the attendees.

The CTO Mentor Program instructors meet throughout the year to review and update the curriculum based on current trends and the needs of the class. The steering committee also meets consistently throughout the year to review the program and the candidates’ progress.

Applications for candidates, mentors and instructors were accepted until December 4 and the chosen candidates will be paired with their mentors and classes beginning in February.

How to Get More Information For more information on the program, please see our Web site at http://cetpa-k12.org/pub/htdocs/cto-overview.html or call Andrea Bennett, Executive Director, at (916) 402-2471. 

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Race To The Top; A Never Ending Race?

Federal Race to the Top Efforts Heat Up In California

A

By Dr. Jeffrey Frost

s a part of the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) stimulus program implemented by the Obama Administration in 2009, there is a segment called the Race to the Top (RTTT) program. This program, which contains $4.3 billion in one-time competitive grant funds, is designed to spur states toward making progress on four specific reforms areas: 1) Development of highquality standards and assessments, 2) Implementation of data systems that support instruction, 3) Expansion of programs to improve the effectiveness of teachers and principals, and 4) Expanding support for each state’s lowest performing schools.

Governor Takes Lead in Efforts to Win a RTTT Grant On August 20, 2009, Governor Schwarzenegger officially announced a fifth extraordinary legislative session to ensure that “California meets the Obama Administration’s eligibility requirements to be highly competitive for Race to the Top funding.” As a part of this effort, the Governor is sponsoring SB x5 1, which is being authored by Senators Romero (D-Los Angeles) and Huff (R-Diamond Bar).

Senate Approves Bill on Narrow Vote In November 2009, the Senate approved SB 5x 1 on a vote of 21 to 12 and sent the bill on to the Assembly. All Republican members supported the bill along with Democratic members Steinberg, Romero, Simitian, Alquist, Cedillo, Florez, Price and Kehoe. All other Democratic members either voted no or abstained from voting. Part of the reason for the narrow vote was the level of controversial issues in the bill. As it was presented in the Senate, the bill contained language that allows the use of student test data for purposes of teacher evaluation, a provision for expanding the number of charter schools and an open enrollment policy for all students. These provisions generated opposition from the California Teachers Association, Association of California School Administrators and the California School Boards Association.

The Governor issued the following statement of approval of the Senate’s action: “The Senate’s action takes us one step closer

toward an historic victory for California’s schools.

I called this special legislative session and proposed this package because as elected leaders, we must do everything in our power improve our schools and secure additional funding from President Obama’s multi-billion dollar national education funding competition. I urge the state Assembly to immediately pass this historic education reform package to unlock hundreds of millions of federal education dollars for our children.”

Content of Senate Version SB 5X 1, as amended on November 3, does all of the following: 1 Use of Test Data - Repeals existing law that prohibits the use of data in the state’s teacher database (CALTIDES), alone or with data on pupil achievement from another state data base (CALPADS), for the purposes of employment decisions or evaluation of teachers. This data can only be used in accordance with the collective bargaining procedures. The language in the bill that specifically tied the use of data to the Education Code sections on the teacher evaluation process or the section establishing compensation have been removed.

2 Charter Schools - Repeals a statutory limit on the number of charter schools in the state and requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to convene a working group to make recommendations to the Legislature on existing processes for authorization, revocation and renewal of charter schools and the extent to which the state provides facilities for charter schools.

3 Open Enrollment - Establishes an open enrollment option to allow pupils in low-performing schools to transfer to public schools in other districts based on a specific priority list and subject to specified restrictions. Low-performing schools are defined as being in Decile 1 to 3 and identified in the 2008-09 school year as being eligible for the High Priority Grant Program pursuant to Section 52055.605.

4 Lowest Performing Schools - Provides for the identification of the persistently lowest performing continued on page 24 Winter 2010 • DataBus 23

Legislative Update continued from page 23

5 percent of schools in the state, requires parent and employee notification and requires the SPI and SBE to direct each identified low performing school to take at least one of three actions: a) Reopen the school as a public charter school, b) replace all or most of the school staff or c) enter into a contract with an entity with a demonstrated record of effectiveness to operate the school.

5 Requires the Fiscal Crisis Management and Assistance Team to convene a task force to develop and submit recommendations to the Legislature for a standardized process for reporting of financial and accounting data and for providing annual independent financial and compliance audits for charter schools on or before December 1, 2010, as specified.

Assembly Introduces Its Own Version of RTTT New Race to the Top legislation was introduced in the Assembly on December 3, and it is clearly a proposal to give voice to the many concerns expressed by the major education groups and others over just what California’s participation in RTTT should look like.

AB 5x 8 (Brownley) is an alternative to the administration’s proposal embodied in Senate Bill 5x 1 (Romero).

The school community and many in the Legislature were especially concerned with the proposals in SB 5x 1 dealing with required open enrollment for Decile 1 -3 schools, the definition of and sanctions to be imposed on “persistently low-performing” schools, and the lack of additional accountability requirements on charter schools.

In response to some of these concerns, the Assembly has now introduced its own version of what they think the state’s RTTT plan should look like, and it goes in some very interesting and controversial directions. It contains significant new charter school accountability provisions, very prescriptive requirements as to how persistently lowperforming schools should be identified, supported and funded, and it includes a detailed, but relatively broad, set of parameters governing how recipient districts could spend the funds. The assembly bill also takes on the State Board of Education, including language that would remove its authority to amend the content standards developed by the state superintendent, requiring the Board to adopt them as presented. This bill is to be heard in the Assembly Education Committee on December 9 and based on the outcome, negotiations on a final version will take place between legislative leaders and the Governor.

RTTT Guidelines Set – The Race Begins The U.S Department of Education has finalized the guidelines for Race to the Top and established criteria and a point system to determine the value of each state’s application. For the first round, each state’s application is due on January 19, 2010, and funding awards for Phase I will be announced this April. Each state submitting an application will be judged on criteria that will total 500 points.

The criteria will include the following areas and each seg-

24 DataBus • Winter 2010

ment will have a point value: 1) Standards and assessment including the development of common core standards and assessments; 2) Data systems to support instruction including fully implementing a statewide longitudinal data system and using data to improve instruction; 3) Effective teacher and leaders, which will include improving teacher and principal effectiveness and providing high-quality pathways and improving the effectiveness of teacher and principal preparation programs; 4) Turning around lowest-performing schools including intervening in lowest performing schools; 5) Charter school expansion and innovation; and 6) Implementing science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs. In the end, what is not known is how many grants will be approved.

RTTT Grant Funding and Sustainability of Reforms It is too early to know how many states will win grants that will total $4.3 billion. The funding for each state receiving a grant will be predicated on the number of school districts that have signed a memorandum of understanding with the state promising to participate in the reforms outlined in the state’s application. The larger the number of districts participating, the larger the grant will be for that state. The estimate by the state’s legislative analyst is that California is likely to receive somewhere around $700 million if it is successful. Additionally, the goals of the California application can be funding with School Improvement Grant funds and federal data and assessment grant funds. However, because the funds are one-time in nature, there are concerns in the school community that ongoing multi-year reforms will not be able to be sustained in this time of fiscal austerity.

Is RTTT a Look at the Future?

Finally, the Race to the Top program is likely to mirror the ongoing approach that will be used by the Obama administration as it seeks to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act and Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The President and Secretary Duncan are focused on the fundamental objectives of high standards, data systems that support instruction, developing quality teachers and principals, and fully supporting low performing schools.

So, while RTTT is actually a modestly funded, one-time program, it probably shows the road to the future. California’s policymakers ignore these priorities at its peril if they do not pursue Race to the Top funds aggressively. 

Dr. Jeffrey W. Frost is CETPA’s Legislative Consultant. The addition of his services is part of CETPA board initiatives intended to improve the delivery of critical information related to California technology initiatives to the CETPA membership. Dr. Frost has a wide-ranging background in academia, legislative advocacy, and public policy development and more than 20 years of experience lobbying the California State Legislature on behalf of school districts and education associations.

E-RATE UPDATE

E-rate: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

P

By Fred Brakeman

eople ask me how I can find new things to write about as it relates to E-rate and the California Teleconnect Fund (CTF). Since this is my 26th article on the subject, all I can say is that the only thing constant about these programs is that they are constantly changing. Not that the rules have changed that much, but it is how the program administrators constantly keep changing their processes on how to interpret the rules.

In this article, I want to address some procedures and policies that you may want to follow to keep in compliance with E-rate and CTF rules.

1. First and foremost, you can’t just file the three E-rate forms any more and forget it. For 10-plus years, many schools have blindly followed the same process of doing the minimum required to file the forms not knowing USAC (E-rate) requires that several processes must be followed to administer and verify that you are tracking all E-rate funding.

Gone are the days when you file and leave it until next year when you do it all over again. USAC assumes you are tracking and verifying each month: (1) how much funding you have received from each service provider, (2) you have paid the undiscounted amount, (3) verified your service provider has not billed USAC for any ineligible services, and (4) can produce documentation that you actually paid your share of these monthly bills.

2. We are starting to see school attorneys require that many of your traditional telecommunications services such as telephone lines, data circuits, cell phones, etc. that used to be procured without RFPs or bids now require one or the other. It used to be that telecom and gas service were considered “utilities” and these services did not normally require bids. Since there now seems to be multiple vendors who want to bid on these services, school attorneys are beginning to determine that you must follow the same procurement guidelines for telecom services you normally follow to procure all other goods and services. In the future, if you intend to procure these services, I suggest you contact your purchasing office and/or legal counsel and get a ruling from them before you proceed with these projects.

3. Now that more schools (and libraries) are putting in high-speed data lines and other advanced telecom services and applying for E-rate funding for these services, we have seen the average cost of E-rate funding each year rise significantly. Since E-rate will pay for these services, getting E-rate to pay for these advanced services is a logical and a valid choice to cover the cost of these services. The issue is, quite often, not unusual in that it takes months and sometimes not until the next school fiscal year before you see the discounts on your

monthly telephone bills. This is because USAC may not fund the project until late into the funding year, or the service provider may not be timely in putting these discounts on your monthly telephone bills, or school staff is not actively working with USAC and/or their service providers to speed up the disbursement process. Realizing this issue exists, what provisions have you made with your business office to budget for the cost of these services if your discounts are late? What provisions have you made in your annual budget to accommodate this shortfall or not getting the funding at all if an error is made?

4. A common problem we have seen when asked to take the lead in representing a school or library that is being audited is the little or no communication between the person or department who files for the E-rate funding and the persons or departments who must: (1) track and ensure that all E-rate funding is received, (2) ensure they have followed all E-rate rules and guidelines, (3) be responsible for writing and maintaining school board policies that are consistent with E-rate/CTF rules, and (4) kept all documents required by E-rate/CTF. Are you communicating with all departments within your organization on how much E-rate funding is anticipated for the current and upcoming years so these discounts are tracked and updated all department heads on E-rate and CTF rules?

5. Once all of the above issues are properly addressed, there seems to be a common understanding that not enough personnel, budget and time is allocated to administering these programs. These administrative procedures and costs need to be planned for. Unfortunately, to get E-rate and CTF to fund these services, an investment must be made to properly administer these programs.

Gone are the days when we can say, “we didn’t know.” USAC now spends more money auditing the program than administering the program. It is much more likely that rule violations will be discovered. As the Benjamin Franklin adage says, “an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.”  Fred Brakeman is President of Infinity Communications & Consulting, Inc, a full-service consulting firm including E-rate/CTF and Microsoft Ed Tech K-12 consulting, technology design services, and low-voltage construction management and inspection services serving approximately 20 percent of all the school districts and county offices of education in California. Infinity Communications & Consulting is located in Bakersfield, California. He can be reached at fbrakeman@ infinitycomm.com, (661) 716-1840, or via mail at P.O. Box 6069, Bakersfield, California 93386. Please visit www.infinitycomm.com.

Winter 2010 • DataBus 25

Member Profile

DataBus Chats with Kelly

By Lisa Kopochinski, DataBus Editor

Calhoun

What are your responsibilities as Chief Technology Officer for the Santa Clara County Office of Education? How long have you been there?

KC: After 11 years in another district, I just started as the CTO of SCCOE on September 1. It was a big change to a big new organization, but an opportunity I just couldn’t pass up. The county superintendent (Chuck Weis) had the vision to create a new Technology Services branch, which brought together, at last, all the county’s technology services into one unified team. From an organizational design view, it really represented exactly what we talk about a lot in the CTO Mentor program: tightly integrating our efforts across the organization.

This new branch brings together all our IT operations (our Regional Technology Center), educational technology (including the Technology for Learning Partnership, formerly known as CTAP Region 5), and communication services, which includes all Web, video, broadcast and print services. It’s an amazing, talented team, and I’m extremely excited about the opportunity to bring them all together in new ways to ultimately better serve the districts, schools and our students.

How long have you been in the computer industry?

KC: Education was actually a second career for me. I was working as a paralegal for a few years and was one of the team that started using all that new-fangled computer equipment to do our work (a Wang)! It made perfect sense to me, so much so that I quickly grew impatient that everybody wasn’t doing their work in this clearly faster, better way! I then got my first degree from SDSU thinking I’d write screenplays. Education was an idea to get chunks of time available to write in the summer, but you can see how this plan worked out! I got hooked in education. I still had my passion for computers and was sucking up everything I could learn about them everywhere I went. I was assigned to teach them, then assigned to support teachers. Next thing you know, I’m pulled into the district and put in charge of it all. The rest was history!

What drew you to this industry? What do you like most about it?

KC: I hate to sound like a corny flag waver, but I genuinely do believe that public education is the bedrock of what makes this country great. Unlike much of the rest of the world, anybody here has the opportunity to become anything they want to be. The world is rapidly changing, but it’s still America the world turns to for innovation and creativity. How can you not be excited about being a part of creating that future? The people in education are a diverse bunch, but what they all have in common is a passion for education and a desire to make a world that’s better for our kids.

When did you join CETPA and why?

KC: It became clear to me fairly early on that, when it came to strengthening my own knowledge about IT in the education profession, there was only one organization in California where you had to be, and that was CETPA. But it’s about so much more today than it was when I started 10 years or so ago. The development of the organization, how it’s changed and grown to capture the broader, richer, more complex world of education that we operate in today, is a testament to the quality of its members and all the dedicated people who’ve served on the board over the years to make it all happen.

What is CETPA’s greatest strength?

KC: It’s an outstanding network of professionals willing to freely and openly share what they’ve learned, and use that to the benefit of others. That knowledge base builds exponentially and comes back to all of us in the form of ideas, best practices and innovations that make us all better at serving those we serve. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Where does CETPA need to grow?

Now at its 50th anniversary, I see CETPA as an organization standing at the edge of a precipice of huge opportunity. We’ve spent a half-century achieving remarkable things as just a “grassroots” organization of volunteer members. And there are aspects of that which I’m sure we’re never going to want to lose—CETPA is and always will be its members. But the challenges facing us in the next half-century are big—too big to passively just let continued on page 28

26 DataBus • Winter 2010

Member Profile continued from page 26

roll over us. I believe CETPA should bravely expand our vision to create an organization well designed to use all the assets at our disposal effectively, most of all our members, to truly be the premier organization of our kind in the state, and in the nation. This may call for us to look closely at all our assumptions. What are the implications for how we see “membership”? How do our vendor partners fit into this picture? What about our funding models, governance, staffing?

These are all possibilities we need to explore to make a robust, healthy organization ready for that future.

What is the greatest challenge facing this industry and how can it be overcome?

KC: Well I see two of them. The state’s budget and inability to sufficiently fund what it is demanding of education has been and is obviously continuing to be the pain point for a lot of our member organizations today. We are all creative, innovative professionals doing

28 DataBus • Winter 2010

“more with less” every day (and one of the cool and invaluable things about technology is how it can help us do that). But there comes a point in time where it’s just—less! We need to come up with better ways to get our message where it needs to be, and champion support for solutions that can help us help solve these problems. And the second is the increasing complexity of our profession. There is so much being demanded of us, and we need all the support we can get. That’s where an organization like CETPA comes in!

How is the state’s deficit affecting you?

KC: All of our districts are suffering mightily. I’m so new here that it’s taking me some time to get the “lay of the land” and build this new branch, but I’m looking forward to throwing a great deal of effort into figuring out how we can better support our districts in this terrible time and join forces to the extent we can to help each other survive it.

Where do you live and what do you like to do in your spare time?

KC: Well, I’m in an unusual situation now. My home is still in Folsom, but I have an apartment where I live during the week in Santa Clara. It’s only a two-hour drive if you don’t go in rush hour (or actually a really nice train ride on the Capitol Corridor), and so far, I’m really loving it! I’m not familiar with this whole “spare time” concept, but I love music and sing in a band that plays in church and some other little events around when time allows. I am married, have two dogs that I adore, and absolutely love exploring wine regions around the state. Oh yeah, and drinking the wine too! 

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Troxell Communications (800) 578-8858 www.trox.com Please see our ad on page..............................18 C Innovation/Zangle

Zangle / C Innovations (800) 230-2533 www.zangle.com Please see our ad on page................................4 Erate/CTF Consultant Technology Design Services

Infinity Communications & Consulting (661) 716-1840 www.infinitycomm.com Please see our ad on page..............................13 Financial/Human Resources

Sungard Public Sector (866) 965-7732 www.sungardps.com Please see our ad on page................................7

Western Blue (800) 660-0430 www.westernblue.com Please see our ad on page................................9

Conference Concepts................................. 21

Pearson School Systems (877) 873-1550 www.pearsonschoolsystems.com Please see our ad on page..............................31

Decotech.......................................Back Cover

Student Information Systems

IST, Inc. (866) 266-6364 www.ist.com Please see our ad on page..............................27

Lightspeed Systems..................................... 11

Sungard Public Sector (866) 965-7732 www.sungardps.com Please see our ad on page................................7

K-12 Financial & Human Resources Enterprise Resources Planning Software

Tyler Technologies (800) 772-2260 www.tylertech.com Please see our ad on page..............................15

Software Networking

Lightspeed Systems (877) 447-6244 www.lightspeedsystems.com Please see our ad on page..............................11 Solutions Provider

Decotech (800) 597-0757 www.decotech.com Please see our ad on page................. Back Cover

Edupoint Educational Systems..................... 29 Infinity Communications & Consulting........ 13

BICSI (813) 979-1991 www.bicsi.org Please see our ad on page..............................28

Conference Concepts (858) 673-1372 www.netbooksummit.com Please see our ad on page..............................21

Eagle Software............................................... 2

Eagle Software (888) 487-7555 www.aeries.com Please see our ad on page................................2

InformationTransport Systems

Net Book Summit

BICSI............................................................ 28

Student Assessment Systems

Pearson School Systems (877) 873-1550 www.pearsonschoolsystems.com Please see our ad on page..............................31

Windsor Management Group (888) 654-3293 www.InfiniteVisions.com/CETPA Please see our ad on page................................3

AD INDEX

Advanced Toolware..................................... 17

IST, Inc......................................................... 27 IVS Computer Technology........................... 19 Pearson School Systems.............................. 31 Sungard Public Sector.................................... 7 Troxell Communications.............................. 18 Tyler Technologies....................................... 15 Western Blue................................................. 9 Windsor Management Group........................ 3 Zangle / C Innovations................................... 4

Edupoint Educational Systems (800) 338-7646 www.edupoint.com Please see our ad on page..............................29 Turnkey Technology Solutions and Curriculum Integration

IVS Computer Technology (877) 945-3900 or (661) 831-3900 www.ivsct.net Please see our ad on page..............................19 User Account Management

Advanced Toolware (888) 770-4242 www.advtoolware.com Please see our ad on page..............................17

Please support the advertisers that have made this publication possible 30 DataBus • Winter 2010

®®

49 states • 50 countries • 4,000 customers 60,000 national user group members 7.7 million students Performance matters.

That’s why more than 630,000 students and their parents in California can check their grades every day through PowerSchool. More schools and districts have chosen PowerSchool than any other Student Information System.

PowerSchool is the only Student Information System (SIS) that comes with a highly intuitive user interface, world-class service and support, and the largest online community for K-12 student information systems.

Plus, it’s priced to meet your shrinking budget.

So the next time you evaluate your student information system, take a look at PowerSchool, the fastest growing, most widely used SIS available today.

Please visit www.PearsonSchoolSystems.com or call 877.873.1550 to learn more.

INTHEACT

www.cetpa-k12.org