CETPA DataBus Spring 2012

SPRING 2012 VOLUME 2012 • ISSUE 1

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

California Educational Technology Professionals Association

Spring 2012 | Volume 2012 | Issue 1

ARTICLES 6 President’s Message

By Todd Finnell

8 CCSS: What Does It Mean for Ed Tech

By Dennis Deets

12 Tough Leadership

By Phil Scrivano

14 ERate Update

By Fred Brakeman

16 Lights, Camera, Action!

By Phil Harding

18 CUE View—Mobile Devices and the Future of Learning

By David Thornburg

20 Disaster Recovery

By Ben Odipo

22 Member Profiles DataBus Chats with Max Eissler and Gil Mara

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 copyrights and trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Except where otherwise noted, content in Databus is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Publisher California Educational Technology Professionals Association Managing Editor Steve Thornton sthornton@menifeeusd.org Assistant Editor Diane Foulks foulks@sti.net

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 lisakop@sbcglobal.net

Spring 2012 • DataBus 5

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Rethink, Reshape and Redesign

BOARD OF DIRECTORS PRESIDENT

By Todd Finnell

Todd Finnell, Vice President of Technology Imperial Community College District todd.finnell@imperial.edu

W

PAST PRESIDENT

Stephen Carr, Chief Technology Officer Ventura County Office of Education scarr@vcoe.org PRESIDENT ELECT

Brianne Meyer, Chief Technology Officer Irvine Unified School District bmeyer@iusd.org TREASURER

Greg Lindner, Director, Technology Services

Elk Grove Unified School District glindner@egusd.net SECRETARY

Kelly Calhoun, Chief Technology Officer/Asst. Superintendent

Santa Clara County Office of Education Kelly_Calhoun@sccoe.org COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR

Steve Thornton, IT Director

Menifee Union SD sthornton@menifeeusd.org EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Andrea Bennett, Executive Director CETPA andreab@cetpa-k12.org

DIRECTOR AT LARGE

Aaron Barnett, Director, Information Systems/Technology

Moreno Valley Unified School District abarnett@mvusd.net DIRECTOR AT LARGE

Sandra Ching, Information Services Director

Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District sching@pylusd.org DIRECTOR AT LARGE

Tim Goree, Director of Technology Support Services

Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District TimG@fsusd.org DIRECTOR AT LARGE

Julie Judd, Director of Technology Moorpark Unified School District jjudd@mrpk.org DIRECTOR AT LARGE

Sean Rozell, Chief Technology Officer San Rafael City Schools srozell@srcs.org

DIRECTOR AT LARGE

Peter Skibitzki, Director of Administrative Operations

Placer County Office of Education pskibitzki@placercoe.k12.ca.us CETPA officers, the President, PresidentElect, Past President, Secretary and Treasurer serve one-year terms, while a Director-at-Large serves a two-year term with an election following that term.

6 DataBus • Spring 2012

California’s budget troubles are the topic of most conversations these days. While we all are being asked to do more with less, we are also being looked to for leadership in identifying and implementing efficiencies and improvements to our business processes.

hile Rethink, Reshape and Redesign is our conference theme for 2012, I think the words are worthy of saying throughout the year.

This year proves to be one of many challenges as we look to lead California into the future. Our ability to take a step back and evaluate our circumstances, roles and relationships will be critical if we are to take advantage of the opportunities that will surface from our state of affairs.

California’s budget troubles are the topic of most conversations these days. While we all are being asked to do more with less, we are also being looked to for leadership in identifying and implementing efficiencies and improvements to our business processes. Effective technology leadership is paramount to our organizations and their ability to succeed in these difficult times. CETPA is looking at ways to support our membership with this challenge and provide recognition for IT across California as a major part of the success strategy over the next few years.

In February, CETPA kicked off another cohort of candidates in the CTO Mentor Program. Instructors, mentors and mentees gathered to learn about the program expectations and start their journey to becoming certified CTOs. The CETPA board is proud of the work being done in the program and the active participation of all involved.

The CETPA and Microsoft Strategic Alliance (CAMSA) program is in full operation and saving districts on their procurement of Microsoft licensing. If you are not familiar with this program, CETPA has teamed with Microsoft to deliver a series of webinars through July 2012 to explain the tremendous value of the program and how districts across California can use it to reduce costs and simplify their licensing approach.

This year, CETPA is looking at ways to strengthen collaboration and coordination of our K-12 and higher education members and their respective organizations. We’re looking at strategic partnerships with other organizations in California, as well as how best to engage with national groups that can assist our membership.

Now, on to this edition of the DataBus, which is filled with articles that are both timely and relevant to our joint work in schools and colleges across California. Some highlights include: “Tough Leadership” by Phil Scrivano, which describes a leader’s responsibility for following through with discipline in order to build an effective team.

“Core Curriculum State Standards: What Does IT Mean for Ed Tech” by Dennis Deets explains the CCSS and the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium and how they impact education technology. “Lights Camera Action” by Phil Harding highlights an innovative filmmaking program at the Val Verde Unified School District called “Teen Vision.” Enjoy profile interviews with two new CETPA Regional Group Chairs, Max Eissler (CETPA East Bay) and Gil Mara (CETPA LA South Bay). Also, please be sure to check out the online edition for additional articles and information.

Lastly, we are excited to host the 52nd annual CETPA conference in Monterey this year from October 16-19. With nearly 200 exhibitors, breakout sessions and labs, motivating keynotes, and a technology pavilion filled with demonstrations and information, we expect that this will be an unforgettable and value-packed conference.

Conference registration includes all sessions and activities, exhibitor show, receptions and hospitality suites. You won’t find a better value than the CETPA experience! Come join us in Monterey for CETPA 2012 as we Rethink, Reshape, and Redesign!

Thank you for your continued support and enjoy your DataBus!  Todd Finnell is Vice President for Information Technology at Imperial Valley College. He has served in numerous leadership roles in California’s educational technology community and currently serves as CETPA’s President. He can be reached at todd.finnell@imperial.edu.

INTHEACT

ED TECH

CCSS: What Does It Mean for Ed Tech?

W

By Dennis Deets

hen growing up in the ‘60s, I was able to indulge my curiosity about sharks by reading entries and looking at pictures in the World Book Encyclopedia. My mom would occasionally drive me into town to the local public library to look at a small collection of books about sharks and other marine life.

Today, nine-year-old shark lovers can read about sharks on KidZone and National Geographic websites, check out Wikipedia and its links to thousands of further in-depth articles, read blogs designed for young biologists, watch marine biologists dive with sharks on YouTube, do virtual tours of famous aquariums and observe virtual dissections and virtual dives in shark infested waters.

Youth today can even publish their thoughts and favorite pictures on various social network websites—or not. Far too many young scientists still do shark research, both at home and at school, as we did it in the 1960s.

I will discuss the need for authentic Internet access for students as they begin working on Common Core State Standards (CCSS). By authentic Internet access, I mean Internet access that allows students to study, learn, research and publish in the same way scientists, academics, professionals and, in short, all of us adults do. Authentic Internet access is generally ubiquitous.

This is contrasted with limited Internet access, and possibly with “full” Internet access. Limited access can be limited temporarily, in which case a student has access, for example, for a few minutes after they have finished their seat assignment. Limited access can also be in terms of content. Students may lack access to blogs, social networks, websites about sharks, etc. Full access, on the other hand, would be completely unfiltered access.

Full access includes your favorite examples of worst-case scenario websites.

In 2010, California adopted the CCSS. Students will be assessed on these standards in spring of 2015. This gives us until 2015 to ensure students master the concepts and demonstrate the skills set forth in these standards.

Let’s look at how authentic Internet access for students is an essential expectation of the CCSS. All ELA CCSS are supported by 32 Anchor Standards.

Although California did not adopt the Anchor Standards per se, all ELA CCSS rest on these original Anchor Standards. The Anchor Standards describe the knowledge and skills we expect students to possess as they demonstrate their college and career readiness. The Anchor Standards are used to map backwards from the college and career readiness skills needed for graduation to what students will need to be able to do in Kindergarten. For example, ELA CCSS Writing Anchor Standard 6 says:

8 DataBus • Spring 2012

W6. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.

In Kindergarten, this looks like: • WK.6. With guidance and support from adults, explore a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.

In 12th grade, this looks like: • W11-12.6. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information.

This skill, publishing written documents and collaborating with peers online, is begun in Kindergarten and developed incrementally in each grade through to graduation.

There are four ELA CCSS Anchor Standards that relate directly to students developing skills necessary to acquire information from and publish information to the Internet. In addition to Writing 6 presented above, they are: • Writing Standard 8. Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism.

• Reading Standard 7. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

• Speaking and Listening Standard 5. Make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations.

In short, these four Anchor Standards ask students to, at a minimum: • Find and evaluate written information from the Internet.

• Publish written information to the Internet.

• Find and evaluate multimedia information from the Internet.

• Publish multimedia information to the Internet.

Let’s return to Writing 6 to see what it looks like along the way. In 4th grade, W6 looks like this: W4.6. With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of one page in a single setting. continued on page 10

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CCTS: What Does IT Mean for Ed Tech? continued from page 8

In asking what students will need to be able to do, we look to “Appendix F: Annotated Examples to Illustrate Assessment Types” of the SBAC Content Specifications Draft. (2011). Here we find possible “exemplar performance tasks” for many of the grade level CCSS. In one of the published 4th grade tasks, students are asked to explain which of two kinds of sharks they would rather study and submit an opinion essay as their culminating activity. This writing task is divided into two parts of roughly one hour each.

In the first part, students are asked to read an online essay that describes two types of sharks, hammerhead sharks and whale sharks. Students are given a further website that they can use to research these sharks. Students are also given the option to do their own online or library research. In this part of the task, students do prewriting

activities using notes and graphic organizers.

Students may also be given the opportunity to discuss with their peers, either face-toface or online, their thoughts about these two sharks, argue with one-another, try out their positions, etc.

During the second phase of the task, students write an opinion essay in which they correlate the shark facts they have collected with the reasons why they picked one shark to study over the other. Students are expected to give supporting and opposing reasons for their choice. During this phase, students are able to use online reference materials, dictionaries, etc. Students are able to attach photographs and illustrations to help support their position as they submit their essays electronically. This 4th grade task asks students to do both traditional and Internet-based research and writing.

Students will be acting much more like

The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) is one of two multistate consortia awarded funding from the U.S. Department of Education to develop an assessment system based on the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The California Department of Education is a member of this consortium. The following information is excerpted from CDE’s SBAC Updates.

Technology Readiness Tool: SBAC, in collaboration with the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) Consortium, has contracted with Pearson to develop a technology readiness tool to support states’ planning as they transition to next-generation assessments to be launched beginning in 2014. All states in the consortia will be requested to use the tool to assess technology readiness. The press release announcing the contract can be found at www.k12.wa.us/ SMARTER/PressReleases/TechReadinessTool.aspx.

This new open source tool assesses current capacity and compares that to the technology that will be needed to administer the new online assessments in four areas—devices, device to tester ratio, network infrastructure and staff and personnel. Local users will receive an email with their unique login ID and password. A training module in support of the technology readiness tool will be available to local education agencies, soon. This training will give step-by-step instructions for using the tool and will assist in interpreting reports. A User’s Guide for local education agencies will also be available to assist local personnel as they use the tool. A California pilot test of the tool will be conducted from March 20 to April 3. Following the pilot test, the data collection tool will be made available to all districts.

The intent is to conduct twice-annual data collections through 2014 beginning with easily accessible baseline data. All states in both consortia will ultimately use this tool to assess technology readiness.

IT Architecture: The IT architecture and requirements are now available online at www.smarterbalanced. org/smarter-balanced-assessments/technology/ (Refer to the section titled “IT Systems Architecture Reports and Resources”).

Smarter Balanced Factsheet: This one-page handout gives an overview of the assessment system.

The factsheet can be found at http://www.smarterbalanced.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/ SBACSummary2010.pdf.

Computer Adaptive Testing Factsheet: This one-page handout describes the benefits of computer adaptive testing (CAT), which is an integral part of SBAC. The fact sheet can be found at http://www. smarterbalanced.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Smarter-Balanced-CAT.pdf.

10 DataBus • Spring 2012

we do in the workplace and in academia.

We will expect them to submit their work electronically. They will read and research material online, not in a ten-year-old science textbook. And, they will discuss their findings with their peers, possibly through a social networking tool, prior to publishing their work. Contrast this assessment process, which very closely mirrors professional practice, with current assessments that attempt to mimic life through a series of multiple choice questions with one correct answer and three or four distracting answers.

Presently, real-world applications for students are thought to mean that content for students needs to include adolescent athletic and pop culture topics like skateboarding and pop star clothing. But, we may see that real-world applications better means that students actually practice and learn the skills that we use every day. The tasks proposed in the SBAC/CCSS represent a shift in how we see real-world applications. In the example above, we can see nine-year-old students thinking critically about marine biology, and maybe even discover a passion for elasmobranchology.

What does this mean for CETPA? It is incumbent upon us to ensure students have authentic Internet access. This means that students are able to use the Internet tools in the way we use them. At the very least, students need to have simulated experiences that foster the development of requisite CCSS skills. Computer access can no longer be confined to, at worst, allowing students to play games for Preferred Activity Time on a computer at the back of the room, and at best, allowing students to work on a highly censored Internet in the computer lab once a month. Instead, we need to ensure that we provide the Internet experience that allows a CCSS student at any grade level to proficiently and comfortably perform online research, collaborate with other students and their teacher, and publish their work with success by 2015.  Dennis Deets is the program manager for RIMS CTAP. He has worked in the education field for the past 27 years. Prior to coming to CTAP, Dennis worked as a high school principal and high school math teacher. His daughter attends university in Scotland and his wife teaches English at a local high school. When not working on Common Core implementation, Dennis spends his time reading, riding his bicycle and walking his dogs. He can be reached at ddeets@ctap10.org.

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LEADERSHIP

Tough Leadership

T

By Phil Scrivano

Gone are the days of being able to control the equipment or applications our customers use.

12 DataBus • Spring 2012

echnology leadership is suffering the same fate of budget cuts and reductions in staff as all other departments in California school districts. Those of us in education technology leadership are tasked with higher expectations of reliability and are charged with some of the greatest challenges ever with fewer and fewer staff members. Two examples of these challenges come to mind: delivering one-to-one wireless to students, staff and the community, and building the infrastructure to handle the technology demands of Smarter Balance Common Core Assessments.

With fewer people in our departments, while at the same time growing our services, makes the importance of team building a number one priority. Gone are the days of being able to control the equipment or applications our customers use. As we add our student populations to our network and enable a “bring your own device” environment, our focus changes to providing access and making sure content is safe.

Some people in our departments who have been security experts or control type individuals may be great at what they do, but may have a difficult time changing with the new demands we face. We no longer control technology; we provide a service to support curriculum and instruction. Why have that administrative V-Lan when the applications for administrators are now located on secure websites?

This is when the tough side of leadership is needed.

With scarce ability to grow staff in technology departments, we must achieve with the staff we have. It is more important now, than ever before, that every member on your team be on the same page and support the district leadership. If this is not the case, you need to make every effort to get the correct people on the team. The challenge is to use the documentation and evaluation process with workers who do their job, but do not contribute to an effective team.

This may be your most difficult and complex job. In the past you may have been able to tolerate dissention in the department, but not today. If we are unable to provide excellent service to our district then technology positions in your department are better lost in order to save teacher layoffs.

There are many books and seminars on positive leadership and building strategies to improve your team. This article focuses on what to do once you have decided an individual is not working as a positive member of your team. Evaluations and documentation are your responsibility and in this case the best avenue to building your team.

One of the best tools you should have is a book

called FRISK: Documentation Model, Practical Guidelines for Evaluators in Documenting Unsatisfactory Employee Performance by Steven J. Andelson, J.D. The examples in this book illustrate how to put in writing what the employee is doing wrong, the negative impact the behavior is causing for the district, and instructions for improvement.

The next step is to start an evaluation process. One misconception is that evaluations happen only once a year. If there are areas of concern, most districts are able to schedule as many evaluations as the leadership deems necessary. I recommend setting up an evaluation every three months for problem employees. These processes can takes months of documentation and consume a significant amount of time in order to fulfill the guidelines of your employee contracts or manual.

If you stay focused on this process of documentation and evaluation you will hopefully grow a great team member or gain the opportunity to find someone who will be a better fit.

The only time these processes are easy is when you are evaluating a probationary employee, who in most cases, can be terminated without going through a FRISK process. This dictates that we take these early evaluations seriously.

Tough leadership is by no means an easy process.

Everything you document and every evaluation may be challenged and you may ask yourself if the time and effort is worth the slow outcome. In reality, every hour spent on this process is absolutely worth it because we no longer have the luxury of waiting for employees to change over a long period of time. Your actions, or lack of actions, will have a direct impact on your entire team morale and self-worth and have a direct effect on your department accountability to your school sites, administration, and school board.

Always keep in mind that the bigger picture is being part of a district team providing a quality education for students. Is every member of your team doing everything he or she can do to support your community? 

Phil Scrivano is the Chief Instructional Technology Officer for Las Virgenes Unified School District.

Phil has worked in K-12 education for 22 years and private industry for four years as a sixth grade teacher, principal, technology director, management analyst for FCMAT, VP Professional Development for Lightspeed Systems, and currently is leading technology as the CITO at LVUSD. He can be reached at pscrivano@lvusd.org.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

State Procurement Guidelines and ERate

I

By Fred Brakeman

n the last several months, four California school districts have received notice that USAC wants more than $3.5 million dollars back for prior years (2007-2009). The reason given; “not following state and local procurement law.” What’s disturbing is most of these services were for school’s local telephone lines and data circuits. I thought I should shed some light on this subject and provide some guidelines on how to mitigate this problem.

It helps to provide some background. For years, when a school administrator needed to order new telephone lines or data circuits to a new school site under construction or add additional lines into an existing site, since there was only one local telephone company that serviced the site and no other vendors either cared to provide services or at least could not provide the same service at a cheaper price, it was determined it was “fruitless and unavailing” to put these projects out to competitive bids. Thus, they were exempt from bidding out these services. Since it was easy to follow this process and no one (other competitors) complained, it became a common practice.

Then, Calnet 1 and Calnet 2 and WSCA came along and, since we now had state master contracts to attach to, we followed this common practice to just contact our Calnet vendors for telephone lines and data circuits and WSCA for cell phones and we continued the same process.

Skip forward to today. Now, if a school administrator wants to order telephone lines or data circuits, there are vendors coming out of the woodwork who want to provide these services. As many of you may know, we manage this bidding process for many of our school clients. This week alone, at the time this article was written, for one medium-sized school district, 19 vendors had downloaded the RFP and four bid the project. Since there are multiple vendors who want to bid these services, school attorneys are now determining that these services must now be bid out just like any other product or service.

So, what’s the best way to bid out these products or services? At the time this article was written, what I can tell you is that the jury is still out. The debate CBOs and their attorneys are having revolves around

14 DataBus • Spring 2012

what Public Contract Code applies to telecommunications services. You may want to familiarize yourself with Public Contract Code, Sections 20110-20118.4.

The major issue is that none of these current contract codes nicely address telecommunications services such as telephone lines, data circuits, long distance, cell phones, web hosting or advanced network services, such as managed VoIP services. Since these codes were written before telecommunications services applied, there is a debate where they fit within today’s procurement processes.

Public Contract Code Section 20118.2 seems to be the code that most school district personnel seem to gravitate to when these telecommunications services need to be put out to bid. Why do they like this section over others: Instead of going with the low bidder, you can negotiate with multiple vendors to come up with the best service at the best price.

The district is not obligated to go with the lowest price.

If you choose to use 20118.2 as your procurement vehicle for your telecommunications services, you must: Develop a RFP get the RFP out “to a number of qualified sources.”

Advertise the project in your local newspaper of general circulation at least twice at least 10 days before the receipt of proposals.

The school district shall make every effort to generate the maximum feasible amount of proposals from qualified sources and shall make a finding to that effect before proceeding to negotiate if only a single response to the request for proposals is received.

The request for proposal shall identify all significant evaluation factors, including price and relative importance.

The school district shall provide reasonable procedures for the technical evaluation of proposals received, the identification of qualified sources, and the selection for the award of the contract. Award shall be made to the qualified bidder whose proposal meets the evaluation standards and will be the most advantageous to the school district with price and all other factors considered.

I want to stress—at the time this article was written— where and how telecommunications services now fit into your school district’s procurement guidelines is being hotly debated.

If an award is not made to the bidder whose proposal contains the lowest price, the school district shall make a finding setting forth the basis of the award.

The school district, at its discretion, may reject all proposals and request new proposals.

Provisions in any contract concerning utilization of small business enterprises, that are accordance with the request for proposals, shall not be subject to negotiation with the successful proposer.

I want to stress—at the time this article was written— where and how telecommunications services now fit into your school district’s procurement guidelines is being hotly debated. By this fall, before you start on your Year 2013 ERate projects, we hope to get some clarity from the CDE and the state attorney general. In the meantime, I suggest you may want to run this by your CBO or school attorney to get guidance on how to procure telecommunications services. If we did not already have enough other more pressing matters to deal with…

Fred Brakeman is President of Infinity Communications & Consulting, Inc, a full service consulting firm including Erate/ 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, Calif. with field offices in Fresno and Emeryville. He can be reached at fbrakeman@infinitycomm.com, office phone (661) 716-1840, or via mail at P.O. Box 6069, Bakersfield, Calif. 93386.

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TOOLS OF TECHNOLOGY

Lights, Camera, Action!

W

By Phil Harding

hat does talking garbage that wants to be recycled, rampaging zombies that dance, and a smart phone that talks its owner out of making a life-ending decision have in common? They are the topics of award-winning films produced from the ideas created by students of Val Verde Model Continuation High School under the guidance of teacher Robert Del Campo. How can champions of countless film festivals and world competitions spring forth from students that were challenged or left behind by the system?

The answer is a simple one, though not easy to explain. It is all about passion and using the powerful tools of technology to tell a story. While walking through the studio at Val Verde High School and seeing state-of-the-art equipment that includes a boom camera, giant green screen and two stages, it is hard to believe that all this started with two video cameras, a couple of VCRs, and 400 square feet of space in a portable. Robert Del Campo’s students would never have been successful competing and producing films on issues that matter to them without his vision.

The students also produce a variety of shows for the local cable channel. These shows include a public affairs program on local issues, a popular local sports show and a showcase of events happening within the district’s schools. Val Verde has never bought content

16 DataBus • Spring 2012

for the channel but instead made the decision to unleash student creativity and give opportunities for handson experience at producing and editing product for the channel. Val Verde USD shares the channel with Moreno Valley USD and broadcasts three-and-a-half days a week.

In 2001, the program was chosen as part of the state EAST grant program and remains one of two recipients that are still operating. The EAST funding provided essential training for the students in the use of animation software and techniques. EAST helped obtain very expensive high-end animation software called Soft Image that is used to produce popular film characters, such as Yoda and the Incredible Hulk.

The EAST program provided a crucial shot in the arm for the program allowing students to branch out into different directions of filmmaking such as animation, music and green-screening techniques.

“My philosophy is put one foot forward and you will always reach the goal,” said Del Campo.

You can see his philosophy take shape in the films and TV shows his students produce: from a student who likes to draw becoming a first-class animator, to a musician learning he can create state-of-the-art sound tracks that would make George Lucas proud. His students’ love of film leads to the development of spe-

cialized skills and deep motivation. They have won film competitions of all kinds, are constant winners of the California Media Festival, and are presenters at the Student Technology Showcase at CUE every year.

The students have also taken trips to Japan, Little Rock, Ark. and several to New York that have earned them global respect.

The students engage in many higherlevel thinking skills as they produce films dealing with a wide range of topics such as school drop outs, teen pregnancy and how gangs destroy lives.

“The key to what I teach the students in making a film is that it is all about the story,” said Del Campo.

He pointed out that their latest film, “Fuhggedaboutit,” took nearly three months to plan in a storyboard format.

This is real-life learning about real film making when the students have to change a story in the middle of production. This happened when producing the film “Without Me.” The film went through a series of mishaps, which included losing the lead

actor and ended with the idea of replacing the actors with a smartphone. The students’ creative response to previously unforeseen problems ultimately had a great impact on the final product.

T he Panasonic K id Wit ness News (KWN) 2011 Global Video Contest is a year-long, in-school video education program and competition, in which students create films touching on a socially significant issue. The Val Verde team represented the United States in global competition with “Without Me,” a video on teen suicide prevention. The six finalist countries included students from Russia, Slovakia, Singapore, New Zealand and Japan. The Val Verde Team was honored with the Grand Prize and the Best Script Award at a ceremony last summer at the Globe Theatre at Universal Studios Hollywood. As winners of the grand prize, the Val Verde High teens participated in Panasonic’s “Heritage Eco Learning Program,” which led to an exciting trip to Brazil to do film production at the mouth of the Amazon River.

It is late in the evening in the studio.

A rock and roll show is wrapping up that was created by the students and hosted by a district middle school teacher. Students gather around and start throwing around ideas for their next project: a monster film with a twist—secret ninjas protecting the school or a search for a long lost super hero.

Among the laughter and excitement the energy of ideas crackles with no decision likely to be reached tonight. One thing is for certain: we will all soon be grabbing some popcorn, eager to see the next hardhitting film produced by the students of Val Verde High School. “Without Me” can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=JsxJW8YwudU.  Phil Harding is the Technology Integration Specialist for the Val Verde Unified School District and is a graduate of the CETPA CTO program. Phil can be reached at pharding@valverde.edu. If interested in taking a tour of the Teen Vision program please let him know.

Save the Date! october 26-27, 2012 FALL cue 2012 conFerence SUPER-CHARGED LEARNERS FORGE THEIR OWN PATH American canyon High School, napa Valley, cA www.fallcue.org

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Spring 2012 • DataBus 17

CUE VIEW

Mobile Devices and the Future of Learning

F

By David Thornburg

How should schools change to accommodate the wide variety of student-owned devices coming into the classroom?

We already know that banning these devices is silly.

18 DataBus • Spring 2012

uturists sometimes look for Red Queens—two competing forces in a market that (as in Alice in Wonderland) have to run as fast as they can just to stand still. A decade or so ago, the dominant pair of competitors were Apple and Microsoft—with other players relegated to the sidelines. Today, as a result of the immense growth of mobile learning tools, the new competitors are Apple and Google.

Microsoft will always be remembered for its historic role, but it has little relevance in the mobile world today and is destined to suffer a fate similar to HP’s WebOS and Nokia’s Symbian as it fades away.

In short, the world of smartphones and tablets now belongs to iOS and Android. iOS, from Apple, is a product tightly connected to Apple’s hardware.

Android, on the other hand, is a platform, loosely connected to a variety of hardware platforms few of which (with the exception of Motorola) belong to Google. There is a price for supporting multiple devices, but as Microsoft showed in the past, this is a battle that can be won. The result is that the battle zones of Cupertino and Redmond have shifted to Cupertino and Mountain View.

Educators are starting to realize that every child is coming to school with a powerful mobile device. If this is not true in your school, it will be in six months.

And, as a result, schools have a lot of thinking to do and very little time left in which to do it. The arguments I hear these days seem to focus on the wrong questions: Should we use iPads or Android tablets?

While there are significant differences in these two classes of device (especially around openness of applications, classroom maintenance, etc.) this is not the point. It is so easy to get caught up in flame wars over operating systems (just as we did in the old days around Mac and Windows) that we lose sight of the real issue: How should schools change to accommodate the wide variety of student-owned

devices coming into the classroom? We already know that banning these devices is silly. Instead we need to think about the technical and pedagogical challenges facilitated by these powerful tools.

The first compelling issue is how to allow student devices to play nicely on school networks. This dialog around BYOT (bring your own technology) is being explored all across the country. Some forwardthinking districts, like Michigan City Area Schools in Michigan City, Ind., have gone so far as to equip school buses with wireless routers so kids can use their devices on the trip to and from school—with full access to the school’s network from the bus. In fact, it is hard to find any school or district today that is not attempting to address this issue. Even the recently-released new Federal Educational Technology Plan acknowledges that student-owned devices need to be allowed in school settings.

But the technical details of providing access to student devices pales in comparison with the challenge facing teachers who are suddenly discovering that the content provided by textbooks and class presentations is competing with richer and (in some cases) better content just a tap away on a mobile device. From my perspective, this is a good thing for the following reason.

Consider four aspects of content (Figure 1): data, information, knowledge and understanding. These four levels can be expressed in hierarchical form as follows: This chart on the following page shows four kinds of material of interest to educators. At the bottom, we have raw data, which then moves to the realm of information. This leads (we hope) to knowledge and, ultimately, understanding.

Now when we look at this hierarchy from the perspective of a student with ubiquitous access to the Internet, it is clear that the bottom two domains

are handled by Google or any other search engine, leaving the upper two to be explored by teachers and students. In other words, mobile devices can be used to free teachers from sharing factoids (Sacramento is the capital of California) to having students explore deeper questions (What would happen if the capital of California was moved to Los Angeles?) This question can’t be answered with a simple web search, although the web can be used to provide background information used by students as they formulate their answers.

Now I am not so naive as to think that we can change focus with a simple snap of the fingers. To start with, many of our assessments are based on student recollection of material from the data and information levels. Second, educators need a tremendous amount of support in moving from a content-delivery model to one based (for example) on inquiry and student projects.

And third, we need to consider the tremendous power of social networks and design ways to use them as part of our educational practice. This is all pretty scary stuff. For example, if Facebook were a country, it

Figure 1

would be the third largest on Earth!

On the surface, social networks are being used for keeping up with friends, but they have far more power than that. The kinds of interactions I have on Google +, for example, rival those I have hanging out with bright people in research labs or universities—largely because I’m in a self-selected “circle” of people from these backgrounds.

Because new social networks (like Google +) support everything from text postings to live video chats, the educational possibilities are

endless. Even older social tools like Flickr have amazing capabilities. For example, you can upload a picture and then create annotations that show up when you move the mouse over the image. Other tools, like <bubbl.us>, support the creation of concept maps that can be edited collaboratively by people in remote locations. And, again, staff development around the effective use of these tools is essential.

Since the world of mobile devices is connected closely with applications and services that reside in the cloud, at last the barriers of the classroom wall have been broken for good!  David Thornburg, PhD, is Director of the Thornburg Center for Space Exploration and is currently designing educational holodecks for schools in the U. S. and Brazil. More information on his current projects can be found on the briefings page at www.tcse-k12.org. He may be reached at dthornburg@aol.com. Note: this article first appeared in OnCUE, Winter 2011, Vol. 33, No. 4.

DISASTER RECOVERY

By Ben Odipo

Disaster Recovery: Preparing Your Organization for Disruptive Events

H

ow many of you have had that dreaded thought of what happens when disaster strikes your organization? Many talk about disaster recovery or business continuity; however, few take any action on developing a mitigating plan. It is considered one of those dry subjects that are purely based on hypotheticals so it tends to draw little attention, especially in these hard economic times. It is analogous to that insurance policy you know you should have signed up for until after you experience the disaster.

So, why do you really have to get this plan on the road for your organization? For starters, it involves more than just the technology experts to draw a comprehensive plan. In California, we know of real threats when it comes to power outage, earthquakes, torrential rains or sometimes computer viruses or external intrusions. The voices of executive, administrative and operational staff is required in order to compile a comprehensive plan that protects the organization in cases of a catastrophic loss.

Your Basic 1-2-3 Step Process The planning committee should distinguish between business continuity and disaster recovery.

Business Continuity: This process is performed to ensure that critical business functions will be available to all entities that must have access to those functions. It involves planning for keeping all aspects of a business functioning in the midst of disruptive events. These may include activities like payroll, attendance, systems backups and network connectivity Disaster Recovery: These are processes, policies and procedures by which we resume business after a disruptive event. It’s how we keep communicating, employees keep doing their jobs and students keep learning.

Perform a complete business impact analysis. This will help the organization identify its most crucial systems and processes. This is where you ask, “What is the effect of the outage on our organization?” Be sure to have some form of rating system in order to prioritize the organization’s needs.

Prioritize the crucial systems from step two and ask the question, “What is the ideal uptime for each system or how much loss can we tolerate?” The answer to these continued on page 28 20 DataBus • Spring 2012

MEMBER PROFILE

DataBus Chats with Max

Eissler

By Lisa Kopochinski, DataBus Editor

I understand that you are chair of the newly formed CETPA East Bay Area Technology Group. Please tell me about this group and what your role as chair entails.

The name of our group is quite a mouthful, so I’ve been shortening it to E-BATs. I’m really excited about this group. You know that feeling you get when you go to the CETPA conference and talk with your peers at other districts? That realization that you are not alone, there are other people out there dealing with the same issues as you, who have the same twisted sense of humor, and can often give you some insight from their experience? Folks who may even be able to recommend a particular solution or vendor? Or, failing that, at least offer an understanding shoulder to cry on? The idea behind the regional groups is that you don’t have to wait to have this experience just once a year. The East Bay Regional Group was formed by Colleen Calvano from Acalanes USD, Jay Nitschke from Berkeley USD and myself following a format that was pioneered by a group of evil geniuses in southern California. We meet four or five times a year, and mostly it’s an opportunity to have frank and open discussions with our local CETPA brothers and sisters about the issues we’re all facing and share recommendations and solutions. As the chairperson this year, my role is to organize and conduct the meetings and coordinate any vendor participation. For instance, at our April meeting we plan to have a “shout out” of wireless vendors, so I surveyed our members to find out which vendors they are most interested in seeing and I have been reaching out to those vendors to coordinate their involvement. Our group is open to all CETPA members, but we are targeting educational technology leaders in Alameda

22 DataBus • Spring 2012

and Contra Costa counties. If anyone is interested in joining us, I’d encourage them to email me at meissler@martinezusd.net and I’ll provide them with the schedule and details.

What are your responsibilities as director of informational and educational technology for the Martinez Unified School District?

We’re a small district, so I wear many hats. First and foremost, my job is to guide the district in implementing technology in a way that it is sustainable, accessible to all of our constituents and prepares our students for success in the 21st century. For the past few years, I have been steering the district away from its former client-heavy, workstation-based infrastructure, which took students on little “technology field trips” to the lab once a week and treated technology like an afterthought. In its place, we are implementing a sustainable, cloud-based architecture that utilizes 1-to-1 mobile devices to weave the technology into the curriculum throughout the day. It’s great to see the energy and enthusiasm this shift has sparked in our students and staff.

Our technology department doesn’t just maintain the computer systems and infrastructure, though. We maintain all the systems that touch the network such as phones, cameras and soon the HVAC controllers, clocks, bells and paging system. I am the district’s CBEDS coordinator, I manage the ERate program, coordinate the online summer school program, manage the Medi-Cal administrative activities program, arrange technolog y-related professional development for staff and often conduct technology training sessions myself.

How long have you been in the computer industry?

I’ve been working in information technology since 1990, but it feels like I’ve been involved in the industry pretty much my entire adult life. Even when I was working at jobs that had nothing to do with technology, I always ended up doing technology-related functions like networking the on-site computers, writing new programs or customizing the existing software simply because I possessed the skills and inclination.

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

When I was 12, my brother joined his high school computer club and they allowed him to take home a TRS-80 computer for a couple of weeks during the summer. I was fascinated with it and taught myself BASIC programming, staying up until 3:00 am every night so I could use it when my brother was finished. I was hooked. When it finally had to go back to the school, I begged and wheedled my parents incessantly until they broke down and bought us an Atari 400.

It was all downhill from there. I love solving problems. I love designing systems that function elegantly and smoothly and I love being able to build something that makes peoples’ lives easier.

When did you join CETPA and why?

I think it was 2001 when I attended my first CETPA conference. I was introduced by someone who had already been a member for many years. It was an eye-opening experience for me to meet so many likeminded folks who were dealing with the exact same problems that I was. The value was immediately apparent, and I’ve been an active member ever since.

Where does CETPA need to grow?

First, I think the growth that CETPA has seen in the past few years has been great. The CTO Mentor Program, which I’ve been involved with for a couple of years, is a terrific organization that prepares intelligent and talented individuals to become the technology leaders for their institutions. The Nimbus partnership offers great professional development opportunities for CETPA members at low prices. I know that many districts have seen significant cost savings with the new strategic alliance for Microsoft licensing, and I’d really like to see more programs like this with cloud-based products like Blackboard and Renaissance Learning.

The CETPA board has announced that they’re building more collaborative and interactive tools for the website, and I’m looking forward to seeing what they come up with. It would be nice to have some knowledge base sections, maybe in a wiki format. I’d also love to see a central repository for the results of the various listserv surveys and other data collections that we can use to help our own districts. Perhaps CETPA can even take a more active role in gathering some of this data. An annual “state of educational technology” survey that gathered information from California district’s about relative staffing levels, bud-

gets, number of nodes, adoption of mobile devices, types of devices used and such would be useful to many members.

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

Throughout California, educational technology leaders are trying to figure out how to support an ever-increasing technology base in the face of diminishing budgets.

Many technology departments are seeing staffing cuts at the same time that their districts are adopting new technology solutions to increase overall efficiency. Over the next decade, districts are going to see even larger technology adoptions in the classroom as the necessities of common core standards are felt and the push to digital textbooks becomes more widely accepted. Technology leaders need to face these challenges head on. If you stand in the street and wait for the bus to get there, it’s likely to roll right over you. We will need to employ multiple strategies to increase efficiency, lessen support overhead, be able to rapidly deploy new technologies and communicate with district leadership about the ongoing resources required to sustain new initiatives.

A big push for me is professional development. The more time we spend up front training teachers on how to use technology, the less time we spend supporting it afterwards. Additionally, the more efficient, centralized systems that we can provide them with, the fewer problems we have from trying to support two dozen different systems that the teachers went out and found on their own for the same purpose. Another big push for me is the shift to cloud-based resources. For a small district like ours, the economy of scale just isn’t there to maintain our own servers for most functions. Shift-

ing to web-based tools allows us to become more device agnostic and treat our computer systems as interchangeable components that can just be swapped out when one goes bad.

There will be some factors working for us in the coming years. The technology systems themselves continue to become cheaper, more reliable and easier to use. The generational technology gap is lessening as the folks who were born before the computer era continue to get more exposure and training or simply retire. We need to leverage these advantages as much as possible and be proactive about preparing for the hurdles ahead.

How is the state’s deficit affecting you?

Fortunately my superintendent and board truly believe in the importance of technology in education and understand the need to provide effective support, so we have escaped the staffing cuts that have touched other parts of the district over the last few years. We don’t expect to lose any staff next year either. On the flip side, our department has had to absorb more and more responsibilities from other sections when positions have been cut. I’m fortunate to have an incredibly talented and intelligent team, which has been able to adapt to these changes and modify their work processes when necessary.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I’m big on the outdoors, I love hiking, biking and backpacking. In the summer, I occasionally enjoy wakeboarding and in the winter I like to snowboard. My wife has recently gotten me to take up the ukulele, although you wouldn’t want to listen to me play it yet. I love movies and I can never resist a good game of poker.  Spring 2012 • DataBus 23

MEMBER PROFILE

DataBus Chats with Gil

Mara

By Lisa Kopochinski, DataBus Editor

I understand that you are chair of the newly formed CETPA LA South Bay Technology Group.

Please tell me about this group and what your role as chair entails.

I am chairman by way of rock, paper, scissors. Derek Kinsey at Redondo USD and Matt Woods at Long Beach USD (paper and scissors, respectively) are my accomplices as chair-elect and secretary. CETPA regional group meetings afford the opportunity to connect with colleagues and share ideas and solutions. The Inland Empire group has been a great resource in helping us get established and I cannot thank them enough. As a team, Derek, Matt and myself will facilitate meetings and produce an agenda that fosters a healthy discussion of the challenges we all face. And modeling the successful IE group, we will invite vendors that the members would like to receive presentations from.

A lt houg h ou r g roup appea rs geo graphically based, I believe it will be more drive-time based, especially in Los Angeles. If you can get to the meeting in an hour on a Friday, you’ll probably make it. If not, perhaps it is time to start one in your area. Honestly, it is truly an enjoyable experience to work closely with friends.

What are your responsibilities as technology coordinator for the Hawthorne School District?

I am responsible for both the instructional and information technology of the 24 DataBus • Spring 2012

district. Like all of my other colleagues, I support everything from the network, business systems, the SIS, data warehouse, assessments, classroom devices, online applications, telephones, etc. Our district believes that technology is an inextricable component to the success of our students and teachers, and has, therefore, made my position a cabinet level position this year. The tech department consists of myself and three other people who keep our district of 9,000 students in 11 schools moving forward. At this time, we are fortunate to have a full-time computer technician at each of our schools.

How long have you been in the computer industry?

My entire career out of college has been spent in the Hawthorne School District.

I’ve been the technology coordinator here in the Hawthorne School District for 18 years. Prior to that, I was a science teacher at one of our middle schools for four years.

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

I’m in this industry by accident or serendipity, I suppose. I have a bachelor of science degree in biology and a master’s in education and I expected to teach my whole life. I haven’t taken a computer class yet. Maybe one day. In 1993, our business partner, Rockwell International, approached our

district and said they needed a teacher to pilot a program they were developing. My name came up. I was told they would spend about $10,000 to put this thing called the “Internet” in my classroom. I told them that the Internet thing sounded like a waste of time and money. What I really needed were new dissecting trays, test tubes, frogs and flasks. I promptly gave them a list. A visionary I was not. They convinced me otherwise, sending me to a consultant to learn about the Internet. “All you have to do is click on the blue underlined words, and it takes you to something called a web page,” he said. Ahhh, now that’s cool. Sign me up. In less than two years I was moved to the district office to help guide the district along the information super highway. What I enjoy most is troubleshooting and solving problems. What I’ve come to learn is that when you do that enough times really fast, people appreciate you. I’m still a teacher at heart, so I don’t miss an opportunity to share what I’ve learned, nor do I turn down the opportunity to learn from all the great professionals around me.

When did you join CETPA and why?

I must say that receiving my 15-year recognition honor at the last CETPA conference was one of the highlights of my career.

As a new IT person at the time, I needed all the help I could get. Although I read a

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Dummies networking essentials book cover to cover the weekend before I started at the district office, I knew that I would be dependent on the relationships and support of this organization. I am indebted to CETPA and its amazing people who guided me in the early years and who continue to offer support and encouragement to this day.

Where does CETPA need to grow?

I believe that the regional CET PA groups will be integral in offering the local support that districts can rely on. With tighter budgets, districts are reducing or eliminating the travel and expenses of a full conference attendance. A regional meeting is invaluable for districts that would like to participate in a round table discussion of ideas and solutions, and continue to build relationships with other colleagues.

I think that CETPA should have a student arm. Students exploring an IT career can be exposed by having a CETPA member as

26 DataBus • Spring 2012

a mentor, volunteering during a conference or even joining a junior CTO academy.

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

The ubiquity of mobile devices has been quite the challenge for us. Whether it is an ad hoc BYOD program, iPads on a cart, personal devices (consumerization of IT) or glimmers of 1:1 computing, I feel a pioneering spirit mixed with a queasy dread. I have seen several solutions available to us that will help monitor devices and protect our network. But at this time, it is strictly a funding issue that prevents the implementation of any of them.

How is the state’s deficit affecting you?

In the most understated tone I can muster, it has been difficult. Like everyone else, we have laid off personnel inside and outside of the classroom. It has been tough to be innovative with scarce resources. Infra-

structure and VDI projects have been put on hold and we are just keeping the lights on at this point. So I worked on “free stuff.” This year we transitioned the entire district over to Google Apps for all employees and students. This brought in a much-needed collaboration platform in addition to saving us thousands of dollars in licensing Microsoft products. To be honest, with or without funds, this is a direction I felt we needed to go. Being a 90 percent Erate district has afforded us a very functional WAN/LAN that we are proud have, but we would like to make improvements. Unfortunately, even our 10 percent contribution is no longer in the budget.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

If I’m not golfing, I’m playing Words With Friends. In addition, my son and daughter are both scouts, so every now and then, I find myself waking up in a tent or hiking a trail for a few miles. I cherish the moments outdoors and off of electronics. Last year I volunteered at the Mojave Primitive encampment with the Girl Scouts.

I have to say that being off the grid with no amenities for six days was one of the most peaceful experiences I’ve ever had. Lastly, I consult and I do CALPADS/PowerSchool administration for another district. Talk about peaceful. 

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Disaster Recovery continued from page 20

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questions will lead IT into budgeting what it would cost to provide the organization with either a business continuity or disaster recovery plan.

Some terminologies you will need to get familiar with here are RTO and RPO. RPO is the Recovery Point Objective and refers to how much data is acceptable to be irretrievably lost. For example, is it acceptable to lose a day’s worth of purchase order entries and, if the answer is yes, then nightly backups will suffice.

RTO, Recovery Time Objective speaks to the time required to bring a system back up. While it may be okay to let the Read 180 or RenPlace lab wait, the email system is critical. And this is why the IT department will need the help of the rest of the leadership in the organization to figure out the value of the lost time and data. The cloud may play a significant role in helping with the RTO and RPO. But this can be a whole new subject on its own.

The difference between a business continuity and disaster recovery plan could run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on the size of operations. More than likely due to cost, you will choose to go with a disaster recovery plan. This plan should have options based on the number of outage days before systems are up and running: i.e.; option 1, over 2 weeks; and option 2, one to three days.

For instance, at Corona-Norco USD for our business enterprise system (transaction processing) with low RPOs and RTOs, we considered a co-location facility with alternate Metro Ethernet and generators. Lowering the RPO would mean data replication between the primary site and the remote site.

Granted, a comprehensive plan is more elaborate than a 1, 2, 3 step process, but this provides you with quick tips on how to begin this discussion within your organization. Many districts still perform the traditional security methods; i.e. create daily backups of important data to a tape drive but we now know that this would not be sufficient in the event of a true disaster. Take the opportunity to expand the discussion into using a remote location with duplicate systems that conform to your ideal RTO and RPO. In all, it would be a great investment in your data security that would demonstrate your commitment to operations, education and learning despite any unforeseen interruption.  Ben Odipo, PMP, MBA, is the Chief Technology Officer for Corona-Norco Unified School District, Riverside, Calif. Ben has extensive experience in project management, technology integration and enterprise-level in private enterprise, K-12, community college and higher education levels. He can be reached at bodipo@cnusd.k12.ca.us.

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Pathway Innovations & Technologies (858) 750-3499 www.thehovercam.com Please see our ad on page................................................................... 13 NETWORK SOLUTIONS & SERVERS & PC SOLUTIONS

Sehi Computer Products, Inc. (800) 346-6315 www.sehi.com Please see our ad on page................................................................... 15 SOLUTIONS PROVIDER

Decotech (800) 597-0757 www.decotech.com Please see our ad on page..................................................................... 7 NWN (800) 660-0430 www.nwnit.com Please see our ad on page................................................................... 27 STUDENT ASSESSMENT SYSTEMS

Measured Progress (603) 749-9102 www.measuredprogress.org Please see our ad on page................................................................... 21 Pearson School Systems (877) 873-1550 www.pearsonschoolsystems.com Please see our ad on page................................................................... 31

Infinite Campus, Inc. (800) 850-2335 www.infinitecampus.com/california Please see our ad on page..................................................................... 9 Pearson School Systems (877) 873-1550 www.pearsonschoolsystems.com Please see our ad on page................................................................... 31 Sungard Public Sector (866) 965-7732 www.sungard.com/K-12 Please see our ad on page................................................................... 29 Tyler Technologies (800) 431-5776 www.tylertech.com Please see our ad on page..................................................................... 3 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...................................................... Back Cover USER ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT

Advanced Toolware (888) 770-4242 www.tools4ever.com Please see our ad on page................................................................... 11 AD INDEX

Advanced Toolware............................................................................ 11 Aerohive............................................................................................. 25 Decotech.............................................................................................. 7 Eagle Software...................................................................................... 2 Edupoint Educational Systems.............................................................. 4 Infinite Campus, Inc.............................................................................. 9 Infinity Communications & Consulting............................................... 26 IVS Computer Technology................................................... Back Cover Measured Progress............................................................................. 21 NWN.................................................................................................. 27 Pathway Innovations & Technologies.................................................. 13 Pearson School Systems..................................................................... 31 Sehi Computer Products, Inc............................................................. 15 Smartetools........................................................................................ 28 Sungard Public Sector......................................................................... 29 Tyler Technologies................................................................................ 3

30 DataBus • Spring 2012

Schoolnet Instructional Management Suite: An All-In-one SolUtIon to helP cAlIFornIA Districts rEacH nEw levelS oF AchIeveMent Are you looking for opportunities to drive student growth within your district, but unsure of where to start? Schoolnet Instructional Management Suite (IMS) from Pearson is your answer, allowing you to accurately pinpoint areas for development by integrating teaching, learning, data, and achievement.

Schoolnet is content-neutral and works with data from any student information system (SIS), including Pearson’s PowerSchool. Using your SIS data, Schoolnet aligns student information with assessment strategies, standards-based curriculum, and lesson planning to enhance instructional practices and enable targeted learning for every student.

WIth Schoolnet IMS yoU cAn: • Design and deploy formative assessments.

• Manage data and reporting by bringing multiple sources of information into a single platform.

• Manage and create curriculum with a centralized repository and deploy district scope and sequence.

• Engage students and parents through online access to performance data.

• Heighten operational and instructional efficiency so that cost savings can be applied to other areas of need.

A proven solution since 1996, Schoolnet supports nearly 5 million students across the U.S. today.

For more information or a product demonstration, please call 877.873.1550 or visit www.schoolnet.com.