INSIGHT—Spring 2015

TEXAS ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS PROFESSIONAL JOURNAL

SPRING 2015

INSIGHT High-Priority Learning Standards for Future-Ready Students Mastery of College/ Career-Ready Learning Standards

Application (Skills)

Content (Knowledge)

Cognitive Demand (Rigor)

The Time for Improving the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills Is Now Page 11

SPRING 2015 Volume 30

No. 1 FEATURED ARTICLES Leadership Focus

High-Priority Learning Standards for Future-Ready Students

by Denise Collier

11

The efforts to refine the TEKS through the development of high-priority learning standards should result in fewer and deeper learning expectations as opposed to ones that are a mile wide and an inch deep.

Re-imagining Education: A National Perspective Convergency Center for Policy Resolution

15

National leaders engage in a sustained dialogue to re-imagine an education system structured with the learner at its center.

Innovation in the Education Marketplace

16

The 2015 Midwinter Conference highlights included the second year of TASA’s Innovation Zone, featuring 12 early stage education market companies searching for meaningful input and guidance about their products and services.

Why Do Students Pick Teacher A or Teacher B? Who Would You Pick?

by Alan November

19

Don’t underestimate students’ ability to understand their own learning styles and take increased responsibility for becoming learning designers.

Early College High School: Success Measures

by Judy A. Abbott, Pauline M. Sampson, and Stephanie Applewhite

23

A case study examines success measures as determined by student performance in an Early College High School partnership of two ISDs and a regional comprehensive university.

TSPRA Voice

Lamar CISD’s iCafé Serves the Latest in Staff Development

by Phillip Sulak

28

How Lamar CISD created an in-house studio and a staff training video library that saves the district time and money while providing flexible and high-quality training for staff

SPRING 2015

3

INSIGHT

OFFICERS Alton L. Frailey, President, Katy ISD Karen G. Rue, President-Elect, Northwest ISD

DEPARTMENTS

Kevin Brown, Vice-President, Alamo Heights ISD Darrell G. Floyd, Past President

TASA Professional Learning Calendar

5

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

President’s Message

7

Daniel Treviño, Jr., Mercedes ISD, 1

Executive Director’s View

9

Troy Mircovich, Ingleside ISD, 2 Vicki Adams, Palacios ISD, 3 Trish Hanks, Friendswood ISD, 4 Shannon Holmes, Hardin-Jefferson ISD, 5 Morris Lyon, North Zulch ISD, 6 Fred Hayes, Nacogdoches ISD, 7 Rex Burks, Simms ISD, 8 Louis Baty, Knox City-O’Brien CISD, 9 Alfred Ray, Duncanville ISD, 10

TASA HEADQUARTERS STAFF

G. Wayne Rotan, Glen Rose ISD, 11 John Craft, Killeen ISD, 12

Executive Director

Associate Executive Director, Administrative Services

Johnny L. Veselka Paul L. Whitton, Jr.

Assistant Executive Director, Services and Systems Administration

Ann M. Halstead

Amy Francisco

Director, Communications and Media Relations

Douglas Killian, Hutto ISD, 13 Jay Baccus, Anson ISD, 14 Leigh Ann Glaze, San Saba ISD, 15 Robert McLain, Channing ISD, 16 Kevin Spiller, Seagraves ISD, 17 Andrew Peters, Marfa ISD, 18

Design/Production Anne Harpe

Jose G. Franco, Fort Hancock ISD, 19

INSIGHT is published quarterly by the Texas Association of School Administrators, 406 East 11th Street, Austin, Texas, 78701-2617. Subscription is included in TASA membership dues. © 2015 by TASA. All rights reserved.TASA members may reprint articles in limited quantities for in-house educational use.

Articles in INSIGHT are expressions of the author or interviewee and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of TASA. Advertisements do not necessarily carry the endorsement of the Texas Association of School Administrators.

INSIGHT is printed by 360 Press Solutions, Cedar Park, Texas.

Brian T. Woods, Northside ISD, 20 Buck Gilcrease, Alvin ISD, Legislative Chair

AT-LARGE MEMBERS Jodi Duron, Elgin ISD Gena Gardiner, Highland Park ISD (ESC 10) LaTonya Goffney, Lufkin ISD Al Hambrick, Sherman ISD

EDITORIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE Karen Rue, Northwest ISD, Chair Vicki Adams, Palacios ISD John Brooks, University of North Texas John Craft, Killeen ISD Buck Gilcrease, Alvin ISD Doug Killian, Hutto ISD Robert McLain, Channing ISD Alfred Ray, Duncanville ISD 4

INSIGHT

TASA Professional Learning Calendar, April–June 2015 Creating, guiding, and maintaining true learning organizations that nurture and enhance the overall school transformation effort is a critical aspect of today’s school leader.TASA’s 2015 calendar of professional learning opportunities is designed with that responsibility in mind.We strive to offer a variety of conferences and academies that will help superintendents and their staff meet their goal of truly transforming education. Upcoming conferences and workshops are listed below; for details on our complete 2015 calendar, please visit us online at www.tasanet. org or call the TASA office at 512.477.6361 or 800.725.TASA (8272).

Date Event

Presenter

Location

April 8–9

First-time Superintendents’ Academy (Session 4 of 4)

27-28

Academy for Transformational Leadership Austin (Session 4 of 4)

28–30

Level 1 Curriculum Management Audit Training

Austin Marriott North

Schlechty Center

DoubleTree North by Hilton, Austin TASA Headquarters

May 4–5

Academy for Transformational Leadership ESC Region 20 (Session 4 of 4)

Schlechty Center

17–18

Rural Schools Initiative Leadership Academy

TASA/Syfr

28–30

UT/TASA Summer Conference on Education

ESC Region 20, San Antonio

June ESC Region 10 Renaissance Austin Hotel

Building better COMMUNITIES through

QUALITY, HONESTY, and INTEGRITY. Allen ISD Performing Arts Center

McKinney Boyd High School

Mesquite Horn High School Administr ation building

Prosper High School

John & Judy Gay Library

Anna High School

SPRING 2015

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RESULTS.

Texas requires, parents want, and students deserve them.

T2K delivers them.

2012 No T2K

2013 1st yr.

T2K

2014 2nd yr.

T2K

All Students

Hispanic Students

Economically Disadvantaged

STARR Math Comparison | 2012-2014 Results show a progression of the same group of students at Glen Rose Intermediate School in Glen Rose, Texas.

2012 No T2K

2013 1st yr.

T2K

All Students

Hispanic Students

Economically Disadvantaged

STARR Reading Comparison | 2012-2014 Results show a progression of the same group of students at Glen Rose Intermediate School in Glen Rose, Texas.

Call Toll Free: 855.315.6417

2014 2nd yr.

T2K

What’s Next?

I

n the early stages of moving to another school district, I was asked to meet with a group of community leaders who, I had learned, were cynical about the positive attention the incoming superintendent was receiving. I agreed to meet with them.

I received a tip that they planned to trip me up and question my intentions because they didn’t want an outsider getting too much attention and making changes. On the night of the meeting, after a brief introduction, they were to entrap me with a barrage of questions.

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

What’s next is for us to seriously look at what works in schools. We should work toward the conditions that tend to generate the best results. I strongly believe, or have the attitude perhaps, that schools don’t fail people. People fail schools.

Let’s not abandon our schools.

The journey continues.

Before they started, I asked for the favor of offering a few words of greetings.After expressing my appreciation for the meeting and opportunity, I said, “I hear you guys have been talking about me.” I shared my awareness that they were questioning my intentions and possible feelings of importance. I also told them I had heard they felt I should first learn about and try the way they do things.

In acknowledging those sentiments, I assured them that I understood the importance of culture.This was met with a few “amens.” I explained that culture is the way you do things.

There were sprinklings of “unhuh.” I said that the way you do things brings about results.

They murmured a bit but agreed. I then asked if they were pleased with the current results of the school system.The response was a resounding “no!” So I asked, “If the way you do things brings certain results, and you’re not pleased with your current results, why then would you insist that I continue doing things the way you’ve been doing them?” I survived that meeting and those members became strong supporters of my work there.

President John Adams is credited with this quote:“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”

There are facts and evidence that we continue to have tremendous work ahead of us.There are facts and evidence that many schools and districts are doing some very good work and provide their students with top quality educational experiences.

What’s next is for us to seriously look at what works in schools. We should work toward the conditions that tend to generate the best results. I strongly believe, or have the attitude perhaps, that schools don’t fail people. People fail schools. Let’s not abandon our schools.

I believe the survival of our republic and democratic way of life requires some common experiences that are not totally traversed by personal interests. For our nation, many of those common experiences have been in our public schools.

It has been my honor to serve.The journey continues.

SPRING 2015

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Making technology work for teachers and students.

Today’s technology brings high-tech communication and collaboration tools that empower teachers to remove educational barriers.

Learn more about enabling successful student outcomes at Dell.com/education.

Collaborating for Transformational Change

S

ince the formation of the Texas High Performance Schools Consortium, we have been working to define the critical attributes of high-priority learning standards and developing a strategy for working with the State Board of Education to achieve this important goal.

In a continuing dialogue with SBOE Chair Barbara Cargill and other members of the Board, we have emphasized the benefits of providing a clear and coherent description of the content, depth of knowledge, and skills students must master to succeed in college and careers in a rapidly changing world.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S VIEW

In a continuing dialogue with SBOE Chair Barbara Cargill and other members of the Board, we have emphasized the benefits of providing a clear and coherent description of the content, depth of knowledge, and skills students must master to succeed in college and careers in a rapidly changing world.

With the upcoming review of the English Language Arts/Reading and Spanish Language Arts/Reading TEKS, educators across the state have been given an extraordinary opportunity to engage in this work.At the request of the Board, we have joined with the Texas Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development and several statewide English/language arts organizations in encouraging applications for service on the review committees. We specifically sought applications from content specialists, curriculum and standards writers, and district curriculum experts with an understanding of the pre-K-to-12 articulated curriculum.TEA received more than 200 applications that SBOE members will consider during the next several months.

In a joint statement submitted to the SBOE, TASA, Texas ASCD, and six English/ language arts organizations have urged the Board to initiate a process to design highpriority literacy standards based on the following features and principles: (1) Prioritize and focus on what matters most.

(2) Content, thinking, and skills all matter when it comes to standards design.

(3) Align standards with the best evidence on college and career readiness.

(4) Recognize that standards design influences assessment design, assessment design influences instruction, and instructional decisions determine the level and type of learning opportunities provided to students.

We applaud the Board’s initiative and have pledged our continuing assistance and support for the Board’s work on the TEKS as we move forward with our own school transformation initiatives.

An important aspect of that work is sharing information to continue to build awareness.

To that end, TASA members will find an essay in this issue of INSIGHT on “HighPriority Learning Standards for Future-Ready Students” and an article describing a national school transformation movement that mirrors, in many respects, our own initiatives in Texas.We continue our mission to transform our schools into environments that foster innovation, creativity, and a thirst for learning.

SPRING 2015

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INSIGHT

High-Priority Learning Standards for Future-Ready Students: The Time for Improving the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills Is Now Denise Collier

S

ince 1984, with the adoption of the Essential Elements,Texas education policymakers have been at the forefront of the standards-based reform movement.This leadership continued with the adoption of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) in 1998, and through subsequent revisions of the TEKS.Today, policymakers continue this leadership, with the State Board of Education working to ensure that “the standards are appropriate in scope and rigor, streamlined, clear, relevant, assessable where appropriate, and aligned across subjects and grade levels.” (Texas Education Agency, RFQ #701-14-025, 2014).

While our state is to be commended as a leader in standards-based education, this type of examination of the standards and revision of the standards development process in Texas is needed to ensure that Texas students are prepared to compete and succeed in today’s world. In the current context of “global competition for college acceptance and entry-level jobs in their chosen careers, our students require in-depth knowledge and skills to be fully prepared to compete and succeed.” (THPSC Learning Standards Concept Paper, 2014).

Texas educators have an extraordinary opportunity to engage in the upcoming review of the English Language Arts/Reading and Spanish Language Arts/Reading TEKS this work. Members of the 84th Texas Legislature are also taking up this challenge through the introduction of bills that address the need for fewer, deeper learning standards and more meaningful, manageable, appropriate assessment of them.

Research Support Research on student learning supports these legislative efforts to coalesce the learning expectations into fewer, deeper standards, and we have known this for some time. Students learn more when we teach what is most important and we teach it well. (Dempster, 1993).Typically, however, state standards attempt to cover a content area so comprehensively, the essential concepts that produce deep mastery can become lost. (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2009) The chief problem is that there is simply too much to teach—arguably two to three times too much—and too many options for what can be taught. (Schmidt, McKnight, & Raizen, 1996; Rosenholtz, 1991) Rather than presenting a long list of facts, standards should communicate the essential understandings and habits of practice within each subject area.The efforts to refine the TEKS through the development of high-priority learning standards should result in fewer and deeper learning expectations as opposed to ones that are a mile wide and an inch deep.

But it is not just about fewer standards. It is also about different standards for today’s competitive global workplace.To succeed in today’s workplace, young people need more than basic reading and math skills.

Students need advanced content knowledge, technology skills, thinking skills, and the ability to apply their knowledge and skills to solve problems. (Casner-Lotto and Barrington, 2006) High-priority learning standards provide a clear and coherent description of the content, depth of knowledge, and skills students are expected to master to be prepared for success in college and careers.

SPRING 2015

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Standards Design and Process TASA has been working with members of the Texas High Performance Schools Consortium to support the standards revision efforts of the Legislature and State Board of Education. One of the first tasks undertaken was the development of a highpriority learning standards (HPLS) white paper communicating the research base for fewer, deeper standards and proposing a set of design principles for the development of HPLS. Secondly, TASA has worked with leaders from six literacy organizations to develop a joint statement for the revision of English Language Arts TEKS that outlines the features and characteristics of high priority literacy standards.

In other words…content, thinking, and skills go “hand in hand” and work together in concert as key components of a rigorous K-12 educational program for Texas students.

Mastery of College/ Career-Ready Learning Standards

Application (Skills)

Content (Knowledge)

Cognitive Demand (Rigor)

Figure 1. High-Priority Learning Standards Components

Summary

In summary, learning standards matter. As the Texas State Board of Education and Fundamentally, we believe that high priorthe Texas Education Agency engage in the ity learning standards must meet these four process of review and revision of the state design criteria: curriculum standards, the Texas Associa1. Prioritize and focus on what matters most. tion of School Administrators and the Texas 2. Content, thinking, and skills all matter High Performance Schools Consortium are in support of the efforts to create highwhen it comes to standards design.

3. Align standards with best evidence on priority learning standards for the students of Texas. As James Popham, noted authorcollege and career readiness.

4. Recognize that standards design influ- ity on curricular standards and assessment, ences assessment design, assessment design influences instruction, and instructional decisions determine the level and type of learning opportunities provided to students.

has stated, “It not only requires some curricular acumen to coalesce the excessive numbers of curricular targets embodied in most states’ aspirations for their students, but it also takes real courage to prioritize the most important curricular aims and, then, leave less important aims up to local districts because they will not be state-assessed.”

(Popham, 2012). This important work will produce great dividends for Texas students n and for our future.

Denise Collier is a consultant with TASA.

Fewer and Deeper Standards

Assessment

Instruction

Connected content, thinking, and skills

Designed to assess fewer, deeper standards

Determines level and type of learning opportunities

Figure 2. High-Priority Learning Standards Teaching and Learning Cycle

12

INSIGHT

Reference Citations n

American Management Association.

(2012). Critical skills survey. Retrieved from www.amanet.org.

n

Casner-Lotto, J. and Barrington, L. (2006). Are they really ready to work?: Employers’ perspectives on the basic knowledge and applied skills of new entrants to the 21st century U.S. workforce. Conference Board, Partnership for 21st Century Skills, Corporate Voices for Working Families, Society for Human Resource Management.

n

Dempster, F. N. (1993). Exposing our students to less should help them learn. Phi Delta Kappan, 74(6), 432–437.

n

Partnership for 21st Century Skills.

(2009). Standards: A 21st Century Skills Implementation Guide. Retrieved from www.p21.org.

n

Popham, W. J. (2010). A defensible state student testing program. Paper commissioned by four Texas school districts: Highland Park Independent School District, Birdville Independent School District, Coppell Independent School District, and Wylie Independent School District.

n

Rosenholtz, S. J. (1991). Teacher’s workplace: The social organization of schools. New York: Teachers College Press. McREL Regional Education Laboratory.

n

Schmidt, W. H., McKnight, C. C., & Raizen, S. A. (1996). Splintered vision: An investigation of U.S. science and mathematics education: Executive summary. Lansing, MI: U.S. National Research Center for the Third International Mathematics and Science Study, Michigan State University.

n

Texas Association of School Administrators. (2014). Developing High-Priority Learning Standards: Rationale,Theory of Action, and Proposed Design Principles. Retrieved from www.tasanet.org.

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SPRING 2015

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Dream it. Do it.

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Find out how Schoolwires® Centricity2™ website and content management system can help you connect your entire district to the people, information and services you need to succeed.

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Re-imagining Education: A National Perspective

F

rom April 2013 to October 2014, a broad-based group of education practitioners, scholars, business leaders, foundation representatives and parents were convened by the Washington-based Convergence Center for Policy Resolution to develop a transformational vision for American public education.

The resulting document, Re-imagining Education: A Transformational Vision for Education in the US, bears resemblance to TASA’s own Creating a New Vision for Public Education.

Michael Hinojosa, former Texas superintendent and member of Texas’ original Public Education Visioning Institute, was a participant in the Re-imagining Education project. TASA Executive Director Johnny Veselka was recently invited to serve on the project’s advisory board.

The Convergence Center was founded in 2009 to address urgent social and policy issues that typically get bogged down in disagreement and discord.The center convenes people and groups with conflicting views to build trust, identify solutions, and form alliances on critical national issues. Their national challenge for K-12 education is to “create a future where all children experience extraordinary learning.”

The national leaders brought together by the Convergence Center engaged in a sustained dialogue to re-imagine an education system structured with the learner at its

center. Their initial report, currently in the final stages of development, is “designed to catalyze a new national conversation about education transformation and to become a rallying point for a network of pioneers who are already or would like to be working along similar lines.” They envision “a learner-centered system in which all children thrive, are able to deeply engage in their own communities, their nation, and the global community, and are prepared and excited for their future.”

Competency-based learning recognizes that each learner works toward competency and strives for mastery in defined domains of knowledge, skills, and dispositions.

Personalized, relevant, and contextualized learning uses factors such as the learner’s own passions, strengths, needs, family, culture, and community as fuel for the development of knowledge, skills, and dispositions.

Learning that is characterized by learner In describing the challenge for the project, agency recognizes learners as active parthe following background was provided to ticipants in their own learning and engages project participants: them in the design of their experiences and the realization of their learning outcomes Despite multitudes of public and private in ways appropriate for their development initiatives, the U.S. school system remains level. antiquated and unable to meet the needs of far too many children. Hot button issues, Socially embedded learning is rooted in such as school choice, testing, and tenure, meaningful relationship with family, peers, divide the leaders and groups who most qualified adults, and community members need to come together to forge a new path and is grounded in community and social forward to create an education system equal interaction. to the needs and aspirations of 21st century children and society.

Open-walled learning acknowledges that learning happens at many times and in many “Re-imagining Education” starts with the places and intentionally leverages its expanpremise that learning experiences must sive nature in the learner’s development of facilitate learners’ development in three competencies. primary domains: knowledge, skills, and dispositions. To ensure development in those These elements will be fleshed out in three domains, learning experiences are greater detail by the project’s advisory board characterized by five interrelated elements, over the coming months. TASA will share forming a new design for learning: Re-imagining Education’s progress with members in future publications.

Excerpts from Re-imagining Education: A Transformational Vision for Education in the US are included in this article with permission from the Convergence Center for Policy Resolution.

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Innovation in the Education Marketplace TASA’s 2015 Midwinter Conference featured the second year of an exciting, transformational concept in education exhibits—the TASA Innovation Zone. The purpose of the Innovation Zone was to feature early stage education market companies, selected by a panel of experts through an application INNOVATION process, that were searching for meaningful input and guidance about their ZONE products and services. TASA’s Midwinter Conference was the perfect venue to unite these companies with top education leaders who have a sincere desire to be knowledgeable about leading-edge innovations. Twelve companies were selected to present their products/services in front of three- or four-member panels of superintendents and/or district-level school leaders.

Participating companies were represented in the Exhibit Hall’s Innovation Zone area, providing an opportunity for conference attendees to view and learn more about these unique products and services.

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Lea(R)n, an education innovation firm, empowers states, schools, and districts to know which technology products are best for their classrooms. Lea(R)n’s research-backed, online platform, LearnTrials.com, combines teacher expertise with multiple data sources to give educators the insights, capacity, and tools to continuously improve instructional and budget decisions.

Jon Cornelison, CEO & Cofounder jon@sectorpoint.com 707-344-2665

Exam Elf Face exams with confidence. Exam Elf takes the stress out of math exams for students and allows teachers to effectively prepare for the upcoming STAAR exams. Exam Elf is a free Common Core-aligned mobile app for grades 4–8. We help students achieve their potential in exams.

Wesley Burt, Product Director wesley.burt@learntrials.com 213-952-2074

Listen Innovation, Inc. Listen Innovation, Inc. brings authentic voices and engaging audio stories to the classroom. We curate the best of public radio to keep teaching connected to the real world and build student listening skills at the same time.

Adam Wootton, CEO

Karen Gage, COO

adam@zumfun.com 917-334-6498

karen@listencurrent.com 617-304-9057

Infinite Campus

Mac to School

For over 20 years, Infinite Campus has implemented solutions for customers of all sizes. As the largest Americanowned student information system provider, Infinite Campus manages 6.6 million students in 42 states with customers that include school districts, regional consortia, state departments of education, and the federal government.

Mac to School buys, sells, and repairs Apple equipment for the K–12 market. All products are backed with comprehensive warranties and outstanding customer service. Mac to School’s mission is to deliver the best technology at the greatest value to schools nationwide.

Joe Fox, Director of Sales

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16

INSIGHT

Robert Baker, CEO

Memory Science

Star Tech Group

Memory Science delivers a Web-based, patented learning retention platform based on established cognitive and neuroscience methodologies. Proven to improve student outcomes by 25 to 36 percent, the Memory Science platform adapts to student needs and can be applied in almost any subject and classroom to improve student test scores and performance.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Innovation is non-linear, dynamic, and complex. Acclaim platform avoids insanity and embraces innovation to make it easy for families to access, engage, involve, and succeed in their education, health, career, and finance paradigms. Acclaim = Quality Life.

Juana Daniels, COO

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Ravi Shakamuri, CEO

Netvious Netvious was founded to provide advice and infrastructure support to help companies, public venues, and educational institutions successfully navigate the ever-changing wireless mobile landscape by helping customers maximize wireless connectivity with the people, systems, and devices they connect and interact with every day.

Geoff Green, CEO geoff.green@netvious.com 214-287-7090

Sibme Sibme is a private, video-enhanced professional learning platform designed to improve teaching and learning in schools, institutions, and education-related organizations.

Sibme enhances the instructional coaching, mentoring, and peer observation process, enabling teachers and instructional leaders to record, share, reflect, and discuss classroom instruction from a smartphone, tablet, or laptop/desktop.

David Wakefield, CEO davew@sibme.com 713-202-6928

Smarty Ants

Studer Education

Smarty Ants Reading World is a data-driven literacy program that uses authentic literature and science nonfiction to provide foundational skills to preK–2nd grade students. With every click, Smarty Ants readjusts to adapt to learning temperament, thought processes, confidence, and intervention needs. It creates a personalized learning path for every student.

Studer Education, a division of Studer Group and a Baldrige Award recipient, works in partnership with school districts and healthcare organizations to maximize organizational and human performance. Our partner districts apply a continuous systems improvement model to increase student achievement, employee engagement, parent satisfaction, district support services, and financial efficiency.

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SPRING 2015

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Why Do Students Pick Teacher A or Teacher B? Who Would You Pick?

Alan November

W

hat if we asked our students about the type of work they would prefer to do while in class?

It may reveal a lot about what choices they would make for assignments and activities and why they make these choices.

These days, when I meet with students across the country, I challenge them to choose between two very different assignment designs for the same subject, Romeo and Juliet. Both assignments use PowerPoint.

Students in each classroom have access to a device. Each teacher has the same goals, an interpretation of the text.

When asked, students offer fascinating reasons to explain their first choice.You may want to design a series of choices (Teacher A-Z) to present to your own students to understand what motivates them to work.You can imagine one of the most popular choices has to do with not being bored, although there are students who do want to be spoon-fed.

The goal is to have students become the learning architects of at least some of their work, similar to that being promoted by #geniushour. It is possible we have grossly underestimated their ability to understand their own learning styles and how to take increased responsibility for becoming learning designers. As students have explained to me in the past, a change in the design of work can lead to an increase in student learning and focus.

For example, simply allowing students to use Minecraft to design one of the historic California missions can lead to much more research, critical thinking, and presentation detail then designing the same church grounds with sugar cubes.

On to Teacher A and Teacher B Teacher A presents a slide presentation on Romeo and Juliet that she designed before class, (perhaps even the year before). Each student has a laptop and is taking notes during class. Every now and then,Teacher A asks if anyone in class can answer a specific question about the character development or how to interpret a quote from the play. Raising your hand is optional. Homework is studying your notes for a quiz on Friday.

Teacher B researched slide presentations about Romeo and Juliet from the U.K. and around the world by using an advanced search [Filetype:ppt site:ac.uk (edu) Romeo and Juliet (simply replace ac.uk with the extensions of various countries)].Teacher B selected six presentations she believes represent different cultural interpretations of Romeo and Juliet and with varied emphases on character development and themes. Students are organized in teams of three to five in class and challenged to review the slides of all six slide presentations from the six different countries. Each team is responsible for selecting 10 slides from approximately 80 combined slides to create a remix team slide presentation.The teacher works with the students to develop a rubric that makes clear what the rationale is for choosing the slides, such as differences in cultural interpretations. Each team also has to write a defense of why they selected their slides and post their finished remix to the class blog. Homework is to review another team’s slide presentation and to offer comments that compare to their own team’s choices.This class will also have a quiz on Friday.

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What I do not mention to the students is I believe there is a significant difference between the learning of the two teachers. Teacher A is not learning very much about her students. Her mode of sharing her slide presentation does not offer her much opportunity to interact with students and understand how each student is interpreting the lesson. Teacher B has almost limitless opportunity to learn how her students learn.

As she walks around the room she can observe her students remixing and she can listen to the logic of their debate about which slides to pick. She may even have someone audio record the conversations at the table for her further review. She can also see who is more involved in the work.

Teacher A leaves class to get another slide presentation ready for chapter 2. Teacher B leaves class looking forward to reading

(and/or listening to) student comments about each teams’ work on the class blog.

She will also look for patterns of interpretation across the remix PowerPoints and the written explanations each team submitted.

Now comes the intriguing part. When I ask students which teacher they prefer, I get both Teacher A and Teacher B. Here are the explanations of why they make their choices.

Students Explain their Preferences The first time I ran this experiment, I asked approximately 20 middle and high school students what they thought. The first student who answered wanted Teacher B. She explained her attention span was only 10 minutes long and she could not stay focused on a longer slide presentation by a teacher.

She also thought she would learn more by looking at six presentations from around the world, and she felt she would be interested

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INSIGHT

in the different cultural interpretations.This student also shared her willingness to talk with classmates about creating their own remix slide presentations. She felt Teacher B’s remixing lesson would give her a better chance of staying focused for the whole class and it would be more engaging than taking notes. She also felt she would remember the material longer because she was actively discussing the material and creating something.

The next student clearly did not like Teacher B and picked Teacher A. When I asked her why, she summed it up,“I am lazy.

I do not want to do all of that work required

by Teacher B.” She also explained that her own teacher did provide slide presentations and she liked them because she just wanted to know what was going to be on the test.

Since her teacher was the only one who knew what was to be on the test, she only wanted to listen to her teacher. She also explained she has to write things down to help her remember what was being taught and she liked taking her own notes. When I asked her to compare the two teachers’ approaches in terms of how long she might remember the material, she agreed she would probably forget most of the content after the quiz with Teacher A. But that did not matter to her. Her goal was to get the highest possible grade, not to remember the material the longest. She knew that Teacher A gave her the best chance.“All those other slide presentations from other countries would be too confusing and most of the material would not be on the test.”

Obviously there are a limitless number of creative options to designing assignments in the digital age, including following the hashtag #shakespeare to learn how people around the world apply quotes from a guy who has been dead for 400 years to everyday events. And, sometimes it makes sense to be Teacher A, other times Teacher B’s approach will work best, and at other times it will be the approach of Teachers C-Z. There is no right style all the time.

What concerns me is we often do not explicitly provide our teachers with the permission and skill-support to be Teacher B. Too many of our workshops do a great job of explaining the technical bits without hitting on the myriad design opportunities. As a follow-up on my article on the six questions to determine if you’re technology rich/information poor,Teacher B’s class has at least three: making thinking visible, new lines of inquiry, and student as contributor.

Ever since I began my work as a teacher with technology in the early 1980s, I have highly valued that students think of designing work with new tools in ways that I would never imagine. For example, I recently asked a combined group of about 150 teachers and 15 students to redesign the classic lesson of learning the 50 state capitals.

The only group to design a video game with increasing layers of difficulty of understanding each state was a group of seven students who knew Scratch. All they had to do was to go to the Scratch website and do a search on “state capitals” to find many examples of video games. (Now we have Teacher C.) As one teacher later tweeted about watching her students think about how they could design a traditional assignment, she tweeted out, “#Notfair.The students selected a state capital video game that was too engaging to stop! I do not think that way!” (This is a fourth design feature of the Transformative 6—use of best examples in the world.)

Many of our students are waiting for us to help design assignments that will support the way they learn.

As one of my friends, Phil Stubbs fromVerso in Australia, recently shared in a tweet in support of my recent book, Who Owns the Learning, “Spoon-feeding will not bring back awe and wonder.” Even when students want the answer to be spoon-fed, as the girl who picked Teacher A did, we should try to make our students work harder for their discovery of “the awe and wonder.” Or, to paraphrase the Great Bard,“They have been at a great feast of learning, and stolen the n scraps.”

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Early College High School: Success Measures Judy A. Abbott, Pauline M. Sampson, and Stephanie Applewhite Early College High School: Success Measures Many superintendents look for ways to increase the success of district high school students while preparing them for postsecondary options. Early College High School (ECHS) is one way that independent school district (ISD) leaders position students for postsecondary success while addressing the Closing the Gaps by 2015:Texas’ Strategies for Improving Student Participation and Success (THECB, 2008) report.

The purpose of this case study was to examine success measures as determined by the performance of the first three cohorts of students participating in an ECHS partnership of two ISDs and a regional comprehensive university.

The Texas Education Agency has approved an additional 44 ECHS programs beginning in fall 2014, bringing the total number of ECHS programs in Texas to 109. These new ECHS programs may benefit from considering the success measures used by a particular model of an ECHS partnership.

Early College High School Programs ECHS programs were established to increase the number and success of underrepresented student populations enrolled in institutions of higher education (IHE). The Closing the Gap report (THECB, 2008) identified underrepresented groups as racial/ethnic minorities, including African Americans/Blacks and Hispanics in particular, low socioeconomic status, English language learners, and first-generation college-going/completing.

School district personnel and IHE personnel work collaboratively to support these targeted student populations toward success, for it is the student success in ECHS, not just the collection of dual credits, that supports students’ potential for postsecondary experiences. Further, underrepresented groups’ access to IHEs and the attention to college and career readiness are major tenets of ECHS programs (Allen, 2010; Attewell, Lavin, Domina, & Levey, 2006; Bettinger & Long, 2004; Lareau & Weininger, 2008).

Finding ways to support at-risk students for postsecondary experiences is not a new concept for public schools (Harvard Graduate School of Education, 2011). Administrators and researchers emphasize the need for aligning expectations between high school and college courses, while building on students’ academic knowledge and skills for success in college and careers (Achieve Incorporated, 2013;Adelman, 2006;Alexander, 2013; Cohen, 2008; Fong, Huang, & Goel, 2008; Conley, 2007; Jonas, Dougherty, Herrera, LaTurner, Garland, & Ware, 2012; Kirst & Venezia, 2008;). Rigorous high school courses, dual-credit college/high school programs, and advanced mathematics courses do increase students’ completion of a college degree (Iatarola Conger, & Long, 2011; Melguizo, 2010; Nufiez & Bowers, 2011; Sadler, Sonnert,Tai & Klopfenstein, 2010).

In order for students to see themselves as college-going, there are many factors that impact students’ choices and success in college. Some of these factors include self-efficacy, college preparation in high school, success in college academics, and interaction with college faculty (Mussey, 2009). Student success in college, especially underserved at-risk students and first-generation students, often requires positive interactions with faculty and participation in academic and social advising classes (Sheppard, 2012;Ybarra-Saich, 2008). Therefore, ECHS partnerships have become one way ISDs are attempting to increase student preparation and success for postsecondary experiences.

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An Early College High School Model course sections dedicated to ECHS, meanUnlike many ECHS partnerships that feature one community college and one school district, the model featured in this case study includes one IHE and two ISDs—a city school district and a rural school district.

In this particular ECHS partnership model, ECHS students travel to the IHE campus at least two days a week to take specific dual-credit college courses and return to home campuses to complete their course schedules.

As is true of most ECHS models, students have the potential of earning up to 60 hours of university credit by their high school

requires an application process, and cohort ing that regular university students are participants are selected with a weighted unable to enroll in those particular sections. lottery (see Table 2 for new participants in In years three and four of the ECHS experi- each cohort year). ence (grades 11 and 12), students enroll in non-dedicated sections of courses, allowing The school-wide model allows all students the ECHS students to mingle with regularly to apply for inclusion in the cohorts based enrolled university students. on interest in and commitment to the initiative. Each ISD has a designated ECHS Table 1 presents the ECHS course sequence. administrator, and the university has a facThe ECHS students also have access to uni- ulty person who serves as the designated versity student success services, technology, ECHS liaison. ECHS students, regardless and selected social activities.Their university of the model selected by their ISD, are student identification cards provide access to provided extensive supports for success, university services in ways that are similar to such as tutoring, coaching, and homework assistance. Additionally, ECHS students are traditional university students.

Table 1. SFA ECHS Program Course Sequence Fall Semester

Spring Semester

Year 1 (grade 9)

COM 111 Public Speaking

SOC 137 Introduction to Sociology

Year 2 (grade 10)

MUS 111 Music Appreciation

PSC 147 Introduction to American Government

Year 3 (grade 11)

Variable as determined in consultation with ISD counselor

Variable as determined in consultation with ISD counselor

Year 4 (grade 12)

Variable as determined in consultation with ISD counselor

Variable as determined in consultation with ISD counselor

graduation; however, many partnerships in Texas report that most ECHS students earn 24 to 40 credit hours during the four years of ECHS (Nodine, 2011). Students in grades 9 and 10 in high school, years one and two of the ECHS experience, are enrolled in

The two ISDs selected different models for identifying ECHS students for each year’s cohorts. The larger city ISD selected the school-within-a-school model, while the smaller rural ISD selected a school-wide model. The school-within-a-school model

Table 2. SFA ECHS Cohorts by ISD Partner and Gender Females

Males

Total

Cohort 1–2011–2012

1

0

1

Cohort 2–2012–2013

19

15

34

Cohort 3–2013–2014

13

13

26

33

28

61

Cohort 1–2011–2012

11

6

17

Cohort 2–2012–2013

14

9

23

Cohort 3–2013–2014

13

6

19

38

21

59

Nacogdoches ISD

TOTAL Woden ISD

TOTAL 24

INSIGHT

taught specific skills, such as note-taking and time management.

An ECHS advisory council, composed of ISD personnel from each participating district, university faculty and staff, and university administration, work together to ensure the university courses are designated as core courses in the state of Texas and, thus, meet high school requirements as dual-credit courses that contribute to earning a high school diploma. This advisory council also collaborates on student success activities—student success in the university courses and student success in the high school courses. A faculty person serves as the university ECHS liaison and is responsible for facilitating communication among the university staff, university faculty and administrators, and school district personnel.

Additionally, the College of Education Dean leverages campus resources and funds

faculty assigned to dedicated ECHS course sections, in addition to working with the deans of other university colleges related to course delivery. This collaborative planning is critical to the ECHS program’s evolving needs and to the success of the ECHS students.

(equivalent to a letter grade of D) to earn credits. However, at the university, to remain in good standing, students must maintain a cumulative GPA of ≥2.0 (equivalent to a letter grade of C). An earned grade of D is allowed at the university, but only if that grade does not pull the cumulative GPA

Of the 120 students, 59% (n=71) were female and 41% (n=49) were male. When examining gender at the ISD level, Woden ISD participants revealed a larger gender differential [F=65% (n=38); M=35% (n=21)] than Nacogdoches ISD participants [F=54% (n=33); M=36% (n=21)]. Ethnicity/racial

Table 3. SFA ECHS Demographics White n (%)

Black n (%)

Hispanic n (%)

Asian n (%)

2 or More n (%) Unknown n (%) Total

Female

13 (18%)

3 (4%)

13 (18%)

0

3 (4%)

39 (55%)

71 (59%)

Male

9 (18%)

6 (12%)

5 (10%)

1 (2%)

0

28 (57%)

49 (41%)

TOTAL

22 (18%)

9 (8%)

18 (15%)

1 (1%)

3 (2%)

67 (56%)

120

Success Measures Success measures in ECHS are critical to students’ success as well as to the program’s success. Consequently, we carefully monitor student performance each semester at the university and at the high schools. Dualcredit courses completed at the university contribute both to high school standing and to the college grade point average (GPA).

Courses taken at the high school earn credit based on numeric scores of ≥60%

below 2.0. Additionally, ECHS students must follow university policies, including policies related to academic performance, grades, probation, and suspension.

The demographic analysis of the Stephen F. Austin (SFA) ECHS students (see Table 3) revealed 120 students from the two ISDs (Nacogdoches ISD=61; Woden ISD=59) completed at least one course through the ECHS partnership from spring 2012 through spring 2014, three cohort years.

Table 4. SFA ECHS Cohorts by ISD Partner, Number of Grades, Quality Points, and GPAs Number of Course Grades

Quality Points

Cohort 1

1

3

3.00

Cohort 2

118

289

2.45

Cohort 3

35*

72

2.06

154 1

364

2.36

W Cohort 1

135*

369

2.73

Cohort 2

79

208

2.63

Cohort 3

30

85

2.83

244 4

662

2.71

398

1,026

2.58

Woden ISD

Subtotal W TOTAL

*Grades of W were omitted (n=5)

The data in Table 4 provide an overview of the student performance during years 1, 2, and 3 of the SFA Early College High School. During those three years, the 120 students completed 398 three-credit courses and withdrew from five courses. Based on the grades received in the completed courses, the students earned 1,026 quality points, resulting in an overall GPA of 2.58.

GPA

Nacogdoches ISD

Subtotal

composition of the ECHS students was not accurately revealed, for 56% (n=67) of the students failed to self-identify ethnicity/racial classification (see Table 3). The ethnicity/racial classifications of the 44% (n=53) of ECHS student who completed the self-identity form is also presented below.

When disaggregated by ISD partner,Woden ISD earned an overall GPA of 2.71, while Nacogdoches ISD earned an overall GPA of 2.36. Table 4 also reports the overall GPA by cohort within each partner ISD. As we disaggregated the academic performance of the students within cohort and across years, we noted the performance distribution presented in Table 5. From an IHE perspective, when we combined grades of A, B, and C, we found that during Year 1, Cohort 1 had the strongest performance, followed by Cohort 3 and Cohort 2 [95% (n=19); 83% (n=55); 79% (n=28) respectively].

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When we repeated the combining of grades A, B, and C, we found that during Year 2, Cohort 1 also had the stronger performance [97% (n=28) vs. 86% (n=78) respectively].

Cohort 3 has completed only Year 1 to date.

From an ISD perspective, when we combined grades of A, B, C, and D, we noted that none of the students earned a grade of F in Year 1, Cohort 1, thus all earned high school credit for their university courses.

This was not the case for Year 1, Cohorts 2 and 3. Students in each of those cohorts earned grades of F (Cohort 2=8; Cohort 3=5), thus requiring the ISDs to consider credit recovery options for those particular students. As Cohort 1 moved to Years 2 and 3, note that five students earned grades of F. Each of those students also required credit recovery counseling from the ISD.

Conclusions An ECHS program’s success requires significant collaborative planning and ongoing dialogue (Allen & Murphy, 2008; Hoffman, Vargas, & Santos, 2009; Lieberman, 2004; Matthews, 2009). The ultimate measure of success, however, is the students’ success as represented by course credit earned and the quality of their performance within the courses.

As we have moved through the three years of our ECHS initiative, just-in-time support seems to make the difference with student performance. At the IHE, we added student instructors (SIs) to courses.The SIs are SFA students who were successful in the course and invited by the course faculty to serve.At the ISDs, we used AVID and after-school

study to focus support and students’ attention to meeting deadlines and preparing for tests and projects.

Where success measures of gender, ethnicity, SES status, and first-generation status for Cohort 2 were met, performance success measures were not as strong. We may have sought to grow too quickly, and we may have made assumptions based on the success measure for Cohort 1. Consequently, Cohort 3 admission was more controlled and just-in-time support more systematically administered. Careful monitoring of success measures and open conversations made this ECHS initiative a dynamic partnership committed to meeting the needs of students and to promoting a career-ready n and college-going culture.

Table 5. Performance Distribution by Cohort, Year, and Course Cohort 1 A COM 111 Yr 1 Public Speak SOC 137 Intro Sociology

C

D

2

9

8

MUS 111 Yr 2 Music Apprec PSC 141 Intro Am Gov 1

7

10

3

5

7

6

1

ENG 131 Rhetoric & Comp ENG 132 Res & Argument PSC 142 Intro Am Gov 2 HS 133 Yr 3 US HX 1000–1877 HIS 134 US HX 1877–present MTH 138 College Algebra MTH 133 Plane Trig PHY 131 Mech & Heat PHY 131L Mech & Heat Lab

5

6

4

3

5

8

2

4

3

2

2

1

1

2

3

7

9

1

1

2

3

TOTAL 26

B

INSIGHT

Cohort 2 F

W

1

Cohort 3

A

B

C

D

F

3

10 18

7

3

9

22

W

A

B

C

D

F

W

7

3

14 12 3

24 13

1

3

12 11 2

5

1

7

11

4

7

12 19

7

1

1

6

26 23 5

5

1

3

2

1 1

1 1 1 34 53 39

8

5

4

40 45 60 25 16

0

Hoffman, N., Vargas, J., & Santos, J. (2009).

New directions for dual enrollment: Creating stronger pathways from high school through college. New Directions for Community Colleges, 145, 43-58.

Mussey, S.S. (2009). Navigating the transition to college: First-generation undergraduates negotiate identity and search for success in STEM and non-STEM fields. Retrieved from ProQuest dissertations and theses database (#3355909).

Iatarola, P., Conger, D., & Long, M.C. (2011).

Determinants of high schools’ advanced References course offerings. Educational Evaluation and Adelman, C. (2006). The toolbox revisited: Policy Analysis, 33(3), 340-359.

Paths to degree completion from high school through college. U.S. Department of Education. Jonas, D., Dougherty, C., Herrera, A. W.,

Nodine, T. (2011). Making the grade: Texas early college high schools prepare students for college. Washington, DC: Jobs for the Future. Retrieved from www.jff.org/sites/ default/files/publications/MakingTheGrade-032311.pdf.

LaTurner, J., Garland, M., & Ware, A. (2012).

High school predictors of college readiness: Determinants of high school graduates’ enrollment and successful completion of first-year mathematics and English college courses in Virginia. Virginia Department of Education.

Nufiez, A.M., & Bowers, A.J. (2011).

Exploring what leads high schools students to enroll in Hispanic-serving Institutions: A multilevel analysis. American Educational Research Journal, 48, 1286-131.

All three coauthors hail from Stephen F. Austin State University. Judy Abbott is dean of the College of Education, Pauline M. Sampson is an associate professor in the Department of Secondary Education and Educational Leadership, and Stephanie Applewhite is a graduate research assistant.

Alexander, J. (2013). Aligning high school and college instruction: Preparing students for success in college level mathematics. Retrieved from ProQuest dissertations and theses database (#3613579).

Allen, D. (2010). A comprehensive literature review and bibliography. New York: CUNY Collaborative Programs.

Allen, L., & Murphy, L. (2008). Leveraging postsecondary partners to build college-going culture: Tools for high school/postsecondary partnerships. Retrieved from www.jff.org/sites/ default/files/ToolsPSE pshipsslowres_2.pdf.

Kirst, M., & Venezia, A. (2008). Improving college readiness and success for all students: A joint responsibility between k12 and postsecondary.

An issue brief for the Secretary of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education. Retrieved from www.ed.gov/ about/bdscomm/list/hiedfuture/reports/ kirstvenezia.pdf.

Sadler, P., Sonnert, G., Tai, R., & Klopfenstein, K. (Eds). (2010). AP: A critical examination of the advanced placement program.

Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Sheppard, D.K. (2012). Perceptions of first-time in college community college students regarding factors and barriers for success. Retrieved from ProQuest dissertations and theses database Lareau, A., &Weininger, E.B. (2008). Class (#3536715).

Attwell, P., Lavin, D., Domina,T., & Levey,T. and the transition to adulthood. In A. Lareau, (2006). New evidence on college remedia- & D. Conley, (Eds), Social Class: How does it Texas Higher Education Coordinating tion. Journal of Higher Education, 77, 886-924. work? (pp.118-157). NewYork; Sage.

Board, & Richard T. Ingram Center for Public Trusteeship and Governance of the Bettinger, E. P., & Long, B. T. (2004). Shape Lieberman, J.E. (2004). The Early College Association of Governing Bodies. (2008). up or ship out:The effects of remediation on stu- High School concept: Requisites for success. www. Closing the Gaps by 2015: Texas’ strategies dents at four year college. National Bureau of jff.org/sites/default/files/ECHSConcept. for improving student participation and success.

Economic Research Working Paper. Cam- pdf.

Retrieved from www.thecb.state.tx.us/ bridge, MA. reports/PDF/1669.PDF?CFID=13830697 Matthews, R.S. (2009). The power of partner- &CFTOKEN=49867943.

Cohen, M. (2008). Improving college prepa- ships: How Early College creates rich contexts ration. The New England Journal of Higher for engaging faculties. Retrieved from www. Ybarra-Saich, D. (2008). A descriptive study Education, 22(5), 21-23. woodrow.org/images/pdf/echs/WW_ to explore the role of inner voice as an academic Early College_Power_of_Partnerships.pdf. success factor for second generation Hispanic comConley, D. T. (2007). Redefining college munity college students in the Central valley. readiness. Eugene, OR: Educational Policy Melguizo, T. (2010). Are students of color Retrieved from ProQuest dissertations and Improvement Center. more likely to graduate from college if they theses database (#3338015). attend more selective institutions? Evidence Harvard Graduate School of Education. from a cohort of recipients and non-recip(2011). Pathways to prosperity: Meeting the chal- ients of the Gates Millennium Scholarship lenge of preparing young Americans for the 21st Program. Educational Evaluation and Policy century. Pearson Foundation.

Analysis, 32, 230-248.

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TSPRA VOICE TASA joins TSPRA in supporting the critical role of public information and communications professionals in Texas public schools.

Lamar CISD’s iCafé Serves the Latest in Staff Development Phillip Sulak Among many enduring clichés are:“A picture is worth a thousand words,” and “Time is money.”

Lamar CISD has a program that uses pictures (in the form of video) to save time AND money.

Welcome to the INTERACT Café (known around the district as the iCafé), serving the latest in learning and accessible from the comfort of your office or home.

The iCafé is much like the DIY section of YouTube: It is a place to view videos that teach you how to do things.The difference is the videos won’t show you how to fix the leak under the sink, but rather how to set up your teacher Web page… or how to design your lesson plan to reach 21st century students… or how to enter grades online on a daily basis, giving parents the instant access they crave… or how to use social media as an instructional tool… or how to streamline the payroll process by adjusting your time sheet to show you took a sick day.

In other words, the iCafé teaches many tasks teachers and staff members need to know, in “real time” and without the need to drive crosstown for training. So the most notable result of the Lamar CISD iCafé program is the time and energy the district has saved.

Origin of the iCafé Lamar CISD Director of Technology Integration Chris Nilsson and Director of Technology Development Chad Jones came up with the original idea.

“The impetus was a need for more training and support than we had personnel for,” Jones explained. “We had a training staff of 11, with more than 3,500 employees needing to be trained in dozens of systems. The solution began as the iCafé Web page and morphed into the iCafé Studio.”

28

INSIGHT

The principle behind the iCafé Studio is to combine the look and feel of face-to-face training with the ease of an anytime, online solution.The quality HD video results in a professional quality appreciated by the staff. Engaging, valuable trainings make the iCafé both enjoyable and useful.

still a savings of 3,973 training hours—time that Lamar CISD staff used to focus on more important items, like instructional concepts that have a direct impact on student success.

That reduction in time and effort did not mean district staff did not receive the training they needed, however. Because of the iCafé Lamar CISD Chief Technology Information Officer David Jacob- Studio, Lamar CISD was able to roll out elements as needed. son oversees all aspects of technology for the district. While the iCafé was created before he came to the district, he fully supports For example, teachers traditionally were trained on how to complete the program. “I can’t put a dollar figure to it, but we definitely end-of-the-term procedures at the beginning of the school year, so would have needed more staff,” Jacobson said. “The iCafé allows us to deliver professional development to any staff member at any time, day or night.To deliver that much staff development would not be possible without the iCafé.

And certainly more substitutes or after-hours training would have been required for staff.”

Serving Up Savings In 2013 the district needed to roll out a new software package that handled student scheduling, grade books, attendance and more.

Traditionally such an undertaking would have required every teacher to start the school year sitting through at least one threehour face-to-face training.

That would have required a cadre of trainers to be trained and then sent to campuses to teach groups of employees the new system. (Lamar CISD had 37 campuses at the time, as well as numerous facilities for support staff.) It would have been necessary to hold those meetings throughout the summer, before teachers even reported back to work.

by the time they actually needed to know how to do it, they would often forget, thus creating the need for retraining.

With the iCafé Studio, Lamar CISD was able to send out those training pieces right when teachers needed them, making the most of the teachers’ time and providing them the support they needed, when With about 1,600 teachers needing to learn the new system, it would they needed it. have meant a minimum of 4,800 hours of training—all before the The iCafé Web page and Studio also allow for fewer support personfirst day of school. nel because staff can be trained to support themselves with online The iCafé Web page and Studio allowed Lamar CISD to roll out resources whenever they need it. Jones estimates Lamar CISD’s supthe new system with a minimal amount of required training for port staff for systems such as Eduphoria and Skyward is a quarter to staff—eight minutes before the first day of school.That equates to less half the size of similar school districts.“I would say we provide more than 214 hours of training for the district—a savings of 4,586 hours. quality support than they do,” Jones added.

Within that first week of school, teachers were required to watch an Shooting Day additional 23 minutes of online training on the new system. Even if The iCafé Studio is a converted office with barely enough room those 23 minutes were included in the “before school” category, it was for both Jones and Mandy Bryan, who runs the “board.” Several

SPRING 2015

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professional quality lights are set up in strategic locations.The studio system,” she said. “So every day we get emails asking for advice on camera is bolted to the wall. A microphone, pointing at Jones, hangs working the system.When one issue pops up several times, we figure from the ceiling.Acoustic tiles are attached on three of the walls.The this a problem across the district and we shoot a new video.” entire studio cost roughly $20,000.

Lamar CISD Payroll Compliance Clerk Eva Zamora was one of the Jones’ “set” is an ordinary desk, covered with a black cloth. A laptop first “non-techies” to shoot a video. Her series was produced when computer rests on the desk in front of him. He has no formal training the district updated its timekeeping system. Rather than punching a in video production. “Nope,” he said. “I just watched a lot of videos clock or writing down hours on a card, hourly employees now must and knew what I liked and didn’t like.” swipe their ID badges upon arriving at their work stations.

There is a plain blue wall behind Jones, but when you look at Bryan’s monitor, it appears as if Jones is sitting in front of a map of North America. Also hovering over his right shoulder is a computer “desktop,” which features the district’s student records management system.

As the camera rolls, Jones explains how to run a report on discipline referrals.

Bryan hits a button and now her monitor shows only the desktop. Jones moves his mouse and the on-screen “arrow” cursor moves through the steps of generating the requested report.

After about a minute of explanation, Jones wraps up with,“In part two, I’ll show you how to make an Excel spreadsheet with this information. I’m Chad Jones.

Thanks for watching.”

Before filming part two, Jones explains that these two videos came out of a meeting of the district’s secondary assistant principals. “They were wanting to run a specific report, “If we hadn’t shot those videos, it would have meant much more training time,” she said.“Either I would have had to go to every work but just didn’t know how to do it,” he said. site, or we would have had to arrange a time for every employee to Jones is already the “go-to guy” for questions about the district’s stu- come to Central Office. It would have taken forever.” dent information system, whether it is teacher grade books or sending out reminders about cafeteria fees. If someone needs to know, they Zamora said Jones helped her write the first script, but that she was know to “ask Chad.“ So rather than visiting every secondary campus able to do her own afterward.The entire shoot took about one and a (Lamar CISD has 12 secondary campuses, with four middle schools, half days. Overall, the entire process has been positive, she said. four junior highs and four high schools) spread across the 385 square miles that make up the district, Jones sits in his studio and explains the “We still got a few calls,” Zamora said, “but because they could process. Now, administrators can learn how to better do their jobs, re-watch the information whenever they needed, there were much fewer calls than if we had rolled it out the old way.” without taking time out of their day to attend more meetings.

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While videos can’t answer every question and can’t provide every So far, more than 500 videos have been produced. Bryan explains that training—at least not yet—Lamar CISD will keep the cameras “rolln not all the ideas for them came out of meetings.“We have a call ticket ing,” teaching teachers and others.

Phillip Sulak is Communications Coordinator for Lamar Consolidated ISD.

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