Technology And Student Achievement

Schools Struggle to Balance Digital Innovation, Academic Accountability

When North Carolina's Mooresville Graded School District launched a 1-to-1 laptop initiative three years ago, Superintendent Mark Edwards prepared himself for an"innovation dip," a small drop in student performance as educators and students adjusted to the new approach.

He says he anticipated it would take time for students and teachers to master the use of laptop computers, digital curricula, and more personalized ways of teaching and learning. Though he believed that in the long run the approach would benefit students and be borne out in test scores, Edwards says he and the school board were mentally and philosophically prepared for a drop in scores over the first couple of years as the 5,600-student district worked out the kinks.

But just the opposite happened.

In three years, the district went from ranking 30th in the state in school performance measurements to fourth, and Edwards says he is gunning for first place this year. District officials saw boosts in other areas, too. Suspensions dropped at the high school level by 65 percent and districtwide by 50 percent, Edwards says.

"Students like using relevant tools and materials," he says. "The kids are more engaged and excited about school. They're doing things in class and saying, 'I will do this in my future.' "

Balancing digital innovation and academic accountability is a tricky task for schools—one that is fraught with worries about what will work and what won't. Schools want to utilize new tools and embrace different ways of teaching, but not at the expense of their performance on state achievement tests. Experts say finding that balance through trial and error is one of the keys to improving schools.

"The ways you measure quality and hold folks accountable are going to limit your ability to solve new problems," says Frederick M. Hess, the director of education policy studies for the American Enterprise Institute, in Washington, and the author of the book Customized Schooling: Beyond Whole-School Reform . If K-12 policymakers insist on holding fast to grade-level assessments in reading and math currently used to determine whether a school or district is succeeding, Hess says, "what we're going to do is limit the kinds of solutions that are going to emerge."

Christopher Dede, a professor of educational technology at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, likes to use the analogy of a hospital when he talks about balancing innovation and accountability in education. If a hospital with a high death rate refused to try new, modern practices because they'd be unsure of the outcome or there might be a learning curve, "people would be upset because they're maintaining a bad situation under the guise of being accountable," he says.

Area school districts consolidate technology - TheAlpenaNews.com ...

Three area school districts are joining forces to utilize the same technology in their efforts to improve student achievement, parental involvement and teacher support.

Alcona Community Schools, Alpena Public Schools and Hillman Community Schools are collaborating to use the same Pinnacle gradebook and student information system. According to Shawn Thornton, superintendent of Alcona schools, Alcona first approached Hillman and Alpena regarding the collaboration about a year ago.

"Our student information system needed to be upgraded, so we asked Hillman and Alpena if they would be interested in collaborating on a shared system," she said.

Hans Stevens, director of elementary instruction and technology for Alpena schools, said Alpena has utilized Pinnacle's gradebook for about three and a half years and the student information system for a little more than a year. A student information system is how a district accounts for pupils, keeps electronic records, produces reports and includes scheduling software. Within the last few years Pinnacle began offering student information systems as part of its product choices.

"The student information system in this day in age is the back bone of what the school does," he said.

Pinnacle's gradebook allows access not only by teachers, but also students and parents. The parental involvement was one of the strong components that made Pinnacle the first choice for Alpena when it first sought such a system. Prior to that, Alpena had no universal system. The elementary schools used a spreadsheet that was created in house and the secondary levels had a stand-alone grade book. None of the systems talked to each other, Stevens said.

Stevens said Pinnacle's gradebook also supports standard based grading, something Alpena wants to transition into in the next few years.

Alcona has been working on implementation of standard based grading over the past year.

"I in particular was interested in a gradebook that supports our transition to standard based grading in 2011-2012," Thornton said.

The Pinnacle student information system and gradebook is a single vendor and integrated solution that allows information to be entered in one place, which provides more efficiency. Both systems are web accessible, Stevens said.

The collaboration will provide savings to the districts for training, the ability to share resources, and allow cost sharing between them to maintain the system. Hillman, Alcona and Alpena will each have their own database.

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