A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

Challenge Grants for Techonology In Education - FY95

Baltimore City Public Schools

Baltimore, Maryland

Baltimore Learning Communities

The Baltimore Learning Communities project is a multi-faceted education program that utilizes distance learning, interactive cable TV and the Internet to connect schools to homes, places of work, and the community at large. The program provides extensive professional development training for teachers, directly involves parents in the education process, and extends a wide range of new educational opportunities to over 38,000 students at the middle and high school levels. This is a replicable program that addresses recommendations of the Goals 2000 Act, promotes life-long learning, and has strong school-work, school-home, and school-community components. The program has four main elements:

1) School

School-based activities focus on mathematics, social studies, science, communication, and the arts. They complement findings of the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS), and emphasize competencies required by the job market. Students learn to plan schedules and budgets, improve interpersonal skills, conduct research, communicate information, locate career data, and use technology to facilitate learning. The Johns Hopkins University Center for Technology in Education and the Institute for Policy Studies, and the University of Maryland at College Park coordinate training in which teachers use new technologies to create customized curriculum products.

2) Work

The Baltimore Learning Communities project connects schools to the workplace through two-way interactive video connections and digital networks. Through this system, work supervisors at retail stores, supermarkets, restaurants, and other places of business interact with school professional staff to learn how to transform work experiences into learning experiences. Participating businesses develop learning-rich tasks that lead to "Service Certificates" for student employees. Supervisors receive guidance from Bell Atlantic instructors adept at the change process, and are supported by Johns Hopkins University staff knowledgeable about adolescents and the transition from school to work. In addition, "Magic Me," an AmeriCorp national service and learning organization, is recruiting and training parents to participate in this element of the program.

3) Connections

The Baltimore Learning Communities project utilizes Internet connections to provide school and career information. Students query existing labor market databases to explore opportunities and salary structures in a wide range of occupations; teachers use electronic resources in planning and building curriculum products; and parents provide assistance at schools and community centers where interactive video and computers are available. This element of the Baltimore Learning Communities project contains job opportunity benefits for both students and their parents.

4) Digital Video on Demand

Discovery Communications, Inc. (The Discovery Channel and The Learning Channel) is providing about 100 hours of educational video material for use in the project. This information, which is specially selected and indexed, includes professionally produced documentaries and other programming with valuable instructional content. It also contains professional development material created for programs such as "Teacher TV," which has aired on the Learning Channel. DCI is digitizing this programming to permit on-demand retrieval and high quality display via the Internet. All content is indexed to state and local learning goals, and can be located by keywords and phrases. Teachers may select segments of video material to meet specific instructional needs. Materials from other sources, such as the National Archives, are also available.

Partners in the Baltimore Learning Communities project contribute to the program's success in a variety of ways: Apple Computers and Bell Labs are providing significant contributions in hardware and resources. Learning Matters, Inc. is producing CD-ROM's in support of the SCANS element. The Maryland Business Roundtable is facilitating the use of two-way video to allow students to "shadow" workers in a variety of occupations. The Maryland Institute, College of Art is helping middle school students produce TV programming through Baltimore Youth Television. The American Training Standards Institute, a non-profit organization, is linking school local area networks with a wide area network. The Educational Film Center is providing interactive multimedia, software, videodisks and video/print curriculum series. The Pelavin Division of the American Institutes for Research will perform ongoing evaluations, covering all four major elements of the project. Results of the evaluations and educational materials developed for the project will be disseminated through the Internet , professional publications, and documentary television.

PROJECT DIRECTOR:: Michael Pitroff, Coordinator
Office of Technology & Media
Baltimore City Public Schools
2500 E. Northern Parkway
Baltimore, MD 21214
Telephone:: (410) 396-7607
Fax:: (410) 426-6750

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[Natchitoches Parish School Board]

[Newaygo County Intermediate School District]