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The NEW3project addresses the needs of approximately 88,500 students in 18 school districts in and around Akron, Ohio. Six of the school districts have high percentages of economically and educationally disadvantaged students. The project centers on transforming the tasks used in learning and will include all grades, K through 12. NEW3 requires the collaborative efforts of the entire community, including educators, parents, and students.
A critical premise of the program is that school work needs to be redesigned so that it engages students in learning that they view as relevant to their world today and tomorrow. The Challenge Grant enables the Summit County Educational Services Center consortium to develop and implement a plan to design new work, to support a Technology Academy for teacher development, and to develop and implement a Technology Work Experience Program for high school and college students.
The first and primary goal of the program is to design new work for students -- work that engages, work with which children persist, and work that results in a sense of accomplishment. Learners develop competencies by engaging in authentic, meaningful and rewarding experiences that are valued by parents, community, and society at large. New student work is being designed and developed jointly with learners, communities, and the Center for Leadership in School Reform of Louisville, Kentucky.
The second goal is to expand teachers' understanding of how to create new work in partnership with students through coursework at the Summit County Office of Education's nationally acclaimed "Technology Academy." Here teachers learn about using technologies in the context of what children do, not what machines do. More than 2300 teachers will graduate from the Academy's intensive one year, 73 hour course of study in the five years of the NEW3 project.
The third goal is to design, develop, and operate a Technology Work Experience program through which high school and college students participate in educational and work experiences while maintaining and operating the classroom technologies supporting the NEW3 project. This program enhances school-to-work transitions by providing authentic technology-related experiences for participants. NEW3 has arranged for a major upgrading of school and classroom technology infrastructure. Improvements include computer network installation, electrical upgrades, new computer workstations, and acquisition of video equipment. The Work Experience Program is formed as a nonprofit company, operated by students, and dedicated to rapid response support for this classroom technology. Funding for the classroom hardware is provided largely by the Ohio SchoolNet program.
The fourth goal is to develop educational software to support new work. Partnership with LOGAL of Cambridge, Massachusetts on the development of simulation-based, new work software is an important component of the NEW3 project.
A final goal is to provide teachers the opportunity to acquire the skills and knowledge needed to instruct students. Professional development activities are supported by the University of Akron, Kent State University and Ashland University. This includes developing performance standards relating to new work and technology. These standards are to be used in considering the employment of new teachers.
In addition, national panels of experts in mathematics, technology, language arts, science and other content areas are involved in assessing curricula and effectiveness. Ameritech, a cellular telephone service provider, is funding and operating two community-based computer centers in the City of Akron in support of NEW3.
By the year 2000, students will use technology to complete substantive new work that meets high standards; resulting in transformed schools, and, ultimately, self-sustaining communities of life-long learning.
[School District of Philadelphia]