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

School District of Philadelphia

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia's Technology Challenge Consortium

Philadelphia's Technology Challenge Grant Consortium has developed a comprehensive program to invigorate K-12 and adult education programs through the imaginative use of educational technologies. Incorporated within the Philadelphia School District's systemic reform effort, "Children Achieving," the program utilizes many of the latest developments in telecommunication, multimedia, and computer instruction to build new teaching and learning processes within small learning communities. The resulting "Virtual Schools" represent a fundamental and radical transformation of teaching to emphasize interaction and inquiry in the learning process. Over 55,000 students will benefit from the program in the first two years, and in the following three years the program will be expanded to include more than 210,000. The program encourages the development of infrastructure and partnership among the municipal government, the local school district, community service providers, and educational institutions at all levels. This is a replicable program with strong school-home, school-community, and school-work components. It provides effective support for professional development activities, addresses targets of the Goals 2000 Act, and offers unique opportunities for extended learning. There are four primary goals:

1) Infrastructure/Networking (Universal Access)

This initiative builds an electronic communications system to connect students, parents, teachers and community members. The system enables citizens to enjoy easy access to the administrative and instructional staff of the School District of Philadelphia, and other local, national and global on-line information resources. The system may be accessed at three key school locations: library areas for parent and student access; teacher areas for faculty and support staff access; and office areas for administrative access.

2) Access to Information

There are two major components of the program's on-line resources: The Teaching and Learning Network (TLN) and the Family Resource Network (FRN). The TLN is a key link to an "effective practices" database which includes information on local and national curriculum resources, sample lesson plans, information on standards and assessment, discussion group opportunities related to teaching and learning issues, cross-referenced lists of all teaching and learning resources on the Internet, and on-line homework assistance. The FRN assists schools in identifying and providing health, mental health and social services to students and families.

3) Professional Development

Each school in Philadelphia employs a Subject Area Specialist in technology (SAS) who is responsible for organizing and supporting education technology efforts in schools, leading the effort to integrate educational technologies throughout the curriculum, and training other teachers at each school in how to use educational technologies effectively. A portion of the funding from this grant will be used to purchase additional professional development services, and to provide professional leave days for teachers to receive training from their school's technology SAS.

4) Virtual Schools

Using the new communications system implemented through this grant, the program distributes curriculum, instruction, and assessment information electronically through on-line centers of instruction called "Virtual Schools." These electronic classrooms offer services to adults seeking diplomas, homebound students, prison inmates, and other hard- to-reach populations. With the cooperation of Consortium partners such as Public Television Station WHYY, the Private Industry Council of Philadelphia, the Community College of Philadelphia, and others, Virtual Schools offer General Education Degree (GED) coursework, English as a Second Language (ESL) coursework, and other curricula.

The other Consortium partners support "Effective Practice Sites" established within six clusters of high schools and their feeder schools. These sites are demonstration and evaluation laboratories for technology systems and educational strategies developed as part of the project. At one high school, the University of Pennsylvania and Bell Atlantic are developing an Internet communications system to support voice mail, E-mail, professional development, and curriculum development. Temple University is helping students at another school learn how to use the Internet as a resource for English, social studies, and other subjects. IBM is working with three schools to utilize new technologies to assist special education students and students for whom English is a second language. Public Television Station WHYY is lending another school its expertise in production, communication and technology to create a "virtual school." Drexel University students are assisting schools in the integration of new technologies across the curriculum, and emphasizing improvements in math education through the use of computer labs. Moore College of Art is enabling students to develop a wide variety of curricula on CD-ROM, utilizing student-edited video, still images, recorded sound and text. Materials can be distributed via a city-wide network that can support small electronic learning communities.

This project brings together a powerful consortium of public, private and nonprofit institutions to implement a comprehensive plan to improve the education process in an urban school district.

PROJECT DIRECTOR:: Steven Guttentag
Administrative Assistant to Chief Information Officer
School District of Philadelphia
Office of Categorical Support
21st St. S. of the Parkway, Rm. 230
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Telephone:: 215-299-4670
Fax:: 215-299-7417
E-mail:: utten@sdp2.philsch.k12.pa.us

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