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

The project is addressing its goal by--

• increasing community involvement in public education;
  
• increasing teacher professionalism and productivity through professional development activities;
  
• developing new learning environments;
  
• strengthening the connections between home, school, and community to foster family skills and involvement in education; and
  
• providing opportunities for teachers and students to become self-directed and collaborative learners.

As part of previous school and systemic restructuring efforts, Anderson has undertaken several activities which will be used in this project. One such activity is the School on Wheels, a specially trained cadre of teachers and principals who can temporarily assume the roles of entire school faculties to enable educators to participate in staff development. Another activity is the 1995 Community Forum for Education, supported by local employers, community organizations, and civic groups. This organization studies, plans and helps implement new educational applications of technology.

The Anderson Community Technology Project has several major components:

1) The Buddy System Project at the Corporation for Educational Technology (CET) promotes the extension of the learning day beyond the classroom and into the homes of 4th-8th grade students.

2) The Vision Athena Project, sponsored by the Corporation for Educational Communications (CEC) and the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, is making available two-way video for distance learning and electronic field trips, e.g. to the Indianapolis Zoo. Butler and Indiana Universities, the school system, and the Anderson Federation of Teachers are providing instructional courses and staff development in the use of educational technology.

3) A community technology center with Internet connections and regularly held training sessions is being dedicated at the Anderson Public Library to benefit all community members.

4) Professional development services are being provided by the Indiana University School of Education and the Butler University College of Education. The focus is on integrating technology into the history, language arts, mathematics, and science curricula.

5) On-line and in-person tutoring in literacy, mathematics, and technology is being provided by Anderson University students (60 in the first year) to elementary and middle school students.

6) Educational videotapes developed by Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations in collaboration with Anderson teachers are supplementing 4th grade Indiana history materials.

7) Special educational programming and teacher training are being broadcast through the local TCI cable operator to students and their families. Programs include "Ingenious" (news, weather, etc.) and "What on Earth" (6 news stories per day). This is one of the first multimedia databases for homes delivered by cable.

8) Family mathematics and science training is delivered via two-way video by the Children's Museum of Indianapolis to school and community facilities to strengthen family learning in mathematics and science.

About 240 fourth grade students are the focus of first-year activities, and the project will expand to all upper elementary and middle school students and their teachers by the end of the five-year project. First-year activities include computer instruction in word processing and productivity software, and integration of technology applications into 4th grade language arts and social studies classes. Emphasis is on changing teaching styles, using the home computer for collaborative writing and reading projects, and using telecommunications projects to teach Indiana history. Each school has a fund to allow teachers to purchase professional development services from the three participating universities. Other professional development activities include the School on Wheels and the Principals Technology Leadership Training Program sponsored by the Indiana Department of Education. Rockman et al, a research and evaluation group in San Francisco, is conducting an evaluation of the entire program. The evaluation will determine changes in: academic achievement of disadvantaged students, family involvement in the education process, computer-based instructional time, and changes in teacher attitudes and instructional approach.

Consortium Partners

PROJECT DIRECTOR:

Ms. Terri Austin
Anderson Community School Corp.
30 West 11th Street
Anderson, IN 46016

Telephone:

317-641-2151

Fax:

317-641-2081

E-mail:

taustin@acsc.net

[Waukegan Community Unit School District 60]

[Indianapolis Public Schools]