Assessing Technology for School Improvement

Chicago Public Schools District #299

Chicago, IL
 

Introduction/Overview
Organizational Change
Budget & Finance
Professional Development
Technology Infrastructure
Outcomes
Evaluation
Contact Information
 

Introduction/Overview

The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is collaborating with national experts in technology integration to develop and administer large-scale cognitive assessments of student technology literacy and teacher technology integration based on the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS). CPS is currently piloting the first 8 of 12 professional development courses designed to cover the NETS for Teachers (NETS*T). In Spring 2005, CPS will pilot curriculum for 7th and 8th grades aligned to the NETS for Students. The scope covers more than 600 schools, 25,000 teachers, and 430,000 students.

The project has two goals: (1) Improve student academic achievements in reading and mathematics by increasing student technological literacy and (2) Improve the technology integration and leadership capacity of teachers and administrators districtwide. CPS will improve student academic achievements in reading and mathematics by ensuring that every student is technologically literate by the end of 8th grade.

Strategies include:

1. Conducting an assessment of technology literacy based on state technology standards for students in 7th and 8th grades, including a quantitative analysis of the reliability and validity of the assessment.

2. Providing technology literacy curriculum and instructional materials for students in 7th and 8th grades.

3. Providing technology literacy curriculum and instructional materials for teachers of students in 7th and 8th grades.

4. Providing professional development for school-based technology coordinators, who in turn provide assistance to classroom teachers. CPS will improve the technology integration capacity of teachers and administrators district-wide by conducting an assessment of teacher technology literacy based on state and NETS*T technology standards for all teachers.

5. Providing professional development for school-based technology coordinators, who in turn provide assistance to classroom teachers.

Project Timeline: The project began January 2004 and will conclude August 2005. Deliverables were developed, piloted, and released in phases. Assessments will be available districtwide in the spring of 2005. Four of the eight professional development courses have been field tested, and a final version will be released in spring 2005. The remaining four courses will be released in fall 2005.

Organizational Change

The entire Chicago Public Schools community will use technology to improve teaching, learning, leadership, and communication and to support CPS' core strategies of literacy, human capital, and creating more learning opportunities. Equitable access to 21st-century technological tools will provide opportunities for students, teachers, parents, administrators, and community members to participate in a learning community that values high student achievement.

Budget & Finance

The state of Illinois No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Title IID Technology Competitive Grant funded 3 years of development and implementation for the technology literacy program.

Professional Development

Please see “Introduction/Overview” above.

Technology Infrastructure

The Chicago Public Schools is modifying its technology basic skills assessment tool and training to include the online delivery of the NETS assessments. The existing COSA (Chicago Online Skills Assessment) tool is a Web-based interface utilizing a SQL database. Please see http://cosa.cps.k12.il.us for more information on COSA.

Outcomes

The district is in the process of implementing a comprehensive student information and curriculum and instruction management system to:

• Manage student information and facilitate teachers making data-driven decisions to individualize student instruction.
• Provide a districtwide student information management system that improves the functionality of registration, enrollment, attendance, and school scheduling.
• Offer online lesson plans, resource sharing, assessment data, and curriculum and instructional management tools.

Evaluation

One key success factor was the Office of Technology Services' (OTS') eLearning vision for technology use. The vision is based on supporting standards, assessments, curriculum and instruction needs, and districtwide priorities. The eBrigade (http://ebrigade.cps.k12.il.us) project helped shape the initial vision, which has been—and continues to be—further refined by OTS' eLearning to meet the current educational needs of the district (http://elearning.cps.k12.il.us). State departments of education, regional laboratories, foundations, corporate partnerships, and school consortia could combine resources to develop a similar tool with technology literacy assessments and curriculum instruction resources for an entire state.

Contact Information

Sharnell Jackson
sjackson@cps.k12.il.us
773-553-1308