Carol+Dueling-Ravell

I added the Intervention Justification and Project Manager role at the end.
=Performance Improvement Intervention= = =

The Organization's History and Background, Part 1

 * Organization Name:** Sparta Area Schools


 * Problem Summary:** Sparta Area Schools’s special education staff is very good at using traditional interventions in the classroom. However, there are more students who could benefit from intervention using Assistive Technology (AT). A majority of the Special Education Staff does not feel comfortable using AT intervention. Some of the discomfort is from lack of knowledge how to use AT and some may be philosophical.


 * Background of Organization:** Sparta Area Schools is located in Sparta, MI. It is a rural community on the outskirts of Grand Rapids. The Village of Sparta has about 4,000 residents, about half of the township residency. Many major Grand Rapids employers are within 30 miles of Sparta. There are local employers, mainly in agriculture and some industry. Sparta is known as the 2nd largest apple ridge in the US. The district built a new high school five years ago integrating technology and the pod concept in the physical environment. Households in the district are mixed between “blue collar” and professional households. Most parents want their children to attend some post secondary education and receive a degree or certification.

The School Improvement Plan, MEAP, and ACT/MME results will be helpful in identifying more closely where the special education students can benefit from AT interventions. The URL for the organization is [|www.spartaschools.org]. Most of the information needed is posted on the district’s website. Some information such as test scores may be located at the State of Michigan website.


 * Stakeholders and Decision Makers:** There are three groups of people who will be affected by the implementation of this plan; they are the special education students, special education teachers and regular education teachers. The decision makers for this plan will be the Director of Special Education and the District Superintendent. There are several people who could provide information about the current state of technology in their building. I would like to interview at least one teacher at each building (Ridgeview, Appleview, Middle School and High School). I will also need to interview the Director of Special Education and would like to interview the School Psychologist.

Module 2 What is the gap between where the organization currently is and where they want to be regarding the problem stated? States as the following: There is a staff person assigned to help special education teachers with assistive technology, however, she is also the district Occupational Therapist and many of the special education teachers do not know she is available as that type of resource.
 * Performance Gap: Cause Analysis **
 * Actual Current Performance. **Special education teachers work individually and in group situations with special education students. Most of their interaction occurs in a regular education classroom with extraction to a resource room at minimal levels. Each grade level uses resource room a different levels. At the lower elementary level special education students receive resource room assistance in their identified support areas and are assigned a regular education classroom for other subjects. At the upper elementary and middle school levels special education students are assigned to a regular education teacher and classroom and the special education teacher pushes in. At the high school level if students are academically able they are assigned to a team taught section otherwise they are assigned to a resource room section of a course. The special education teacher provides support to the special education student in the form of extra time on assignments, reading tests, etc. all traditional support measures.


 * Desired Performance. **Special education teachers at all levels would use Assistive Technology to help support students. Special education students could use AT in a variety of situations to work independently and with teacher support. As students reach higher grade levels they would become more independent in their technology use. For example, special education teachers would not need to spend time reading tests to students, rather the student would use a text-to-speech reader to “read” the test and complete it independently. This would allow the special education teacher more time to work individually with students on specific issues, for example, helping a student organize thoughts for a paper before the student begins the writing process. Special education teachers would have more time to work on specific issues with students and special education students would be better equipped to perform closer to or at grade level in all subjects.

Second, the emphasis of administration has changed. Innovation is less prized in the district than it was previously. The current administration is unwilling to “go out on a limb” with respect to new methods. That attitude then blankets the entire staff. The district is currently a follower district rather than an innovator district. Third, the district has been experiencing difficulty maintaining technology. When the new high school was built some technology decisions made were not the best decisions. The last few years have been spent purchasing new technology to replace that which did not work. As a result, any new expenditure on technology has not occurred and the special education department is unable to find the funds necessary to provide technology to special education students.
 * Performance Gap. **Currently special education teachers express dismay about the number of students on their caseload and the amount of time they have to work with each one. They spend significant time reading assignments/tests to students rather than working on higher level thinking skills. If special education teachers were to use AT interventions with students the teachers would have more time to work with students on complex tasks. With AT, special education students would be able to feel a higher level of independence in performing their school tasks.
 * Cause Analysis. ** This gap has developed for a few reasons. First, the financial condition of the district in the last several years has been tenuous. Decreasing support from the state combined with increase in costs has required the district to be frugal in spending. As with many districts one of the first budget line items to be eliminated is professional development. Teachers have not been able to attend professional development and receive training in new methods.
 * Organizational History and Background **
 * Goals. **The Board of Education identifies two to three goals each year to focus attention. These goals are presented to faculty and staff each fall at the beginning of the school year.

<span style="font-family: 'times new roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">**History.** Sparta Area Schools is a rural school that is half an hour from the downtown metro area of Grand Rapids. The high school has approximately 900 students. The high school operates on a 4x4 block schedule, students complete a traditional year long course in one semester, they meet with their teachers for approximately 90 minutes five days per week. In the fall of 2006 the district opened a new high school. The new high school was equipped with two mobile laptop labs, an applied technology lab, a media productions lab, and a lab in the media center. The use of the two mobile labs has since been discontinued and another stationary lab has been installed. Each classroom is equipped with a teacher station, which includes a projection/sound system. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The rest of the district buildings were renovated and restructured for new grade configurations. One elementary building was closed and the remaining buildings were configured into an early elementary (grades PK-2), an upper elementary (3-5), and middle school (6-8). There is also an early childhood center which houses a preschool/daycare program. The district currently is meeting AYP. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Sparta Area Schools Mission Statement: “The Sparta Area School District is committed to work in partnership with students, families, and the community. Our goal is to ensure that all students master the essential skills and develop the attitudes and behaviors necessary to function successfully in a changing world. This partnership is committed to guarantee an educational environment designed to challenge all students to achieve their highest potentials.” (Sparta Area Schools, n.d.). <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Sparta Area Schools has not officially adopted a vision statement. The Board of Education uses the mission statement as its guide when making district decisions.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Mission and Vision **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">.

Three Intervention Strategies

All three strategies will involve a number of teachers attending the MACUL (Michigan Association of Computer Users in Learning) conference. This will provide the basis for further training, if in the plan, and help those teachers to see what is happening in other districts and to network with teachers from other districts.

Approximate budget $5,000.
 * Strategy 1:**

Send one teacher per building (4 buildings) and the district Occupational Therapist (OT) to the MACUL conference. Develop one special education technology tool box that will be shared throughout the district. That tool box will reside with the district OT, who is the district UDL (Universal Design for Learning) liaison with the Intermediate School District (ISD). Pieces from the tool box can be checked out from the OT for use each building.

Approximate budget $25,000.
 * Strategy 2:**

Send all district special education teachers (20), the Special Education Director and the district Occupational Therapist to the MACUL conference. From attendance at MACUL conference identify areas of interest that should be developed further in the district. Arrange next level of training within those areas of interest to create the “expert” for that technology intervention in the district. That teacher will present to the rest of the district special education teachers about that intervention. The expert teacher will then work with other teachers in the district to help them implement that technology as the need arises.

A special education technology toolbox will also be created for each building in the district. That tool box will reside with one teacher in the building and be available for all teachers in that building.

Approximate budget $50,000.
 * Strategy 3:**

All teachers will receive the same training as Strategy 2 plus an ISD UDL consultant will be brought into the district to work specifically with individual teachers in their classroom. That consultant will work with the teacher on identifying students who would benefit from technology interventions and the actual implementation of that intervention with students.

Each special education teacher in the district would receive a technology toolbox for use in the classroom. Each teacher would also receive training specific to the tools in their toolbox.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Intervention #3 shows the best opportunity for introducing special education teachers to assistive technology for the classroom. This intervention provides all special education teachers an introduction to AT by attending a conference specific for teachers using technology in the classroom. MACUL also has a special interest group for special education teachers. That group provides training throughout the calendar year specifically for special education teachers using AT in the classroom. Connection with this group will provide teachers with a resource group outside the district. Intervention #3 provides funds for teachers to continue with professional development in a specific area and then bring that knowledge back to the district to share. Opportunities are provided for teachers to become “experts” in a technology. This intervention also provides for a technology toolbox for each building, this toolbox will be a combination of software and hardware.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Justification for Intervention Strategy **

<span style="font-family: 'times new roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Assistive technology is one tool special education students can use and progress with as they integrate into the general education curriculum (Puckett, 2004). Historically assistive technology is used with the most obviously disabled students and mildly disabled students have tried to be successful with minimal AT interventions. Too often teachers feel that professional development is in a hit and run format. This intervention provides teachers exposure to the success of teachers in other districts and then the opportunity to find a technology intervention would like to explore further. All during this process teachers are provided support from the district UDL Interventionist and the ISD UDL Interventionist.

<span style="font-family: 'times new roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Intervention #1 was not chosen because it provided AT exposure to only a small group of special education teachers. Those teachers would be responsible to return to the district and share what they learned. Beginning to learn about new technology can be overwhelming and should be taken in small steps with support. Puckett (2004) found when teachers were exposed to AT in reasonable increments over several weeks they were more likely to be positive about technology integration. This intervention is asking those teachers to take a big bite of technology, form opinions, make judgments about what would work in the district and then report back to their peers. Also, this intervention provides for only one technology toolbox for the district. Regardless of the ease of checkout procedure for hardware teachers will be reluctant to take the time to locate the equipment and get it from the gateway person.

<span style="font-family: 'times new roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Intervention #2 provides for all district special education teachers and the Director of Special Education and the district UDL Interventionist to attend the MACUL conference. The strength of this intervention is all special education teachers will receive initial exposure to AT, however they will not receive any follow up training. Since all teachers will have some AT exposure it could be possible to bring the ISD UDL Interventionist into the district to work with some teachers in the classroom. That training will be limited to the Interventionist’s area of expertise. In this intervention each building in the district would receive a technology toolbox. This will make it easier for teachers to check out and use hardware in the toolbox and to share within the building. The biggest weakness of this intervention is the inability to provide specific further training for teachers to develop their interest areas in AT.

<span style="font-family: 'times new roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The initial introduction of AT in the classroom can be time consuming and difficult, however, with support teachers are more likely to confront the obstacles. Puckett (2004) found that teachers introduced to AT over a reasonable time frame and with support were more likely to continue use in their classroom. After training the teachers were more aware of the types of AT available and willing and more likely to continue use in the classroom.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The Manager’s Many Roles **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Project Management Techniques **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">: As the project manager my role will be to decrease costs, increase productivity and increase the likelihood of project success (Donaldson, Smaldino & Pearson, 2008). Overall project management involves ensuring the project as a whole is progressing as anticipated and any issues or changes in the project be thought out and approved before implementation of that change. Since many of the teachers involved do not have a lot of technology experience, especially in the classroom, those teachers will need a coach and motivator as we move through the process. An outside consultant will be coming into the district to work with teachers so the project manager will need to coordinate that person’s time so it is effective and efficient.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Resource Management Techniques **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">: As a part of this project a technology toolbox will be created and made available for teachers to use with students. The toolbox will be divided between software and hardware solutions. The software solutions will need given to the computer technicians for implementation on the district network. The hardware solutions will need to be housed and a procedure for teachers to check them out will need to be established. Since each building will have a physical technology toolbox each one will be housed with a willing teacher in that building. The “checkout” procedure should be simple and easy to use. Since the district already uses an electronic lab checkout system it is possible these tools could be checked out using that system.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Delivery System Management Techniques **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">: Managing the process of delivering the product, in this case training and a technology toolbox, and how that content is used for learning (Donaldson, Smaldino, & Pearson, 2008) in the classroom will be an important aspect of this project. The project manager will need to be involved especially in the training requests for the continued training of teachers. Once teachers are implementing their technology knowledge in the classroom the delivery of instruction will need to be guided to be sure it is meeting the needs of both the students and the teachers.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Information Management Techniques **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">: To help the teachers begin to use technology and integrate it into their learning a wiki will be established for the collected information. This wiki will include information about the technology toolbox, topics from the conference, and topics teachers receive further. Teachers will be encouraged to access and contribute to the wiki. The goal is that this wiki would become a resource for district special education teachers on the topic of technology usage in their program.

References <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Donaldson, J.A., Smaldino, S., & Pearson, R. (2008). Managing. In Januszewski, A. & Molenda, M. (Eds.), //Educational technology: A definition with commentary// (175-193). New York, NY: Routledge.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Puckett, K.S. (2004). Project ACCESS: Field testing an assistive technology toolkit for students with mild disabilities. //Journal of Special Education Technology, 19//(2), 5-17.

Sparta Area Schools. (n.d.) Administration: Mission statement. Retrieved from []