Year Four Evaluation 2007-2008

Year Five Evaluation 2008-2009

                 During program startup there were several hardware related issues that came up and needed to be addressed.  The first was to address the correct IP address for the laptops that are being added to the network.  The second was related to the time it took to bring students and staff up to speed with the use of the technology equipment. Third, locating and employing a qualified technology coach to work with the staff to instill necessary technology skills. An addition issue was connectivity between the laptops and with wireless routers.  Staffing posed additional complications.  One teacher in the Junior High Language Arts department took a leave of absence in the middle of the year, and a substitute was brought in mid year that had not been involved in the project.  The replacement teacher decided, after two weeks, that she did not want to continue in that position.  A third person was hired in March.  So the contribution to with LA portion of the project would be minimal.

                 Once the equipment was working the teachers began to integrate technology into their lessons.  Some of the teachers have expressed concerns that a computer project based lesson takes longer to complete than the pencil paper type.  This problem is partly due to the lack of keyboarding skills of the students.

                 In summary, EETT Grant successfully met the student learning goals of a two percent gain on the fall to spring NWEA scores in the areas of math computation and problem solving for the males and for computation for females.  In the area of problem solving, only the female participants in 7^th grade met the two percent gain.

                 Regarding the goal of a half-point gain on the in-house ISTEP writing rubric, overall the students’ average score from fall to spring rose 1.03 from a fall average of 2.77 to a spring average of 3.80.

                 The teaching goal of demonstrating best practice in the use of laptops is emerging.  The technology coach has been key to providing professional development and just in time training for individual teacher needs.  School leaders are committed to providing the best technical service to support the introduction and use of laptops in the schools.  Their commitment resulted in a more robust network allowing the needed access points.  While a baseline number of teacher-parent communications was not available for fall 2004, participants report an increased focus on and outcome in the number of e-mail contact between school and home.

                

Ed Tech Grant Evaluation

Year One Evaluation 2004-2005

Year Two Evaluation 2005-2006

Year Three Evaluation 2006-2007

          Hamilton Community Schools EETT Grant successfully met the student learning goals of two percent gain on the fall to spring NWEA scores in the areas of problem solving, only the female participants in 7th grade met the two percent gain.

          The superintendent has plans to hire a math consultant to work with the technology coach to address the project needs in the area of math in the project to develop strategies and methodologies using computers that enhances math performance. The outcome must be scalable, repeatable, sustainable, and provide a model for other schools to replicate to increase student academic achievement in math.  Since January 2006, efforts have been directed at the scope and sequence in the math curriculum and instructional methodologies in the corporation.  Data from the NWEA scores as well as ISTEP scores supports this decision.

          Regarding the goal of a half-point gain on the in-house ISTEP writing rubric, overall the student’s average score from fall to spring rose 1.03 from the fall average of 2.77 to spring average of 3.80.

                 Related to the technical infrastructure, teachers report a desire for additional laptops to alleviate the scheduling problem along with a better quality laptop.  As the project teachers become more adept at using technology, their desire and need for higher end equipment will increase.  We know from research that technical skills increase in relation to the ubiquity of computers.  In short, the more teachers and students have access and experiences with technology, their skill and frequency increases.  Specific to the human infrastructure, there a number of important issues emerging.  To begin, each time a new faculty person is hired into the project, there may be a lag time to provide professional development unless the new instructor is already skilled in the uses of technology with teaching and learning.  Year two introduced a significant number of new teachers into the grant activities. The importance of the role of the technology coach stands out in the teacher comments.  Colleen continues to play a central mission in the success of the EETT grant.  Teachers report how the coach supplies the support they need to advance their skills in both a technical and pedagogical sense. 

                 Project leaders report a significant reliance on grant funds for support of both the human infrastructure (e.g., technology coach) as well as the technical infrastructure (laptop replacement and upkeep).  Leaders report that if grant funds were not available, the school corporation would not be able to continue grant activities as currently structured.