Jun
11
Written by:
Dan Maas
6/11/2009
Sometimes, we move so quickly that we fail to take time to take stock of our progress. Here are some facts about technology progress at Littleton Public Schools:
All schools are connected via a Fiber-Optic network operating at 2 Gigabit speeds thanks to good partnership with the cities of Littleton and Centennial and the Comcast corporation.
Internet access for the district is at 100 Megabits per second and will go to 200 Megabits in July with the addition of a second link leveraging Erate discounts.
All LPS schools are covered end to end and top to bottom with wifi service funded by support from the Board of Education and the LPS Foundation.
The wifi services include a network we call PODNet which allows any IP device to connect to the Internet through our Internet Filter... indeed all of our high schools encourage kids to bring their own devices like iPods and laptops to come to school without powering down.
Our Internet Content filter system is synchronized with our Active Directory server which is a techie way of saying that all teachers use the same login and password to override the Filter that they use to login to their computers every day. This has allowed great flexibility while maintaining quality filtering services and personal accountability for both students and staff.
The web site services we run for every school are powered by a DotNetNuke implementation that puts the power of managing the content of the web sites in the hands of the staff. As a result, our web sites are more accurate, more interesting and considerably larger than ever before.
Our student information system staff implemented a new standards-based elementary report card in a matter of five weeks from design to training to go-live last year.
We are rolling out a data reporting system which distributes all the assessment data we maintain to inform the Board on our achievement which includes CSAP, MAP, DRA2 and teacher grades forming a "performance index." This AssessTrack system will give our teachers their rosters of students and a complete set of drillable data for use in their Professional Learning Community activities.
This time last year, we had 35 ASUS EeePC netbook laptops in the district. Today, the number has risen to over 900. We only supplied 250 at the district level through grants, support from the LPS Foundation and some ITS supplemental funds. The rest, some 650+, were acquired by the schools through their own budgets, PTOs and other sources. This change has meant a 32% increase in student access to technology and the Internet. The netbook tidal wave would not have happened without the open wifi services of PODNet.
We have been part of two successful grants in partnership with Englewood Schools in which we have piloted the use of the EeePCs in support of writing efforts.
Through repurposing desktop computer refresh funding, we are now in the process of implementing over 1,680 ASUS EeePC netbook computers for Inspired Writing sending them into every school in the district in support of the literacy intiatives from the Learning Services Department. We are enjoying unprecedented support and collaboration with the curriculum leadership of the district and are finding our niche like never before.
Our publications related to technology have become far more accessible including our annual guidelines publication, YourIT and our new ETIL plan.
In my next blog post, I'll celebrate our people who have won awards, pioneered new ways to learn in the classroom and have inspired us to leap forward. Suffice to say, I am proud of the ITS team, the computer coaches in the buildings, the Board, the LPS Foundation and the entire LPS district for the way we have made real progress in the realm of technology. And what has been most exciting is while I've just cataloged "stuff," the dialog that we have been having around the district has been about learning...
1 comment(s) so far...
Re: Post full of facts
Great post, I look forward in implementing the Eee PC here at Sheridan schools
By Paul Martinez on
6/23/2009
|