Melissa+Kennedy

Skype Name: mel22tgrs = Module 1 Assignment 1 = ==Name of organization: Lindley 6th Grade Academy ==

Problem: There is a performance gap in mathematics with the subgroup students with disabilities (SWD). Under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) SWD have not met Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) criteria, in math, in the last few years. While Georgia received a waiver from AYP for one year and there is currently no state test for the new Common Core Standards, a solution still needs to be found on how to improve the progress in mathematics with SWD. ==Background: The 6th Grade Academy was established as "a school within a school" in 2007. With a student body of over 1400 students, this was to provide a more supportive instructional environment for both 6th grade and the 7th/8th grades. For the 2008-2009 school year, the 6th Grade Academy moved to a different location and officially became known as: Lindley 6th Grade Academy at the Barnes Center. It is a part of the Cobb County School District and is located in Mableton, GA (a suburb of Atlanta). The ability to have a separate building gives the academy an opportunity for a smaller learning community that benefits the students academically. This academy was created to help improve student achievement. The student body of the school is about 500. The demographics consists mostly of African Americans and Hispanics. This is a Title One school. By using the school's data on test scores and the state's data with the school "watch list" I can begin to create a solution to help the SWD subgroup show more improvement in mathematics. Public relation materials and annual reports can be located at the Georgia Department of Education's website (www.gadoe.org) and from the principal and special education lead teacher. ==

Stakeholders and Decision Makers:

 * ==The people that will be affected by this plan is the SWD subgroups, the Special Education teachers, the Special Education Lead teachers, Special Education Co-teachers, and the principal. Students and teachers will have to embrace a new way of learning and teaching. ==
 * ==The principal will have to approve the plan once it is developed and the Special Education teachers and their Co-teachers will implement the plan. ==

==Key Personnel: The Principal of the school: Landon Brown and the Special Education Lead Teacher: Soraya German. If possible, I will get with a math teacher that co-teaches with a special education teacher. ==

= = = Module 2 Assignment = =Cause Analysis: =

Why do you think this problem developed in your company?
==In schools, students with disabilities (SWD) are served through their Individualized Education Plans (IEP). These plans address the student’s specific needs and then focus instruction on meeting the goals and objectives created in these plans. In elementary school, the students from the 6th grade Academy were served in small group classes. With the mandate to move to a more fully inclusive setting, the school has not had any "small group math" classes for their 6th grade students. All students have been served in <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">inclusion math classes, which may have been a hindrance to kids needing to have small group. It was also discovered that all of the inclusion classes were low-level classes. All the advanced, gifted, and on-level kids were in a separate class leaving most of the inclusion math students with low-performing general education students creating a "low class" with a critical subgroup. Diagnoses in the math and/or problem-solving areas are fewer than disorders diagnosed in the language and processing areas. In the attempt to meet the student’s specific needs, a gap is created between students with disabilities and those without.==

<span style="color: #008080; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Why does this gap exist?
==<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Once a child enters middle school with the gap created from elementary school, it becomes even more difficult to assess and correct. Most special education teachers are not certified by subject and are expected to be master teachers in all subjects. In reality, they are comfortable with one or two specific subjects and there is a lack of confidence in teaching mathematics, especially the abstract skills and concepts in middle school math. Teachers at the 6th Grade Academy needed more professional development in the inclusion setting on differentiated instruction and meeting the needs of low-performing students. There is also the common response from parents stating, “I wasn’t good in math either” and while they have been assured that there is no math gene, they often can't help at home, so the school must do as much as possible during the school day to give SWD the help they need. ==

= Module 3 Assignment  =

<span style="color: #008080; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Three Intervention Strategies
==The intervention strategy I would like to implement is for students and teachers to use more technology to help improve math scores. Through the use of an iPad or an Apple MacBook students would have access to many educational apps that would help relate math to real-life experiences and keep them more engaged in learning. Each intervention below would include a two-day Apple Professional Development Program for up to 16 participants. The program is a workshop setting led by instructors.== ==<span style="color: #008080; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Low end intervention. The lowest cost intervention strategy to get an Apple Learning Lab would be an Apple iPad Learning Lab with 10 iPad 2, 16 GB Wi-Fi devices. The 10 iPads could be used by the Math Connections Teacher mostly to reach the low-performing students in mathematics.==

==<span style="color: #008080; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Middle end intervention. The medium-cost intervention strategy to get an Apple Learning Lab would be one Apple MacBook Learning Lab. This mobile lab would include 20 MacBook Air 13.3"/1.7GHz Intel Core i5/4GB memory/64GB flash storage/USB 3 computers.==

==<span style="color: #008080; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">High end intervention. The high-cost intervention strategy to get an Apple Learning Lab would be two Apple MacBook Learning Labs. These two mobile labs would include 40 MacBook Air 13.3"/1.7GHz Intel Core i5/4GB memory/64GB flash storage/USB 3 computers.==

= <span style="color: #3a00ff; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Module 4 Assignment = ==<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">After more research, I have decided to change my intervention plan. I am going to recommend that the school purchase 3 Apple iPad Learning Labs for a total of 30 iPads. This will take the place of the middle end intervention above. Waters (2010) quoted a director of technology praising the apps on the Apple iPad. "The apps that are coming out for the iPad are so innovative and different from what we've seen, ... "And they're so easily accessible once they're downloaded. They're just there for the students" (para. 9). This is the most beneficial intervention because this school is not running a Mac operating system and it would be very difficult to get MacBooks up and running on a Windows operating system without more cost to the school. That being said, the high end intervention should be changed to 5 Apple iPad Learning Labs for a total of 50 iPads. ==

<span style="color: #008080; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Justification for Intervention Strategy
==<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">I have selected to propose to the principal of the Lindley 6th Grade Academy the benefits of purchasing three Apple iPad mobile Learning Labs. The medium-cost of this intervention is within the budget that is available to his school. By having 30 iPads there is enough for each math teacher to get to house 15 in their classrooms. The advantage of having 30 iPads over 10 iPads is there are more devices and more opportunities for the students to use the educational apps. While the iPad does not have as many built-in capabilities for students with disabilities as the MacBook Pro, it is still a valuable tool for those students. The iPad can access many applications and a lot of them are geared toward specific disabilities. “In the few months since release of the iPad, school districts from California to Virginia have adopted it to meet various educational purposes, especially to provide enhanced, interactive textbook access” (McClanahan, Williams, Kennedy, & Tate, 2012, p. 20). The 2011 Horizon report stated that Mobile Learning was within the one year or less til adoption. Mobile Learning is going to a part of the 21st Century Classroom and teachers need to get ready for the shift. There are many examples given by Apple on how the iPad is beneficial to students with disabilities. The text-to-speech functionality helps students who have difficult reading and comprehending to understand the math word problems they are working on. The ability to hear the text as the student reads helps him/her stay focused. The battery life for an iPad, according to Apple, is 9-10 hours, which is much longer than the mobile laptop labs available at the school currently last. With the capability of going all day without having to recharge, the teachers can use them in all of the math classes. ==

==<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">“Students, teachers, and parents who are already familiar with iPod and iPhone devices … are actively exploring how these hardware and software options can help focus attention; make content accessible and more meaningful; and diminish difficulties in communication, classwork, and homework” (O'Connell, Freed, G., & Rothberg, M., 2010, p. 21). The App Store by Apple creates new educational applications weekly. There are even many apps that are focused on benefitting students with disabilities. “This explosion of innovative applications and practices provides teachers with new tools and techniques to meet the needs of their diverse students” (O'Connell, Freed, G., & Rothberg, M., 2010, p. 21). ==

==<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">While the MacBook Pro has many more features than the iPad, the iPad is still capable of helping students with ADHD and Autism to pay more attention. “The manipulative touch screen promotes the use of several modalities, … especially visual and tactile/kinesthetic” (McClanahan, Williams, Kennedy, & Tate, 2012, p. 26). The iPad can be used to record the teacher during whole class math instruction so that the student can refer to the information at home while completing homework. The iPads would be beneficial to help students practice using educational apps to improve their scores. “The optimal stimulation theory of ADHD suggests the possibility that the higher levels of sensory stimulation using the iPad may [allow students] to engage in the learning task in ways that typical classroom experiences do not” (McClanahan, Williams, Kennedy, & Tate, 2012, p. 26). Also, the touchscreen and stylus pen are beneficial to students with attention disorders, giving them something to focus on and keeping them engaged in learning. The size of the screen is beneficial for students with vision problems. The iPad has many modalities that make it a better tool than the bulky desk top and having to use a mouse. For some children, hand-eye coordination is a problem and the use of a touch screen would benefit them greatly. ==

==<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Since Mobile Learning is becoming a part of education, the benefits of outfitting Lindley with iPads are more than the cons. The budget allows for the purchase of 3 iPad Mobile Learning labs and 30 iPads are much better than 10, giving more students access to them. With the ease of use of the iPad, training will be easy and most students already know how to use touch screen technology. ==

==<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">"For a child who may be a little slower learner, struggling with reading, has an arm that doesn't work, the [tablet-style] computer has all these modalities, sound and touch. The technology can compensate for the special-needs kids in a way that traditional media cannot compensate" (Shah, 2011, para. 11). While MacBook Pro mobile learning labs would be very beneficial with even more features for students with disabilities, the cost at this time is too much. Plus, the school does use a Mac operating system (OS) and it would be an even larger cost to transfer the school from a Windows operating system over to a Mac OS. Without the Mac OS, the MacBook Pro learning labs will not work. Many argue that students do not need millions of applications in order to learn. == ==<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">But they do need an engaging computing environment, and if there's one distinguishing feature that could give schools a reason to choose iPads over netbooks, it's that the device, with its gleaming touchscreen, is a wonder to look at and use. That blessed wow factor, the thought goes, could turn students on to doing their schoolwork. (Waters, 2010, para. 34) ==

==<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">The ease of transition from laptops to iPads will be much better than transitioning to MacBook Pros. With the use of an iPad students with disabilities can begin to focus more and be more engaged in their learning in math class and in the process improve their math test scores. To benefit from a mobile MacBook Pro learning lab, the school really needs to purchase at least two labs and that cost is too much at this time for this school, but the possibility of adding MacBook Pro labs in the future is there. ==

References:
==<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">McClanahan, B., Williams, K., Kennedy, E., & Tate, S. (2012, May/Jun). A breakthrough for Josh: How use of an iPad facilitated reading improvement. //TechTrends, 56//(3), 20-28. ==

==<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">O'Connell, T., Freed, G., & Rothberg, M. (2010). //Using Apple technology to suppot learning for students with sensory and learning disabilities//. Retrieved from Apple: http://images.apple.com/education/docs/L419373A-US_L419373A_AppleTechDisabilities.pdf ==

==<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Shah, N. (2011, Mar). Special education pupils fine learning tool in iPad applications. //Education Week, 30//(22), 16-17. Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ew/toc/2011/03/02/index.html ==

==<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Waters, J. K. (2010). Enter the iPad or not? //T.H.E. Journal, 37//(6), 38-45. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/detail?sid=0e737bb6-1e77-4be9-98ad-71325de181e5%40sessionmgr114&vid=1&hid=127&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3 ==

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=eric&AN=EJ894833
= <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #3a00ff; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Module 5 Budget =

The following are links to the prices for the equipment being purchased for this intervention:

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Ethernet: []

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Plugs: []

Cable: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[]

Circuit Breaker: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[]

Apple Mobile Learning Lab Proposal Sheet: []

Apple Learning Solutions PDF: []