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Performance Improvement Intervention (PII)
Norton Park Elementary is an elementary school in Smyrna, Georgia. It was founded in 1962 and serves students from kindergarten through eighth grade. It also contains a special needs pre-kindergarten class. It is located in the southern section of Cobb County School District. Norton Park is one of 68 elementary schools. There are 680 students enrolled, and there is a 13:1 student teacher ratio. The demographics consist mostly of Hispanic, African American, and Caucasian students. This is a Title One school. The School has made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for the past 5 years. However, this is only reflective of Reading, Language Arts, and Math scores. The scores for Social Studies and Science have been less than desired. The State of Georgia recently applied for and was granted a waiver to the No Child left Behind law. The implications for schools are now that each subject area will count towards making AYP. The web address for Norton Park is []. The School’s Adequate Yearly Progress Reports are located at the Georgia Department of Education website. Stakeholders and Decision Makers The people who will be most affected by this plan are the students and teachers. Students will have to become accustomed to learning in a alternative way, and teachers will have to learn to teach a different way. The principal will have to make the decision to implement the plan once it is in place. From previous meeting with him, he is aware of the problem and is looking for a solution to the problem.
 * Name of Organization: Norton Park Elementary School**
 * Problem Summary:** This school schools social studies and science scores on the state exams have been consistently low. This poses as a problem for the school because the every subject now counts towards the schools AYP progress.
 * Background of Organization:**

Module 2
 * Performance Gap**

A Performance gap occurs when then level of actual achievement is below the level of desired achievement.

Norton Park Elementary school has failed to meet academic goals in Science and Social Studies. Students in grades three, four, and five are given a state assessment each year in the following subject areas: reading, language arts, math, science, and social studies. While the scores in reading, language arts, and math have met the states standards for the past 5 years, science and social studies have not. The students have scored approximately 50 percent in these subjects where they have been scoring over 70 percent in the other subject areas. This past academic year 61.4 percent of the third grade students met or exceeded standards in science, 63.1 percent met or exceeded in social studies. Seventy-six percent of the fourth grade students met or exceeded in science while 56.3 percent met or exceeded in social studies. Fifty-seven point six percent of the fifth grade students met or exceeded in science while 42.9 percent met or exceeded in social studies.

The desired outcome would be for 80 percent of students to meet and exceed in all academic areas.


 * Cause Analysis**

No Child Left Behind is a federal law that required that schools would ensure all students were proficient in reading and math by 2014. Schools that did not make progress in these areas would be penalized.

Norton Park has met adequate yearly progress (AYP) for the past five years. The school adopted a reform model called America’s Choice which required a workshop model in Reading, Writing, and Math. During the five years in which AYP was met, Norton Park employed an academic coach, a literacy coach, and a math coach. This reform model also required biweekly literacy meetings with the academic coaches in which the focus was reading, writing, and math. In addition, teachers have been required to attend numerous trainings outside of school on best practices in math and language arts during this time.

With all of the focus on the above mentioned subjects, science and social studies were inconsequential. While some teachers attempted to integrate science and social studies with language arts, many teachers felt those subjects were inconsequential. With the push to raise scores in the crucial areas, science and social studies were superfluous.


 * Intervention Strategies**

The intervention strategies that I would like to implement is for students and teachers to use more technology more specifically web 2.0 tools to help improve science and social studies scores. Utilizing this technology is important especially for low socio-economic students who have limited experience in current events and using technology for creation and collaboration. Using web 2.0 tools can also assist in bridging their experiences on gaming and social networking to an academic format. Interventions: //**Medium cost**// – Each grade level will be provided tablet carts for student use. Students will be given more time to work independently and in groups using the tablets in collaborating and creating. //**High Cost**// – Each classroom will be given 5 tablets for student use. Students will have opportunities to work in small groups with tablets to help with their work.
 * //Low cost//**- Teachers will be given training on how to use web 2.0 tools on the internet in their classrooms. One tablet per classroom will be given. The initial training will be followed up by classroom observations by technology coaches to provide feedback on their progress so far.

Module 3 The implementation that I have decided to apply to this situation is giving each grade level a tablet cart. I chose this because the gives grade levels an opportunity to plan together and support each other as they begin this new endeavor. Use of the carts can be easily monitored by the schedule that would need to be in place in order to efficiently utilize the carts. Initial training could be delivered during a staff meeting with subsequent trainings and post observation conferences can be held during team meetings or a common planning time. This is also a way to ensure that students have adequate access to individual time with the tablets.
 * Decision**


 * Justification of Project **

Teachers at Norton Park were interviewed and answered a survey regarding their technology use in the classroom. Out of 65 classroom teachers, less than 10 felt very comfortable with the technology they have been offered. In contrast, more than two thirds of the teachers do not let their students operate their laptops. Many teachers also felt that there were more important things to teach our students than to use technology. In reflecting on the data available about Norton Park, it seemed best to implement the strategy that would include a tablet cart for the teachers to share amongst the grade level.

Cobb County teachers are no strangers to new technology. Technology has been infused in the classrooms before. In 2006, the county provided the classroom teachers with laptops for classroom use in and out of school. In 2010, the county provided Smartboards in each of the elementary school classrooms. At Norton Park, in both instances, teachers did not show school wide success in effectively utilizing these tools. In the case with the teacher laptops, Teachers were trained on the basics. Training included turning the laptop on and off and saving documents at home and at school. Smartboard training was similar. Teachers were told the basics of operation but not told how to effectively use it for classroom use.

In interviews with teachers, they stated that their knowledge of the products were limited and admitted that even with the basic operation training, they often forgot once they were by themselves in the classrooms. Many teachers did not use their teacher laptops or bring them home at all. Furthermore, teachers did not understand how the laptops could enhance classroom use. Few teachers were able to use the laptops to help plan lessons and were reluctant to let students use them. In the case of Smartboards, Half of the teachers were not using the Smartboards at all. Of the teachers that did use Smartboards, they were being used as whiteboard replacements and not taking advantage of the interactivity of this instrument. A few teachers found lessons on Smartboard Exchange or other internet resources and adapted those lessons for their classrooms.

During these interviews, teachers indicated that they would be more receptive to using technology if they had adequate training. They felt that a lot of technology is being given to them but there is no one to turn to when they have questions. They also felt that the school has high expectations in incorporating technology but there are no defined guidelines on how it should be used. The school improvement plan focuses on math and science but makes no mention on preparing students to use digital resources This information leads me to believe that teachers would like to use new technology if it is relevant to students and if they have the confidence and the support to implement their use.

Designing an initiative where teachers are given a tablet cart per grade level opens up opportunities for teachers and students. The most important aspect of this plan is ongoing professional development and classroom support that is specific to the use of 21st century skills. By sharing the cart amongst the grade level, Professional development activities could be tailored to the grade level standards in science and social studies. Teachers would be able to collaborate with their fellow teammates on lessons and projects. Teachers would not feel isolated and can share experiences and problems during team meetings. They can also develop solutions to assist with problems that may develop.

Rejected Strategies

One to One Tablet Computing Initiative

Using this model, teachers would be given a tablet for their use as well as one for each student in their classroom. While this strategy may lead to students spending more personal time with tablets, it may lead to teacher isolation in a similar fashion that the previous initiatives have left. Without a sense of a group effort in tackling fears and obstacles that may come, teachers would be more likely to abandon any efforts to embrace this new technology. Professional development would be general and It would also be harder to support teachers in an individual basis.

It would be difficult to ensure that teachers are actually maximizing the use of the tablets with their students. We would be left with a situation similar to one like with the Smart boards where teachers are left with technology that they may not feel comfortable using. Teachers would end up frustrated and not be so inclined to implement the use of tablets.

Four to Five Tablets per Classroom

Again, the thought of leaving teachers by themselves does not seem promising. This solution restricts the teachers’ ability to ensure that all students are using the tablets effectively. Having four or five tablets per class would mean that the tablets would likely be restricted to center like activities or students who may finish work first. Relying on classroom management skills to work out the details may be overwhelming to novice teachers. This strategy would likely increase the possibility that teachers would ignore the technology by claiming there isn’t enough for the whole class.

Project Manager Responsibilities

As project manager, my role is to determine the professional development that needs to be offered, offer support for the teachers who struggle with the concept of using technology in the classroom, and ensure that all teachers are using technology to benefit their students learning.