Running head: PROGRAM EVALUATION REPORT

Title: Program Evaluation Report For Greenwood Laboratory Schools Technology Center
Hanan Alzamil
Nov 1, 2013
This report is to provide an overview of evaluating the observed technology center

PROGRAM EVALUATION REPORT

Site Review

An Overview of The Physical Site

The Greenwood Laboratory Schools technology center is 30 computers plus one
teacher workstation. Here is the floor plan to illustrate the facility.

In this school most students ages 10 and above have their own laptop, but as far as
printing needs as well as classroom instruction, there are around 200 students use the lab
daily. Altogether there are over 300 students in the building with most high school juniors and
seniors taking college classes.
There are around 150-200 computers in the building. Around 20 of those are
Macintosh and the rest are servers running Microsoft Server 2008. Users are usually set to

PROGRAM EVALUATION REPORT

have Power User status on the computers with teachers having Administrator privileges on
the computers in their office. Also, There are 30 iPads in the building and one cart for Apple
laptops as well as number of laptop carts in some classes like eMINTS. The one cart can
accommodate up to 30 laptops.
For the size and types of software and hardware in the building, I was informed that
there are numbers of collection purchased software applications such as Windows 7, Garage
Band, KidPix, MS Office, etc. and around 10 freeware applications. For example, Google
Earth, Sketchup, Paint.net, etc. Likewise, All the schools classrooms are equipped with an
instructor computer and projection system. The majority of the classrooms the instruction
computer is connected through a SMARTBoard and equipped with an Elmo document
camera. Computer labs allow one student per and eMINTS classrooms two students per
computer.
In the school there is a media classroom with cameras, tripods, recording software, a
recording room and editing software.
Greenwood Laboratory School has sufficient staff to serve the users. For example, the
school has a media teacher who also maintains regular maintenance on the 30 iPads as well as
the iMacs in her multimedia classroom. It also has certified eMints Instructional Specialist as
well a fulltime Technology Specialist who maintains the rest of the schools technological
needs.
For the training in the school, eMINTS training is provided on site by a certified
eMINTS Instructional Specialist. Classroom instructors share in development of instruction
through ongoing eMINTS training and school technology meetings. Instructors share
material through classroom websites with peers, students, and parents.

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Policies For Managing The Technology Center
Below is the vision and goals of Greenwood Laboratory Schools technology center:

PROGRAM EVALUATION REPORT

There is a set of technology standards that the school uses to help them measure
proficiency and set goals for what each individual in school should know about technology
and how to use it professionally. That is the ISTE standards:
1. Creativity and Innovation:
Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative
products and processes using technology.
2. Communication and Collaboration:
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively,
including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.
3. Research and Information Fluency:
Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information.
4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making:
Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve
problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources.
5. Digital Citizenship:
Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice
legal and ethical behavior.
6. Technology Operations and Concepts:
Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and
operations.
Greenwood School does not have policies for safe Internet using. They have wireless
access to the Internet, but it is unrestricted and unfiltered. They just notify parents of the Internet
they use and ask their permission, as it is clear in the attached copy:

PROGRAM EVALUATION REPORT

The center evaluates its own effectiveness according to the points listed below:

Needs Assessments: Assessment is based on yearly needs as

determined by the technology committee.
Progress reports: Progress reports are given out each quarter.
They are usually based on the advancement of typing skills,
progression of skills on various software applications and
overall participation.
Timetable for budgets, goals, etc.: Timetables are determined
by the technology committees observations and progressive
yearly goals.

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Technology Plan
Here is the centers Technology Plan:
A. Technology Needs Assessment:
1. Completed Institute for School Improvement Technology Questionnaire
2. Technology Committee meetings.
3. Faculty meetings
B. Goals and Strategies:
1. Greenwood will work toward becoming a paperless school.
2. Greenwood students will be on the cutting edge of the use of technology for academic
purposes.
3. Greenwood will reduce the costs of textbooks to families.
4. Greenwood will relieve student burden of heavy backpacks filled with books.
C. Evaluation:
1. Technology committee feedback
2. Feedback from PTA board meetings
3. Feedback from faculty meetings
4. Feedback from student council meetings
According to the Ten Essential Elements of K-12 Successful Technology Planning, the
center has a very clear and good vision of the technology plan. I can tell that when I look to
both the technology plan and the vision and goals of the center. The actions are listed and
planned from 2009 to 2014.
For the involving of all the stakeholders in the school I think that Greenwood School
has a clear purpose and that is working toward to make the school paperless school. So,

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that requires everybodys effort in the school, teachers, administrators, students and the
technology committee members.
About gathering data, the school tends to gather data by three ways; completing
school improvement technology questionnaire, technology committee meetings and faculty
meetings. Therefore, I think the amount of data that being collected by those three ways are
sufficient for working on improving the technology plan for the school.
The reviewing research point is not mentioned either in the schools vision and goals
or in the technology plan. Actually, I am not sure that not specifying the point of reviewing
new researches would indicate that they are not following up with new researches in the field
of education technology. It could be not mentioned in the plan, but I think that they seem to
be very interested in the field of education technology. What leads me to say that is their clear
goals:
1. Greenwood will work toward becoming a paperless school.
2. Greenwood students will be on the cutting edge of the use of technology for
academic purposes.
3. Greenwood will reduce the costs of textbooks to families.
4. Greenwood will relieve student burden of heavy backpacks filled with books.

Greenwood school has a number of high skilled teachers in using technology and
integrating it in the curriculum as the whole school is shifting to technology learning
methods. I knew that by speaking with the technology coordinator and my eMINTS classs
instructor Ms. Hammer.
For the professional development point, from a prior talk with the technology coordinator
in the school, I understand that they include at least one lesson in professional development at
every faculty meeting taught by an individual member of the technology office staff. Also,
the technology office staff and all teachers are always encouraged to attend all of the

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professional development opportunities available to them including training given by eMints

teachers and DESE.
The school has a sufficient plan for maintaining network and equipment, which can
tell that the school actually aligns with the seventh element of The Ten Essential Elements of
K-12 Successful Technology Planning. The points listed below, by the technology
coordinator, clarifies how the equipment are maintained in the school:
-Computers are reimaged once a year.
-Twice a year projectors and computers and opened and sprayed out with canned air
to prevent the accumulation of dust on the components.
-Monitors are wiped down periodically with Anti-Static monitor wipes.
-Any damaged equipment is immediately replaced or fixed as soon as a problem is
evident.
There is no specific and detailed information about budget in the schools vision and
goals or in the schools plan except stating that $100 per pupil yearly fee. I am not sure if that
is enough to clarify the school vision toward the budget, but I am sure that they did not stating it
if it was not in line with the district financial resources.

Within the schools vision and goals and the schools technology plan there is no
specific information about ongoing monitoring and assessment. The 8th element indicates that
collecting data should be done by using rubrics, student artifacts, surveys and tests.
However, the technology plan contains a major element, which is Evaluation. The evaluation can
be done by using the technology committee feedback, the PTA board feedback, the faculty

feedback and the student council feedback.

Actually, the technology coordinator told me about the plan they have for staying on a
5years rotation system for the school. That means half of the computers are a couple of years
newer than the other half so they dont have to replace all of the computers at the same time.
So, he showed me a schedule for replacing computer that continues to 2017. However, I dont

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think this planning for future aligns with the 10th element that says the plan must provides
future practices and technologies and sets funds aside for this purpose. The point that the
technology coordinator told me about has nothing to do with the preparation for the change in
the future by endeavors to use new applications or technologies and encourage teachers to do
so.

Overall Site Recommendations

I would like to briefly summarize what I found when I took a close look on the site
that I have visited and what I found by reading the materials about the school and the
technology center. The facility size is almost enough to the number of the served users with
the scheduling system the school use. There are 150-200 computers in the building between
Laptops and PCs, also they running both Macintosh and Microsoft windows. There are also
numbers of the iPads that can be moved by cart from classroom to classroom as needed by
teachers. The software types are collection between administrative and production as it is in
the teachers workstation which is connected to the Smart board and in the media room which
has cameras, tripods, recording software, and editing software. The school also has numbers
of professional staff, that are the media teacher and the eMints instructional specialist as well
the technology specialist. Greenwood school has some kinds of training provided in school
such as eMINTS training. Other than that there instructors share their ideas development of
instructions in the eMINTS training time or through the classroom website. The school is also
managing its technology policies in a good way. It has a clear goals and it follows the ISTE
standards to make sure how is their proficiency goes. The school has no Acceptable Use
Policy or Internet Safety Policy because they use an unrestricted wireless access to the
Internet. Finally, the center evaluates its effectiveness as its needs determined by the
technology committee, and then the progress reports, which are based on the advancement of

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certain criteria listed above, are given out each quarter, and the timetables are determined by
the technology committees observations and progressive yearly goals.
For the recommendations, I would like to say that exposing my self to these details
about how a school runs its technology center did not just open up my eyes but also my mind
on how much is the American schools care about organizing and planning for its affairs.
Comparing how our schools run its technology center to every point Ive read, seen or
learned through these assignments gives me a lot of ideas on how to better our managing to
the labs in schools. I hope I can have a heard voice when I go back to my country to get the
chance to influence on the policy makers and supervisors to re-plan well and better f funding
usage in our schools. Therefore, I am not sure that I have recommendations for improvement
except that the school must have a clear Internet Safety Policy for students. The unfiltered
Internet using for students at this ages is not appropriate especially in school. Also, the 10th
element in The Ten Essential Elements of K-12 Successful Technology Planning is really
important so I recommend the school to develop a clear plan for futures strategies and
technologies as the technology is continuously changes.