Overview of Tasks for the Authentic Task Approach As your district or school considers its application for ATLES, you will focus on a particular problem area you are trying to address in your setting and identify an approach and frame some tasks to solving that set of problems. ATLES is structured to support your team successfully focusing on and accomplishing its tasks at the Institute and in implementing those initiatives through the next school year. Using Learning Innovations at WestEd's Authentic Task Approach, teams can tailor ATLES to solve their own, pressing needs. Examples of tasks that have been addressed effectively using this model include: Create a school improvement plan Go through the process of aligning a school's curriculum in science (or any subject) with the state frameworks in that content area. Develop a full, strategic, school and district technology plan Write a grant to get funds to start a new after school program Develop an implementation plan (at the state level) to provide high impact technical assistance to school districts to help them create effective professional development Develop and implementation plan for a school-wide approach to using Title I funds Develop a new student handbook for a school Complete a curriculum mapping process Develop a new teacher induction program including designing a mentoring and coaching program Develop an evaluation plan to evaluate the effects of a district's program to teach writing Develop curriculum units Analyze data on student achievement in order to target improvement efforts Create a community awareness campaign and design the components to bring in community members for a tutor/student mentor initiative [top] Specific tasks that have had a technology related focus that school or district teams have accomplished in a similar institute include: To update the technology applications for the math and science resource guide and create a technology-based resource guide for language arts and social studies. The new guides will be based on those developed at the Academy held last summer. To plan and develop well-organized and informational school and district web sites. These web sites will include multiple vehicles for parents, teachers, and students to access learning information, homework, assignments, attendance, etc. and will be used to improve communication within and between all our stakeholder groups. To write a comprehensive technology plan for the City Schools that includes direct connections to student learning needs, deeper understanding of accessing technology resources, and applications for technology to improve our new student assessment initiatives. To develop strategies for using technology to better meet the needs of the district students who miss qualifying for the supplementary programs but still need help. During the academy we will analyze current uses of technology, resource needs, and appropriate software applications to support our core curriculum. To pull the various separate technology groups/efforts within the school together to plan, implement and assess technology instruction and integration in the school. During the Academy we will design a process that integrates our systems so that teachers and students have more ready access to technology applications to use in the classroom. Develop plans to embed the use of technology as an educational tool across the curriculums throughout the district. This includes revising how technology learning is integrated in the professional development master plan, and ways to increase the use of technology by teacher teams. [top] . Site updated February 26, 2004 © M.A.S.S., MESPA, EDC, HARVARD, MNEP, TERC, 2000-2004 Web site developed by EDC, Center for Online Professional Development (COPE)