Project Activities

The proposed program consists of the following activities:

1. Core Program for Superintendents, Principals, and School Heads

This program is designed to help prepare school and district administrators to provide effective leadership and to make informed decisions in regard to technology. The program will combine in-person and online activities, blending the two to address the need for informative presentations, collaborations with colleagues, problem-solving sessions, hands-on learning, opportunities to use technology as learners, and action planning.

We plan four days of in-person sessions, an initial 2-day Institute followed by two 1-day sessions, with sessions typically separated by four to six weeks. Between these sessions, participants will engage in online activities that will provide them with first-hand opportunities to experience using technology for communications, online collaboration, and distance learning. The online component will engage participants in a structured process of analyzing the current applications of technology in the school or district, setting goals, and developing an action plan. This process will be facilitated through online interactions with project staff and participant colleagues.

The core program will be run 8-12 times per year at several different locations around the State, with up to 80 participants each time. Program sessions will be led by experienced superintendents, principals, technology specialists, researchers, and university faculty with expertise in professional development for education leaders. The design of the program will build upon prior successful work of the MA-TLC partner organizations, including the Leadership and the New Technologies Institutes (HGSE and EDC), the MESPA Technology Center professional development programs, the Technology and Curriculum Integration Leadership Program Institutes (MNEP), and the Technology Making a Difference Institutes (TERC).

The program's pedagogy will emphasize active engagement by the participants, providing information, resources, interactions, and activities that will enable them to develop their own understandings and ideas. In addition, the program will support participants in developing action plans for their schools and districts. As in the prior work by the partner organizations listed above, the MA-TLC core program will contain a mix of activities, including:

• Presentations and panels in which knowledgeable presenters will describe their personal experiences, provide demonstrations, and summarize relevant research to inform participants about possibilities and provide relevant background knowledge. These sessions will help participants to address the question of "Why technology?" and understand their roles in supporting the effective uses of technology in classrooms. These sessions will also provide concrete evidence that the potential of technology can become a reality in their schools, while helping them understand the multiple factors that must be addressed to support effective uses of technology in classrooms.
  
  
• Demonstrations by teachers and students to provide concrete examples that help educational leaders first address the question of "Why technology?" and then to develop their own perspectives and models about what the effective use of technology looks like in schools.
  
  
• Hands-on sessions in which participants will have opportunities to learn to use relevant technologies (e.g., data analysis tools, communications tools, the Massachusetts Information Management and Virtual Education systems) in a supportive environment. These sessions will also introduce participants to useful resources and tools for their work.
  
  
• Teaching cases in which participants will engage in realistic problem solving, often taking different roles to gain different perspectives, and learn strategies for addressing similar issues in their own schools and districts. For example, in prior work we have used teaching cases about policy issues of acceptable use of Internet access by students (available at http://www.edc.org/LNT/library/resources/aupcase.htm).
  
  
• Peer exchanges on critical issues in which participants exchange their own ideas and experiences in facilitated small-group discussions. (We plan to offer these in both face-to-face meetings and online).
  
  
• Special topic sessions where participants work with an expert in a selected topic to learn more about areas in which they are particularly interested. These topics will be selected with input from the participants.
  
  
• Action planning sessions in which participants will engage in structured processes to analyze the current status in their schools, define goals, and plan steps for meeting those goals. These sessions will engage participants in using data about their own schools, including the MCAS scores from the statewide assessment, to inform their decision-making.
  
  The action planning component will be continued through the online components of the core program. The online work will structure processes in which participants collect information from their schools, meet with other stakeholders, and build and begin to implement an action plan. Through online interactions participants will have access to resources and tools, online mentoring, and opportunities to exchange ideas with colleagues. The online components will also provide participants with an opportunity to experience for themselves the power of the technology to support their own work. This work will build upon, for example, an online workshop already developed by EDC and TERC on using data to inform decision making.

In the course of the three-year project, we expect that 80–100% of the education leaders in public, private and parochial schools will participate in this program. The result will be to significantly increase the ability of school and district leaders throughout the state to:

• develop and sustain effective teams to address district and school technology planning and implementation;
• develop and articulate a vision of how educational technologies can improve classroom teaching and learning and help all students achieve to high standards;
• establish the essential conditions to support effective classroom uses, as described in the Conceptual Framework section;
• understand the key elements of the change process, which will inform their leadership and practice;
• establish effective professional development programs for the classroom integration of technology;
• assess the impact of technology on classroom practice and use assessment data to improve policies and programs;
• use technology themselves in communication, information gathering, data analysis, and other areas relevant to their work;
• build processes for continuous school improvement that leverage the potential of communication and information technologies; and
• develop an action plan for steps in take in their own districts or schools.

2. Technology Leaders Network

Another component of the project will focus on developing and sustaining a Technology Leaders Network (TLN) of district and school leaders who have extensive expertise in using technology to improve student achievement. This group will develop and disseminate proven strategies of effective implementations of educational technology. The TLN will be supported by a seminar that will include: a two-day summit, periodic seminars, round table discussions, and an electronic network. Beyond supporting each other's learning, TLN members will: serve as faculty at MA-TLC institutes and online workshops; present at M.A.S.S. and MESPA conferences; and provide informed input to policy makers. The TLN seminar will be designed as an in-depth version of the Core Program, with the goal of preparing these key superintendents and principals to be agents of change, as well as the backbone of continuing technology leadership in Massachusetts through the Commonwealth's professional associations, M.A.S.S. and MESPA.

Each year the MA-TLC will support one Superintendent TLN cohort and two Principal TLN cohorts, one for elementary schools and the other for middle and high schools. There will be about 15 participants in each TLN cohort, with representation from all regions of the state. Therefore, each year the TLN program will have about 45 members, and over the course of the three-year program there will be about 135 key technology leaders across the state participating.

The Superintendent and Principal TLN cohort groups will apply their own perspectives, but they will also be coordinated based on their similar needs. For example, all TLN members will convene at some of the same workshops, institutes, and online activities to learn about and discuss topics of common concern, such as: preparing financial plans for the total cost of ownership, feasibility and scalability of promising practices, staffing to support system-wide implementation, and legal and policy issues.

After the first year of the seminar the superintendents in the TLN will concentrate their mentoring efforts in their regions of the State and with new superintendents. Therefore the TLN superintendents will be working with 100% of all MA superintendents. The principals will work within the county organizations established by MESPA to share their knowledge and expertise with other principals in the regions. The TLN principals will focus their mentoring efforts both in the regions and within their districts by working with their superintendents to help other principals in their district understand how technology makes a difference in their school. After the second year of each TLN cohorts' mentoring activities and presentations, M.A.S.S. and MESPA hope to support TLN members in continuing their commitment to work with their colleagues with additional corporate or foundation funding.

Through these various forms of dissemination and mentoring, TLN members will encourage their colleagues to participate in the MA-TLC Core Program and Summer Institute, and perhaps some of them will join a future cohort of the TLN. As technology expertise increases in the state, the TLN will grow in membership and influence. It will help the professional organizations in Massachusetts sustain the momentum of technology leadership established by the MA-TLC program beyond the three years of the Gates Foundation’s funding.

3. Summer Institutes for District Teams

Each summer a special institute will be held for district teams that have been selected, through an application process, as poised to provide "state-of-the-art" models of the effective use of technology to enhance teaching and learning. These summer institutes will offer in-depth leadership experiences for these district teams to support them in planning systemic approaches to further integrate technology into their school programs. They will be designed to help the participating districts further strengthen their efforts, and they in return will provide "proof of concept" and "demonstration sites" to inform other districts throughout the State, thereby assisting MA-TLC in its dissemination goals. Prior to the start of the institute, each participating team will define areas on which it wants to focus, and during the Institute each team will develop an action plan to address its selected areas.

These four-day summer institutes will be held at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and will build upon the Leadership and the New Technologies Institutes that have been offered each of the past three years by HGSE and EDC. They will focus on strategies for addressing all the essential elements required to successfully integrate technology throughout the curriculum to help students achieve to high standards. The program includes presentations, hands-on sessions, special topic sessions, role-alike exchanges, and facilitated district and cross-district working groups.

Key topics covered in these Institutes include:

• Using Technology to Strengthen the Academic Program
• Professional Development for Teachers
• Emerging Approaches to a District Technology Infrastructure
• Issues of Equity and Ethics
• The New Nature of Leadership

Participation in these summer Institutes will be limited to district teams that include the superintendent, principals, and other district leaders such as a district technology coordinator. Clusters of private schools that work together will also be eligible to send teams. These Institutes will be able to accommodate only a small number of the districts in the State, so there will be an application process and a tuition charge (which will cover the costs of participation by those who are not superintendents, principals, or school heads).

The application criteria will focus on the vision for technology use articulated in the application; the current status of technology use, planning and support in the district; the effectiveness and inclusiveness of district decision-making processes; and the composition of the proposed team from the district. The Milken Seven Dimensions framework will be used as part of the criteria to assess whether the district is poised to become a model for others. Districts accepted for participation will agree to host site visits at their schools, provide information for case studies for the MA-TLC program, and contribute to the MA-TLC core program activities.

4. Conferences and Information Dissemination

The annual M.A.S.S. Superintendents Technology Leadership Conference (STLC) is a two-day conference held in October of each year, with a large percentage of the superintendents in the state in attendance, along with selected others who superintendents invite from their districts. STLC will play an important role in introducing the MA-TLC program to superintendents, engaging them in technology and leadership professional development activities, interesting them in participating in other MA-TLC activities, initiating the MA-TLC Technology Leaders Network for superintendents, and gaining the support of superintendents so that they encourage their principals to participate in the MA-TLC program.

The 2000 STLC conference focuses on the theme of Teaching and Learning in the Networked World. It includes a mix of activities, including:

• keynote addresses by David Thornburg and Cheryl Lemke
• case study presentations of exemplary programs from 15 school districts
• showcase demonstrations of 20 exemplary technology-enhanced learning projects
• sessions that introduce participants to major statewide initiatives such as the Virtual Education Space and the Information Management System
• hands-on sessions to introduce the M.A.S.S. Exchange for online communications as well as other online resources
• vendor demonstrations
• panels on key issues relevant to superintendents (such as determining total cost of ownership for technology and legal and policy issues for the networked district), and
• time for informal interactions.

The annual MESPA Principals Conferences will also be integrated into the overall MA-TLC program. These conferences will provide opportunities to disseminate information about the program, conduct sessions that preview elements of the MA-TLC activities, conduct follow-up meetings with participants in past MA-TLC activities, and hold meetings of the Technology Leaders Network members.

The MA-TLC project will develop its own web site, which will contain information about upcoming events, detailed documentation of past events (including programs, speaker notes, readings, web resources, and evaluations), case studies of successful programs in Massachusetts schools, and other resources for school and district leaders. This web site will link with the M.A.S.S. and MESPA web sites and with the Massachusetts State Department of Education web site. In addition, the MA-TLC project will collaborate with other relevant organizations and projects, such as the Massachusetts State Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Education Regional Technology in Education Consortium (RTEC), to inform school and district leaders about our programs and to provide ongoing information relevant to their work.

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