EDL 271 CHANGE INITIATIVE

Name: Brian Conway

Date: 11/23/13

Three Year Change Initiative

GOAL 1: The Newton Community School District will hire a technology coach at three of the elementary buildings in the
district. The schools in need of a technology coach will be Woodrow Wilson Elementary, Thomas Jefferson Elementary (shared
with Berg Elementary), and Aurora Heights Elementary. A technology coach will be shared between Thomas Jefferson Elementary
and Berg Elementary because they will be serving fewer students based on Smarter Balance Assessment needs. This goal is to
improve instruction by using technology in all elementary classrooms in the district. This goal also allows students to receive
formal typing instruction starting in the 3rd grade to help bolster scores on the Smarter Balance Assessment. This goal gives
support to educators in the classroom that are not digital natives. Technology Coaches will allow our reading coaches and math
coaches to focus solely on subject specificity and how to implement each program with integrity.

Which activities might your school conduct over the three years to bring about the desired
change?
Year 1
1) Three licensed teachers will be hired in the spring before the coming school year with the job description as a technology
teacher/coach. The district will look for applicants that hold an Educational Media Specialist degree but not restrict it
only to that criterion.
2) The district Curriculum Director and team of teachers will design a curriculum to be used in a technology class.
3) The district Curriculum Director will design a timetable outlining the natural progression from technology teacher to
technology coach.
4) Building principals will rework specials schedules to accommodate a technology/typing class that would meet once for
every 6 day cycle.
5) Technology teachers will collaborate with the LMC teacher at each building to talk about how to make each curriculum
work into a Library/Technology class.
6) Technology teachers will also have a lighter teaching role at each building to build in some time for research and
planning to help implement technology in coming years.
7) Technology teachers will become well-immersed in technology with existing programs that are used in the elementary
level. These teachers will use research time built into their schedule to become experts of the existing curriculums.
Year 2
1) Technology teachers will take on the technology coach role in each of their respective buildings. The technology
teacher/coach at Thomas Jefferson and Berg Elementary will be shared between both buildings.
2) Technology Coaches will be teaching their respective classes while serving a dual-role as a coach that helps teachers
implement technology in the classroom.

3) Technology Coaches will spend the afternoons when not meeting with classes as a direct support in classrooms to
implement different technology effectively.
4) Building principals will be responsible for creating an afternoon schedule for a 6 day cycle that allows the technology
coach to be in each classroom once during that time period. Weekly, coaches will email meeting minutes from each
grade level and the goals for implementation of technology for the next week.
5) Technology Coaches will participate in data meetings throughout the year to help provide stakeholders with valuable
ways to enhance instruction through technology.
Year 3
1) Technology Coaches will assist with the districts professional development plan with a focus on technology.
2) Technology Coaches will be asked to help provide professional development to teachers and support staff to enhance
student learning experiences across the district.
3) Technology Coaches will help teachers implement new technology (strategies, apps, equipment, etc.) across the
elementary buildings in the district.
4) Technology Coaches still serve as teacher/coach.

GOAL 2: The Newton Community School District will purchase 60 Chrome Books per grade level starting in 3 rd grade
and going through 6th grade. The Newton Community School District will also purchase 240 portable keyboards
that are compatible with iPads to work with resources already available. The district will also upgrade all software
so that it is compatible with testing regulations laid out by Smarter Balance.

Which activities might your school conduct over the three years?
Year 1:
1) The school district will purchase 240 portable keyboards.
2) Keyboards will be divided out amongst the 4 elementary buildings.
3) Berg Elementary and Thomas Jefferson Elementary will each receive 30 keyboards each.
4) Woodrow Wilson Elementary and Aurora Heights Elementary will receive 90 keyboards each.
5) Technology staff in the Newton Community School District will conduct a needs assessment to determine if software is in
need of an upgrade to be compatible with the Smarter Balance Assessment.
Year 2
1) The school district will purchase 60 Chrome Books and 2 carts per grade level starting in 3 rd grade and ending in 6th
grade. This will be done at an estimated cost of $8,500 per lab.
2) The school district will start to upgrade technology based on the needs assessment done the previous year. A tentative
timetable for software updates for new technology will be conducted in the months of June-August.
3) All software for technology that has previously been purchased will be loaded from September-October.

GOAL 3: The Newton Community School District will create a professional development plan based on technology
for the 2014-2016 school years to meet College and Career Readiness Standards within the Iowa Core.

Which activities might your school conduct over the three years?
Year 1
1) During the 2013 school year, administrators in the Newton Community School District will develop a long-range
professional development plan to be presented to the school board at the end of year.
2) The curriculum director will develop a 2-day professional development opportunity to be added on at the end of the
school year. Teachers will be compensated with TQ money since it will be beyond contract time. This 2-day professional
development opportunity will focus on the Smarter Balance Assessment.
3) During these work days, teachers will engage in activities that involve learning about the Smarter Balance test, taking a
practice test to gain understanding of types of questions, studying whether our curriculum aligns to this type of test, and
exploring what we can add with our curriculum to best meet the needs of our students.
Year 2
1) Professional development on early-out Wednesdays will focus on the Smarter Balance in the month of August. Grade
level buildings will team up and explore what we can do to best prepare our students for testing.
2) September through November professional development will focus on the use of Chrome Books and iPads in the
classroom.
3) December through February professional development will focus on our Wonders curriculum. We will keep diving
deeper into the different options for technology with this curriculum and what is beneficial to use. This professional
development will be led by our Curriculum Director, the various reading coaches in the district, and with the assistance
of our technology coaches.
4) In the month of March, professional development will be focused on Smarter Balance. The main focus of this
professional development will focus on the implementation of this test with the types of technology needed.
5) April through May professional development will be focused on the Everyday Math curriculum and how technology can
be better implemented. We will explore the resources available and what is beneficial to use in the classroom.
Year 3
1) The goal of district level professional development this year is to work on implementing new technology into the
classroom. We will be working on how to add to our existing curriculum and give students opportunities to show what
they know through technology.
2) Building principals will work with the curriculum director and technology coaches to develop agendas and exploration
activities to be used at these professional development days.
3) The August professional development plan will be on new apps for iPads that are subject-specific. This professional
development will be led by the technology coaches with the assistance of willing teachers from each building.

4) The September-November professional development focus will be how to use Chrome Books and iPads every day in
the classroom. We will revisit what our existing curriculum offers and work through ways that our students can be
assessed on a daily basis using technology. This will be focused mostly on reading and mathematics.
5) December-January will be spent exploring our Science curriculum and finding ways that technology can be used. We
will explore small, everyday ideas that can be implemented as well as bigger projects.
6) Februarys technology focus will be on exploring the Social Studies curriculum and how to implement existing
technology and new technology in the classroom.
7) The March-April time will be focused on teachers being able to develop a learning-based activity using technology.
Teachers will be asked to use this activity at the end of the month of April with their students.
8) The month of May will be spent exploring new technology we would want the district to invest in. Teachers will use
professional development time to come up with ideas for purchasing technology in the district. Teachers will be given
guidelines and will come up with their wish list of technology for the upcoming years.

One Year Targeted Action Plan

Choose one focus area from the 3-year work pages and design a 1-year plan.
Goal Statement: The Newton Community School District will hire a technology teacher/coach at 3 of the
elementary buildings in our district. There will be 1 teacher each at Woodrow Wilson and Aurora Heights and 1
position that is shared at Thomas Jefferson and Berg Elementary.
Specific Activities/Steps:

Personnel

Timeline

Resources

3 technology teachers/coaches will be hired in the district in the

spring before the 2014-2015 school year.

District
administrators will
be in charge of
hiring

End of the 20132014 school year.

Estimated
$180,000--- 3
teachers x
$60,000 (salaries
and benefits)

Curriculum will be designed for this class to implement during

the 2014-2015 school year.

District Curriculum
Director and team of
teachers

Spring of 2014

Typing software,
research of webbased activities,
etc.

A schedule will be made for when a technology teacher

transforms into a technology teacher/coach.

District Curriculum
Director

Summer of 2014

Technology teachers will collaborate and begin teaching the

technology class in the 2014-2015 school year. Building
principals will work in a technology special into the 6-day cycle
used at all of our elementary buildings.

Technology
Teachers, Principals,
District Staff

2014-2015 school
year

Technology
curriculum, iPads,
Smart boards,
Chrome Books,
etc.

Technology teachers will spend part of their day researching

new technology opportunities. Technology teachers will also
research the nuts and bolts of technology related to our
Wonders curriculum and Everyday Math curriculum.

Technology Teachers

2014-2015 school
year

Everyday Math
software, Wonders
software

Technology teachers will begin the next school year by

graduating into their next role as a teacher/coach. Technology
teachers/coaches will spend part of their day teaching and the
other part of the day helping teachers implement technology in
the classroom.

Technology
Coaches, District
staff

2015-2016 school
year

Curriculum
software, iPads,
Chrome Books,
etc.