INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY GRANT PROPOSAL

Name of Applicant: Megan Endicott

District/School: Fulton County Schools / Dolvin Elementary School

Date: 12/5/2017

Total Cost of Project: $10,000

Title of Project: Hands on STEAM

To what organization will you submit this grant application in the future?: Innovation Fund
Accelerator, The GA. Governors Office of Student Achievement.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2fW8xbEPWk0RElKbnczUUdYdkk/view

I. Why is this project important (In 2-3 paragraphs, describe the need for the project and
its relevance to the shared vision for instructional technology)?

The focus at Dolvin Elementary School is to effectively roll out the Fulton County Personalized
Learning plan that aligns with the school vision and mission as stated in the school strategic plan. The
school strategic plan focuses on (1) building student character, leadership, and confidence, (2) critical
thinking across all content areas, and (3) increasing student ownership of learning. To goal is that
teachers incorporate STEAM and project Based Learning (PBL) opportunities along with the district
identified 7 personalized learning principles, and the character education 7 Mindsets programs.
While Dolvin presented itself with many gains last school year, the recent publication of the CCRPI
scores, shows science and social students continues to be an area of weakness with critical focus on the
Hispanic and socioeconomically (SES) disadvantaged subgroups. Some educators have claimed that
through hands-on experimentations, robots help youth transform abstract science, engineering and
technology (SET) concepts into concrete real-world understanding (Barker & Ansorge, 2007). In a
recent SWOT analysis, it was reported that teachers did not feel comfortable with STEAM robotics to
effectively make connections to the standards and didnt see the relevance in the additional technology
resources. A sustained professional development model will need to be incorporated to promote teacher
understanding. Teachers greatly influence student interest in science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics (STEM) and STEM career pursuit (Kim, Kim, Yuan, Hill, Doshi, & Thai, 2015).

II. What would you like to accomplish (In 2-3 paragraphs, describe the project and list
instructional objectives/project outcomes.)?

Based on a needs assessment survey, SWOT analysis, interviews with stakeholders, and meetings
with administration and a critical friends committee group, the following strategies will be included
in the project:

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 - The inclusion of STEAM robotics from the maker carts to promote increased achievement in
science for all students.
- Identify super users as indicated by observations and measurement tool TIM-O and TIM-LP.
The super users will assist with modeling lessons and co-plan with grade levels.
- The inclusion of maker cart technology resources for PBL projects will be promoted to aid in
increased achievement in social studies for all students.
- Monthly data talks will include data to track and measure formative checks in understanding
with a focus on Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students as reported from the CCRPI
results.
- Hire professionals to offer professional development on the school RFF (Request for Flexibility)
Professional Learning Days to train teachers on STEAM robotic maker carts and how to
implement and tie to the standards.

The Dolvin Elementary School teacher and students will benefit from peer coaching, modeling, co-
teaching, and viewing professionals in the field to improve comfort and knowledge on STEAM robotics
and PBL lessons. The following are focused SMART Goals and objectives for the Dolvin Elementary
School Needs Assessment:

- By June 2018, at least 80% of the Dolvin Elementary School teachers will increase instructional
planning methods as measured by the TIM-LP measurement tool.
- By June 2018, teacher buy-in for implementing STEAM robotics and PBL social studies in
classroom lessons will increase by 25% as measured by the cart check-out system through
Google forms.
- By November 2018, Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students will improve test scores
in science and social studies as identified by the CCRPI results.

III. In what ways is this project an example of exemplary technology integration (In 2-3
paragraphs discuss your project regarding one or more of the following: LoTi, SAMR,
TPACK, TIM, etc.)?

At Dolvin Elementary, a group of teacher technology leaders on each grade level have been
identified to serve as coaches for their team to aid in personalized learning and seamless technology
integration. Each team member has granted access through the district to serve as an observer for their
school members using the TIM. Coaches will observe teachers three times a year and conduct the TIM-
O to track and measure teacher growth. In addition, an interim TIM-LP will be conducted to measure
teacher instructional planning. Grade level discussions and individual conferences will be held with each
teacher in the building to discuss where they are on the matrix and set goals for improvement in at least
one area by the end of the school year.
With the addition of the maker carts and STEAM robotics, classroom teachers should begin to
demonstration Transformational lessons and technology integration as measured on the TIM following a
few years in the process. Some examples of ways that the incorporation of STEAM robotics to set
exemplary ways to integration technology are the teacher becomes a facilitator, model, or guide for
students and a multitude of technology is easily accessible and available for student choice. STEAM and
PBL projects natural lead to collaborative groups fostering a collaborative environment. These projects
promote a higher order thinking and opportunities for students to participate in activities that would

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normally not have been obtainable. Technology tools begin to be used in unconventional ways. STEAM
and PBL projects naturally link to activities beyond the instructional setting. And to accomplish large
projects, goal-setting and co-planning learning are both extremely important to ensure all members are
working together and tasks are being completed in a timely fashion.

IV. How will you complete the work? (Describe how the project will be completed.)
A. Describe how the instructional objectives/project outcomes will be met (2-3
paragraphs).

The plan will continue for the course of a three-year span to promote a sustained professional
learning model. Included in the project will be a rotating schedule of in-house Splash Pad Professional
development after school sessions offering both a face-to-face learning opportunities and online options
for increased learning. Following the monthly Splash Pad PD, will be interviews at grade level meetings
to serve as a method of checking the climate and clarify questions. TIM-Os and LPs will be conducted
by trained Vanchise members to measure growth on a goal that is aligned with the school plan.
Committee members will track and measure performance data in December and May of each
year to check for areas of growth and make connections to student achievement among the subgroups
specifically in science and social studies. The benchmark will be that all committee members work on
collecting and gathering data for their grade level to present to the group at the two meetings. The
indicators will be increased scores in diagnostic assessment and end of unit tests. Another indicator will
be drilling down and disaggregating the data to each subgroup to ensure student achievement and data
intervention pieces are implemented where needed.

B. Describe the time involved (project length including amount of time each day/week).

Activity Resources Start Date Date Completed

Needs Assessment / Strategic plan, 8/10 8/29
SWOT Survey Google form survey,
Achievement CCRPI
Visit Grade Levels School personnel 8/29 8/29
Climate / Attitude
Interviews
Observation Round Vanchise Members 9/5 11/17
1 / TIM-O & TIM-LP and their grade level
teachers
Committee Meeting Vanchise Members, 9/5 9/5
Develop PD based on super users of
needs from SWOT maker carts, and
and School Strategic administration
Plan
Create Blended Committee Members 9/5 9/13
Learning Professional
Development
Send out Google School personnel, 9/11 9/15
form to sign up for Google form
embedded PD /

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modeling sessions
Research impact of KSU Library 8/10 9/11
personalized learning
and maker spaces on
student achievement
in science and social
studies.
Splash Pad PD School personnel, 9/13 9/13
face-to-face and Committee members
blended
Follow up with co- School personnel 9/26 9/26
teaching lessons with
super users at
Grade level meeting
Splash Pad PD face- School personnel, 10/11 10/11
to-face and blended Committee Members
Follow up with co- School personnel 10/24 10/24
teaching lessons with
super users Grade
level meeting
Splash Pad PD face- School personnel, 11/1 11/1
to-face and blended Committee members
Follow up with co- School personnel 11/14 11/14
teaching lessons with
super users grade
level meeting
Resend survey to School personnel, 12/12 12/21
check for changes in Google form
staff comfort and
climate.
Assess increase in Committee, Data 12/1 12/13
student achievement collection / analysis
(Committee meeting) from monthly data
talks, CST
Observation Round 2 Vanchise Members an 11/17 1/26
TIM-O their grade level
members
Splash Pad PD face- School personnel, 1/10 1/10
to-face and blended Committee members
Follow up with co- School personnel 1/23 1/23
teaching lessons with
super users grade
level meeting
Splash Pad PD face- School personnel, 2/14 2/14
to-face and blended Committee members
Follow up with co- School personnel 2/27 2/27

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teaching lessons with
super users grade
level meeting
Splash Pad PD face- School personnel, 3/14 3/14
to-face and blended Committee members
Follow up with co- School personnel 3/24 3/24
teaching lessons with
super users grade
level meeting
Splash Pad PD face- School personnel, 4/11 4/11
to-face and blended Committee members
Follow up with co- School personnel 4/24 4/24
teaching lessons with
super users grade
level meeting
Observation Round 3 Vanchise Members 1/26 5/24
(Summative and their grade level
Coaching Session) members
TIM-O & TIM-LP
End of Year Survey School personnel, 5/7 5/24
Google form
End of year Georgia Milestones, 5/14 5/14
Summative May Data Talk
Assessment Check Meeting, CST
for Growth

C. Describe the people involved (grade level/subject & # of students, teachers and/or staff,
other stakeholders).

Administration will support technology integration through arranging time and location for
professional learning included with the grant. In addition, the administrative team will continue to foster
an environment in which teachers can take risks to try new things. Flexibility in scheduling and creating
lesson concepts that are specific to each classroom teacher and their students is important and another
area that is a focus for administration. Flexibility to enable teachers to co-teach, model, and co-plan new
lessons. Administration will aid in monthly data talks to address areas of weakness in teacher
instruction. The teachers, kindergarten through fifth grade, will be included in the project as a school-
wide effort. Teachers will work with all students to bridge the achievement gap in science and social
students among Hispanic students and economically diverse students through differentiated instruction,
flexible grouping, and engaged student learning through STEAM robotics and PBL projects. There are
currently 852 students at Dolvin Elementary School that will be impacted by the project.

D. Describe the materials needed for the project.

Teachers discussed a concern in the lack of access to ample resources and time to properly plan
instruction to parallel state and district standards. To address equity of resources across the grade level,
additional robotics will be purchased for each cart as bulleted below:

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 - Dot & Dash with accessory packs 1 more per cart
- Puzzlets for Dot and Dash 2 per cart for K-2.
- Sphero 1 more per cart
- Ozobots 2 more per cart
- Ozmo (base, numbers, tangrams, words, coding) 1 more per cart

In addition, hired professionals to aid in professional development at faculty meetings and job
embedded development will be the biggest portion of the funding to aid in a fully sustained model.

IV. What is the timeline for assessing accomplishments and objectives/project outcomes (In 1-2
paragraphs, describe program evaluation procedure.)?

The project will support a sustained model for the course of three years. At the end of each year, a
climate survey will be administered for all stakeholders to collect data on understanding and climate
regarding technology integration of STEAM robotics and maker carts for PBL lessons. This information
will inform administration and critical friend groups toward planning for the following year. Focus will
include teacher perspective on student achievement and growth in areas of science and social studies for
all students. In addition, questions will be asked about specific gains for Hispanic and SES students.
Also, three technology integration observations and lesson plan analysis information will be collected
and viewed as a committee to discuss teacher planning and implementation. This information can also
be used in conjunction with data collected from monthly grade level interviews to serve as an indicator
determining if professional development was effective.
To ensure the professional learning plan is working at the highest possible level, the
administration tracks and measures teacher and student growth through data. These data points include
TKES informal walkthroughs, formative observations, interest surveys, STAR, DRA, GA Milestones,
RightScore, ITBS, monthly data talks, RTI, TIM-O, TIM-LP, and analyzed report cards for student
improvement. In addition, focusing on creating and maintaining consistency in grading students across
the grade level and across content, so that an A looks the same in all classes has been a focus. With
these key factors in place, teachers are equipped with the proper tools to measure and track student
success along the way for just-in-time instruction.

V. How will the students be impacted by the project (In 2-3 paragraphs, include details
regarding how the impact on students will be assessed and reported to students,
parents, teachers, and others.)?

Students will be impacted through academic improvement in science and social studies among all
students with a special emphasis on the decreasing the gap for Hispanic and socio-economically
disadvantaged students based on CCRPI reports. In a case study in Nebraska of a rural elementary
school, a control group and an after-school robotics group were analyzed to discover academic
achievement gaps. The case study found an increase in scores from the pretest to the posttest for the
robotics class over the control group dictating that the robotics class was in fact effective for teaching
youth about SET concepts like computer programming, robotics, mathematics, and engineering (Barker
& Ansorge, 2007). Increase usage and integration of the maker carts in the classroom could aid in
academic achievement.

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 Another option in favor for robotics in school is the connection that robotics has to children toys,
making the task more entertaining and build student engagement (Barker & Ansorge, 2007). Due to the
construct of robots, research suggests multi-disciplinary connections. Each of these parts depends on
different fields of knowledge such as engineering, electronics, and computer science (Barker &
Ansorge, 2007). Barker and Ansorge (2007) found research that suggests robotics teach higher level
critical thinking and complex processing on how individual parts work together. While there is little
research on the effect of robotics on increased achievement in STEAM education, studies have found
that the robotics platform also promotes learning of scientific and mathematic principles through
experimentation, encourages problem solving, and promotes cooperative learning (Barker & Ansorge,
2007).

VI. What is the proposed budget? Include information on the following:

A. Materials/supplies
- Staff Development / Professional Presenter ($5000 Workshop Fee)

B. Equipment
- Dot & Dash with accessory packs 1 more per cart ($279 ea) = $1,674
- Puzzlets for Dot and Dash 2 per cart for K-2. ($100 ea) = $600
- Sphero 1 more per cart ($129 ea) = $774
- Ozobots 2 more per cart ($100 ea) = $1,200
- Ozmo (base, numbers, tangrams, words, coding) 1 more per cart ($228 ea) = $1,368

C. Total Cost of Proposed Project

- $10,616

D. Addition Costs
- PTA / Dolvin Foundation - $650

V. List your supporting references.

Barker, B.S., & Ansorge, J. (2007). Robotics as Means to Increase Achievement Scores in a Informal

Learning Environment. Journal of Research On Technology In Education, 39(3), 229-243.

Kim, C., Kim, D., Yuan, J., Hill, R.B., Doshi, P., & Thai, C.N. (2015). Robotics to promote elementary

education pre-service teachers STEM engagement, learning and teaching. Computers &

Education, 91(14-31). doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2015.08.005

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 INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY GRANT PROPOSAL
EVALUATION FORM/SCORING RUBRIC

Total Points (out of 200): __________

1. Impacts a variety of skill levels and/or learning styles or impacts an important target population.

Possible number of points: 40 __________

2. Clearly identifies standards and learning objectives/project outcomes being addressed.

Possible number of points: 40 __________

3. Pedagogically sound, based on research and/or best practices.

Possible number of points: 40 __________

4. Clear plan for assessment of project and goals with examples of implementation methods.

Possible number of points: 40 __________

5. Impacts large number of students and/or can be recycled/reused.

Possible number of points: 40 __________

General Comments:

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Adapted from: The Education Foundation of Oconee County, Inc.

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