By: Jessica Fera, WPXI.com

NEW BRIGHTON, Pa. — Technology is not only changing the way millions of Americans live, work and play, it’s changing the way students are learning in one Beaver County School District.

“Little New Brighton is on its way to being a premiere district in Beaver County. It really is,” said director of technology Rob Lee.

Inside every classroom at New Brighton Middle School you’ll find cutting edge teaching tools that include interactive whiteboards called Eno boards.

“They have every capability from simply being a display screen in which teachers can display various lessons on them, to being fully interactive where teachers can toggle between pictures and class notes and videos and even write over top of what they’re displaying,” Principal Joe Guarino told WPXI.com’s Jessica Fera.

“You’re interacting with the board instead of just sitting there reading off a text book, day dreaming. You’re picking, clicking things that open up links and you’re gonna remember it more and get a better grade,” said seventh grade student Maria Taylor.

Also helping these students make the grade are Quizdom hand-held clickers.

“In the age of text messaging and cell phones, the kids are taking a great liking to those. They’re using those for instant feedback in the classrooms. Teachers can see what the kids are getting and what they are not getting,” Guarino said.

“Using it has made it more entertaining to learn and engaging in it makes me want to learn,” said seventh grade student Paul Radatavich.

Teachers here say the students’ positive attitudes are producing positive results.

“Academically I know I’ve been able to get some really tough concepts through using those types of technology,” said science teacher Anthony Martella.

The middle school and high school are full equipped with these devices and the elementary school is not far behind.

“Because there’s not as many federal dollars for K-5 we still have some work to do,” said Superintendent Dr. David Pietro. “We’re hoping within the next two years we’ll have the type of equipment you’re seeing today in every single classroom in our district.”

The nearly $400,000 needed to jumpstart this initiative has come from a combination of taxpayer dollars along with state and federal grants.

“We feel it’s an investment in our students and that it’s something we need to do to provide our students an education for the 21st century,” Pietro said.

This district has high hopes for the future.

“I feel in the coming years we’ll be a beacon in technology integration not only in the county but in the entire Commonwealth,” Lee said.

[click here to read the entire story at wpxi.com]

Deployment, anxiety, and hard work are constant factors in this Texas district.

“You know what’s hard about being the new kid at school?” asks Gail Siller, superintendent of Fort Sam Houston Independent School District (FSHISD). “Not knowing where to sit at lunch.”

Siller’s district serves children of active military personnel currently stationed at Fort Sam Houston, an Army installation in San Antonio, Texas. Each year, there is a 35 percent student turnover. “All of our PreK–12 students are military kids, and this means that they are moving in and out of the district throughout the year,” Siller explains. “Our district has to serve our students’ social and emotional needs so they can get on with the business of learning.” Her district has learned how to best take care of a mobile population, from accepting out-of-state class credits to keeping an open roster for sports clubs and extracurricular activities.

The district is comprised of three campuses, which serve a total of 1,300 students. While most students live on the installation, others live outside the district boundaries but have a parent who is assigned to base. Fort Sam has earned high ratings in Texas’s public school accountability system and made Adequate Yearly Progress under No Child Left Behind. More than 94 percent of its students achieved mastery in English and writing on the 2008–09 Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, while 84 percent showed mastery in math and science. Both marks are above state averages.

The Only Constant Is Change
“One year, we tried to figure out how long our 70 high school seniors had been in our district,” says Roland Rios, the district’s instructional technology coordinator and the former principal of Cole middle and high schools. “Only nine had been here since their freshman year, and just three had been in our schools since sixth grade,” he recalls. “Because we have such a high turnover, we need to be creative and flexible in our approach.”

Like many other states, Texas is currently working to institute electronic files for student records. However, since both records management and graduation requirements can vary widely by state and district, FSHISD works to ensure students are placed in appropriate classes and can pass the Texas graduation exam. “We’re not going to refuse a child because they show up with the wrong stuff,” Rios notes. “We’re going to work with them and their families to ensure they can have a successful experience here. The recent Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children that’s now used in 21 states helps us do that.”

One family with three children had moved 16 times in 17 years, says high school counselor Becky Ownby Smith. These students had already taken multiple state history courses and numerous state exit exams. The two seniors ended up going to summer school and taking extra courses this year so they could graduate with a Texas diploma, she says.

But making sure students’ academic needs are met is only part of the battle. “We want all new students to feel like they’re a part of the community. To accomplish that, we use the Student 2 Student Initiative created by the Military Child Education Coalition,” Siller says. “With S2S, our current students reach out to newcomers. Not only are new students welcome at the lunch table, but they also learn from their peers about the San Antonio area, sports and extracurricular options at our school, and popular trends and activities.”

Since students enter Fort Sam throughout the year, the schools’ sports teams and clubs welcome new members at any point. “If we just had tryouts once a year for a team, that would mean many of our new students simply couldn’t participate,” Siller explains. “We make sure all teams and after-school activities are always open to taking on new people.”

Embracing Tech Tools
Approximately 20 percent to 30 percent of the district’s students have a parent presently deployed overseas, either in combat zones like Iraq and Afghanistan, or in Asia or Europe. “We did an analysis of our district’s website, and most of our visitors are in the U.S., followed by Germany and Iraq,” Siller says. Given that, the district’s teachers and administrators have worked to make the website accessible and informative.

“We use eChalk, which allows parents to access students’ webpages, find teachers’ contact information, keep track of assignments, and look at students’ grades,” Rios explains. “Parents can access this information no matter where they are in the world.” The secure site also allows students to upload assignments, maintain their own e-mail addresses, and have online class discussions. “This electronic learning environment is valuable for our parents and our students,” Siller adds.

Since deployment may coincide with important milestones in their children’s lives, parents can use the website to look at slideshows of sports and other activities and even watch a live feed of the graduation ceremony. Christina Bertran, a Fort Sam graduate and a second-year English teacher in the district, says none of this was available when she was a student. “After 9/11, my dad was deployed overseas. I talked to him on the phone once a week at most,” she recalls. “But now, I may have a student get a text in the middle of class. It’s from his dad in Iraq reminding him that he has an English test this Friday.”

Dealing With Deployment
at the elementary level, fshisd offers support groups for children whose parents are currently deployed. “Because teens may not be comfortable in that kind of setting,” Siller says, “we have a school clinic that’s run by a physician [who specializes in adolescent medicine]. We want to make sure our students always have the opportunity to talk to someone in a safe environment to get support, both for themselves and their families.”

The Brooke Army Medical Center is on Fort Sam Houston, and many students come to the base because their parents have been wounded…

[There's more! Read the entire article at Scholastic Administrator Magazine by clicking here]

Channel 6 broadcasts from an Indianapolis Public Montessori school which recently hosted a classroom media event to demonstrate how eno Interactive Whiteboards and Qwizdom Student Response Systems are changing the way that children learn and engage.

Story here: http://www.theindychannel.com/video/22590951/index.html

School District Meets Army

Deployment, anxiety, and hard work are constant factors in this Texas district.

By Jen Scott Curwood

“You know what’s hard about being the new kid at school?” asks Gail Siller, superintendent of Fort Sam Houston Independent School District (FSHISD). “Not knowing where to sit at lunch.”

Siller’s district serves children of active military personnel currently stationed at Fort Sam Houston, an Army installation in San Antonio, Texas. Each year, there is a 35 percent student turnover. “All of our PreK–12 students are military kids, and this means that they are moving in and out of the district throughout the year,” Siller explains. “Our district has to serve our students’ social and emotional needs so they can get on with the business of learning.” Her district has learned how to best take care of a mobile population, from accepting out-of-state class credits to keeping an open roster for sports clubs and extracurricular activities.

The district is comprised of three campuses, which serve a total of 1,300 students. While most students live on the installation, others live outside the district boundaries but have a parent who is assigned to base. Fort Sam has earned high ratings in Texas’s public school accountability system and made Adequate Yearly Progress under No Child Left Behind. More than 94 percent of its students achieved mastery in English and writing on the 2008–09 Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, while 84 percent showed mastery in math and science. Both marks are above state averages.

Embracing Tech Tools

Approximately 20 percent to 30 percent of the district’s students have a parent presently deployed overseas, either in combat zones like Iraq and Afghanistan, or in Asia or Europe. “We did an analysis of our district’s website, and most of our visitors are in the U.S., followed by Germany and Iraq,” Siller says. Given that, the district’s teachers and administrators have worked to make the website accessible and informative.

“We use eChalk, which allows parents to access students’ webpages, find teachers’ contact information, keep track of assignments, and look at students’ grades,” Rios explains. “Parents can access this information no matter where they are in the world.” The secure site also allows students to upload assignments, maintain their own e-mail addresses, and have online class discussions. “This electronic learning environment is valuable for our parents and our students,” Siller adds.

Since deployment may coincide with important milestones in their children’s lives, parents can use the website to look at slideshows of sports and other activities and even watch a live feed of the graduation ceremony. Christina Bertran, a Fort Sam graduate and a second-year English teacher in the district, says none of this was available when she was a student. “After 9/11, my dad was deployed overseas. I talked to him on the phone once a week at most,” she recalls. “But now, I may have a student get a text in the middle of class. It’s from his dad in Iraq reminding him that he has an English test this Friday.”

The Only Constant Is Change

“One year, we tried to figure out how long our 70 high school seniors had been in our district,” says Roland Rios, the district’s instructional technology coordinator and the former principal of Cole middle and high schools. “Only nine had been here since their freshman year, and just three had been in our schools since sixth grade,” he recalls. “Because we have such a high turnover, we need to be creative and flexible in our approach.”

Like many other states, Texas is currently working to institute electronic files for student records. However, since both records management and graduation requirements can vary widely by state and district, FSHISD works to ensure students are placed in appropriate classes and can pass the Texas graduation exam. “We’re not going to refuse a child because they show up with the wrong stuff,” Rios notes. “We’re going to work with them and their families to ensure they can have a successful experience here. The recent Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children that’s now used in 21 states helps us do that.”

One family with three children had moved 16 times in 17 years, says high school counselor Becky Ownby Smith. These students had already taken multiple state history courses and numerous state exit exams. The two seniors ended up going to summer school and taking extra courses this year so they could graduate with a Texas diploma, she says.

But making sure students’ academic needs are met is only part of the battle. “We want all new students to feel like they’re a part of the community. To accomplish that, we use the Student 2 Student Initiative created by the Military Child Education Coalition,” Siller says. “With S2S, our current students reach out to newcomers. Not only are new students welcome at the lunch table, but they also learn from their peers about the San Antonio area, sports and extracurricular options at our school, and popular trends and activities.”

Since students enter Fort Sam throughout the year, the schools’ sports teams and clubs welcome new members at any point. “If we just had tryouts once a year for a team, that would mean many of our new students simply couldn’t participate,” Siller explains. “We make sure all teams and after-school activities are always open to taking on new people.”

Dealing With Deployment

At the elementary level, fshisd offers support groups for children whose parents are currently deployed. “Because teens may not be comfortable in that kind of setting,” Siller says, “we have a school clinic that’s run by a physician [who specializes in adolescent medicine]. We want to make sure our students always have the opportunity to talk to someone in a safe environment to get support, both for themselves and their families.”

The Brooke Army Medical Center is on Fort Sam Houston, and many students come to the base because their parents have been wounded in combat and are receiving medical care at the installation. “These are our wounded warriors,” Siller states. “They may have lost a limb, been badly burned, or are struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder. Their families will then relocate to Fort Sam Houston while they are in recovery.”

The district shares confidential information with the students’ teachers if parents give permission, which most do. This helps teachers consider the whole child, rather than just academics. “Our students have to deal with stresses and pressures beyond the normal school day,” Smith says. “These students work hard to ensure their future, and our teachers work hard to make sure [they] have every opportunity to be successful.”

Since many of the wounded are in the military reserves, this may be their child’s first move away from home. When the trauma of a parent being seriously injured in the war is coupled with a family relocation, it can be very hard for children to adjust. “That’s why we provide so much support and outreach to our students and their families,” Siller explains.

Despite any challenges the district faces, staff and students rise to the occasion. Last year’s graduating class of 70 students, for instance, was offered a total of $9.45 million in college scholarships. Rios emphasizes that “because they’re military kids, our students are not afraid to venture out. They’re well-rounded students, and very worldly individuals.”

Online article: http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3753415