ITEC 7410: SIP Plan/Technology Plan Analysis

Name: Sarah Miller Semester: Spring 2017

School Improvement Plan Analysis:

The mission at Brantley County Middle School is “Beyond Graduation: Preparing

Today’s Students for Tomorrow’s World”. The vision held at BCMS is an extension of
its mission. To prepare its students, BCMS will provide the hard skills (content
knowledge) and the soft skills (work ethic) needed to be successful in career, community,
and life beyond graduation.
Because BCMS is a Title 1 school, its School Improvement Plan (SIP) has a large
focus on parent perception and involvement, as well as a focus on at-risk students. The
most recent SIP written for BCMS was for FY16, so some of goals are out-of-date
(CRCT goals, for example). The first goal listed in the SIP is to increase opportunities for
parents to communicate with teachers to discuss children’s progress (from 41% to 75% in
parent surveys). CCRPI (College and Career Readiness Performance Index) goals
included in the SIP are as follows: Raise meet/exceeds levels for CRCT in ELA from
94.5 in FY13 to 100% by FY15; Raise rate from 69.1% in FY13 to 85.9% of passing four
academics and pass all CRCT tests; Raise all FY14 CCRPI flags to yellow by FY16. For
professional learning, BCMS has a goal of creating a climate of leadership and
proficiency level for the CCRPI system knowledge, TKES/LKES domain areas, and Data
Analysis/Common Core practices by FY16.
As noted above, Brantley County Middle School’s current School Improvement
Plan does not explicitly include technology. The strategies listed to achieve the goals are
geared more towards gathering and analyzing data (ExamView and Scantron scanners
and software), rather than being geared towards instructional technology. I would like to
see technology integrated more heavily in BCMS’s SIP because technology has
drastically changed teaching at BCMS over the last two school years. Teachers have
made a commitment to maintaining an up-to-date team website with calendars and
resources, as well as utilizing Google Sharing links with our parent communication
service, The Remind App. Additionally, BCMS has recruited me to provide Instructional
Technology trainings, one-on-one, and various types of workshops throughout the school
year to support our new drive to incorporate technology into the classroom. Because
technology is playing such a vital role in our teachers’ curriculum, I believe it should also
play a vital role in its School Improvement Plan.
My first thoughts of how technology could contribute towards achieving BCMS’s
mission and vision are to develop a technology plan that resembles a scope-and-
sequence. Clearly define what students “should” be able to do with regards to technology
by the end of a grade level, as well as support for teachers. Another “first” thought is for
technology’s infrastructure. BCMS is continuing to get Chromebook Carts, and I believe
we should have the infrastructure in mind for our SIP to include our growing bank of
technology resources.

District Technology Plan Analysis:

Brantley County has a Three-Year District Technology Plan for 2015 – 2018. This
technology plan lists goals for the following categories: Access to Technology,
Instructional Uses of Technology, Administrative Uses of Technology, and
Parent/Community Uses of Technology. Within these categories, however, there are no
explicit curriculum goals. The “Instructional Uses of Technology” goal outlines
continuing to “acquire, employ, and upgrade new technologies” to enhance student
achievement ( site). Strategies outlined for this goal is to deploy technologies, purchase
software subscriptions, purchase and replace projector systems, acquire and deploy
student handheld devices. All of these strategies are “contingent upon funding” (site). It
seems that since there are no hard numbers listed here (i.e. “acquire and deploy 300
handheld devices by 2018”), the goal seems achievable by 2018. This is an area for
which I could see improvement. I would like to see how many the district is planning on
acquiring and to whom they will be deployed (by grade-level or by school). Additionally,
I believe we could outline more than one goal per category. Because BCMS’s SIP does
not explicitly include technology, the only way in which the District Technology Plan ties
into it is through Parent/Community Use of Technology. Teachers will continue to keep
their parent portal systems up-to-date.
School Tech Plan Status:

Brantley County Middle School does have a current technology plan. My

administrators and our local RESA Instructional Technology Specialist have discussed
developing a school-wide technology plan. I feel as though the Media Specialist and I
will play a major in the development, when that time comes, because we are the “go-to”
people in our school for technology. There is no Instructional Coach or a position similar,
so this would likely be led by the Media Specialist and myself and approved by the
BCMS Leadership Committee. The Leadership Committee would be beneficial in the
overall adoption of the school-wide plan.