Greenfield Center School
Technology Plan
July 1, 2008 - June 30, 2011

Click here to download a PDF copy of the tech plan

Click here to download a Microsoft Word copy of the tech plan

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Section 1: Background Information	Section 2: Vision and Mission Statements
Section 3: Overview of the Technology Planning Process	Section 4: Technology Assessment
Section 5: Technology Goals and Objectives	Section 6: Academic Objectives
Section 7: Technology Professional Development	Section 8: Hardware, Software and Network Stability
Section 9: Future Technologies (Projected Budget)	Section 10: Evaluation Process

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Section 2: Vision and Mission Statements

Vision

Greenfield Center School is a K-8 laboratory school dedicated to developing classrooms where diverse groups of children thrive academically and socially. Our educational philosophy fosters classroom communities in which children feel known, included, and self-confident enough to work hard and pursue meaningful intellectual and creative endeavors.

Mission

Greenfield Center School integrates high-quality academics with ethical decision-making to develop the skills and convictions for creating just communities.

Section 3: Overview of the Technology Planning Process

Technology forms the backbone of our global society. It has radically changed the methods by teachers teach and students learn. Greenfield Center School (GCS) students of all ages and abilities heartily endorse it with an enthusiasm that comes only from living and playing in a digital world.

At GCS, we continue to enlist a variety of technology tools both to promote student achievement and to support, evaluate, and transform student learning. Our goal is to enhance instructional delivery by integrating technology resources for research, problem-solving, critical thinking, active hands-on learning and assessment. We constantly explore new ways technology can help Center School students master the skills they need to succeed and overcome the challenges they will face as young adults.

By encouraging students to use computers and related digital tool to design, build, and test solutions to real-world problems, technology assumes a crucial role in providing opportunities for learning life and workplace skills. By enabling students to consult primary sources online, work with dynamic self-paced multimedia interactive software, participate in online simulations, go on virtual field trips, and confer with world-class experts through email, technology both extends and alters the ways in which our students learn problem-solving strategies and higher order thinking skills.

At Greenfield Center School, teachers incorporate technology in all aspects of student learning, curriculum design, assessment, and teaching. Not only do they encourage students to use computers and related resources such as word processors, spreadsheets, presentation software, scanners, digital cameras, Web-based resources, and AlphaSmart keyboards for classroom work and assignments, they also use several technology-based assessment techniques to evaluate student learning, analyze and interpret student performance, and improve teaching. Recognizing that “technology has the power to engage and challenge students,” [Local Technology Plan Guidelines (School Year 2007-2008 through 2010-2011), Massachusetts DOE (2007), Retrieved December 24, 2007 from http://www.doe.mass.edu/edtech/techplan/07-10guidelines.doc]. Center School teachers are excited about the possibilities that technology creates, and are committed to incorporating it in existing curriculum and instruction. However, we realize that technology literacy at the Center School can be achieved only if we formulate a clear and coherent implementation plan derived from ongoing discussions with teachers, students, and parents.

The Greenfield Center School Technology Plan (2008-2011) that follows below is specific to GCS. It is a dynamic, continually evolving document that reviews past accomplishments and details the efforts GCS will make during the next three years to ensure that students, teachers, administrators, and staff have every opportunity to use computers and related equipment for teaching, learning, assessment, and improved administrative efficiency. Representing an update of the three-year Technology Plan in effect from July 1, 2005 through June 30, 2008, it is the result of a group effort, created with input from our community of stakeholders, consisting of:

• The school’s Executive Director, Technology Committee, and Technology Coordinator

• The Center School Board of Directors;

• Parents/Guardians

• Students

 

Technology literacy is costly. Without financial support for both short term and long-range technology initiatives, there can be no technology program at the school. Only with constant improvements and upgrades to school hardware and software can we truly remain current with technology advancements.

Page last updates: February 20, 2008