Introduction

The technological world is changing daily at an extreme pace. District personnel reviews and tests new offerings to see which items can be incorporated into our existing Technology Plan to gain our ultimate goal of quality student education. The plan is also flexible and changes to accommodate and incorporate new technologies into the district’s long-range goals. This plan exists as a guide in achieving the ultimate goal of providing superior education to all students within the district.

This plan outlines our current status, our future goals, and our steps to achieve those goals. The structure is flexible to accommodate the changing world we live in, the world of technology developments and the world of student and faculty needs. Southern Boone’s history with technology shows that we strive to provide each and every student with as many opportunities to grow as is possible. We have embraced and accepted those technology offerings that further our educational goals. We have also tested and discarded those items that did not enhance our students’ achievement goals. This discernment in the world of technology is a must.

Southern Boone County is an eclectic mix of rural and suburban lifestyles. Physically located midway between the college town of Columbia and the state capital, Jefferson City, Southern Boone offers the best of both worlds by blending small town values and big city schooling opportunities. Class size remains small, yet the high school has a wide range of offerings including several dual credit college classes. The physical makeup of the district is a primary building that houses kindergarten through second grade; an elementary building that houses grades three through five; a middle school facility that houses grades six through eight; a high school building that houses grades nine through twelve; and a practical arts building that provides industrial arts and vocational agriculture classes for the high school and middle school.

Southern Boone prides itself on parental and community support. Bond issues historically pass with little problem. Volunteers are found in the primary and elementary buildings on a daily basis. Committees come together quickly to support sports programs. Our community business-base is small but growing every day. Businesses run the gamut from gift shops to construction firms. The majority of the businesses are home-office based.

The Southern Boone District is committed to providing a quality education for all enrolled students. The board of education, administration, faculty and staff realize that a quality education is the result of a dedicated and caring staff, adequate facilities and appropriate curriculum. An integral component is technology.

Since technology is such a strong component in education, it is necessary to commit time and money to plan for its use throughout the curriculum. Southern Boone’s faculty members and board members view technology not as a separate entity, but as one of the many components involved in the process of students becoming lifelong learners.

District Facts

2005 – 2006 Building Demographics

Pre-Kindergarten 20

Primary K-2 Student Count 305

Elementary 3-5 Student Count 293

Middle School 6-8 Student Count 302

High School Student Count 442

Total Student Enrollment (12/30/05) 1362

Buildings: 5 (PreK-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12, Practical Arts)

(Each attendance center is housed in its own building. Computer networking consists of a WAN/LAN so all buildings are linked.)

Certified Staff Count 117

City Population: 2156

Date of most recent MSIP review: Waiver December 2005

Distinction in Performance 2001-2005-06

Percent of students who qualify for the

free and reduced lunch program district wide: 16%

County District Code: 010-087

Date of most recent CSIP approval by BOE: December 2005

Date previous technology plan approved by BOE: March 2003

Date this technology plan approved by BOE: Discussed December 2005,

January 2006, February 2006

(will submit date asap)

Technology Committee

The goal of the technology committee is to establish a plan by which technology will be available to the students and staff, implemented into the curriculum, purchased and maintained in an adequate manner and reviewed annually by the Board of Education.

The technology committee for Southern Boone was selected by asking individuals if they would serve and be committed in formulating and overseeing this plan. Representation was sought that would cover the broad spectrum of populations within our district.

The committee will meet annually in a formal session, but personnel are readily available to discuss technology plans and needs at all times. The approved technology plan will be posted on the district’s website to enable committee members, as well as the general public, to have access at all times.

Committee members will have access to information relating to all areas concerning technology. Policies, procedures, and the Technology Plan’s activities, outcomes and overall progress will be examined yearly for any necessary changes or updates made necessary by legal issues or compliance issues. Their input will be sought in all areas and information will be provided to them on activities, outcomes and overall progress of the technology plan.

The assistant superintendent and technology coordinator share the duties as facilitators of the committee. The plan will be developed and implemented with the direction of the assistant superintendent and technology coordinator. Staff members will provide input from the teaching staff and student members will provide this information from the student population. Community and business members will give a real-life perspective on the skills the business world is seeking in graduates. Technical advice is readily available from the computer firm the district is currently contracted with for outside support. This plan will serve as a guide for the district and will be accessible in all offices and on the school website.

Accomplishments Since March 2003

Technology Committee

Committee Member	Position Held	Group Representing	TFA Adddressed
Susan Gauzy	Superintendent	School Administration, MSIP, CSIP	1,2,3,4,5
Carol Cronhardt	Assistant Superintendent, A+Coordinator	School Administration, MSIP, CSIP	1,2,3,4,5
Melody Nichols	Technology Coordinator, Business	School and Community	1,2,3,4,5
Johnny Thompson	High School Principal, Parent	School, Parent and Community	1,2,3
Cricket Hackmann	Parent, Canterbury/Tiger Travel	Community, Parent, and Business	1,4
Cody Hackmann	Student	Student	1
Naomi Starr	Student	Student	1
Judy Starr	Parent, Boone County Bank	Community, Parent and Business	1,2,4
Cathi Rust	Elementary Principal	School, Parent and Community	1,2,3
Bibal Mars	5^th Grade Teacher	School and Community	1,2,4
Roxanne Gilpin	K-2 Librarian, parent	School and Community	1,2,4
Ken Eftink	Ashland City Manager, Parent	Parent and Community	1,4
Ron Smith	Middle School Teacher	School	1,2
Cherie Witt	High School Business Teacher	School	1,2
Tracy Graham	Owner, Innovative Technologies	Technology Support, Business	5
Biff Barner	School Board Member, Chief Information Officer, Medical Network Technologies	Community and School	1,2,3,4
Tiff Lauffer Phebe Lauffer	Retired, Daniel Boone Library Board Community	Community Community	1,4 1,4
Rick Briedwell	Supervisor of Building and Grounds	School and Community	5

District Mission Statement

To educate by challenging each student to reach full potential in preparing for a changing world.

Technology Mission Statement

The Southern Boone School District does not view technology as an end in itself but as a tool to be used for preparing students to meet the challenges in today’s world. Technology will be integrated into the educational program to support and enhance student learning allowing them to meet achievement standards set by the state and district. Students will be provided with efficient and equitable access to technology resources. Southern Boone’s faculty and staff will use technology to enhance the learning environment, manage data and communicate effectively with each other and the community. Curriculum will be infused with age-appropriate and subject appropriate technology. Technical support will be maintained at a level to reach the district goals. (This statement has been minimally changed since the 2003 Tech Plan.)

Technology Vision Statement

The Southern Boone School District believes it is our responsibility to prepare students for a technologically changing world. We feel that we must provide an educational program that will prepare students to function in a world that revolves around state of the art technology. Our belief is that to be successful, both student and teacher need to develop competency in the use of and applications for available technology.

We will strive to maintain current and adequate equipment with availability to students and staff being the main focus. They will be given opportunities to explore, investigate, analyze, create, design and evaluate issues using the technology the district is able to provide. Technology will be embedded into the curriculum and should be the tool that will improve productivity and communication between students, staff and community.

Evaluation of our efforts will be achieved as students are graduated and move into the working community as productive contributors. The skills they have acquired while in our facilities will be the cornerstone for their lives.

The above Technology Mission Statement and Technology Vision Statement have not changed significantly since they were formulated three years ago. We feel it is an honorable goal to integrate technology where it will enhance learning in our curriculum. The integration provides our students with an enhanced learning environment. Our statements are broad to give us the flexibility needed to achieve the district educational goals as outlined in our Comprehensive School Improvement Plan and also in the TFAs. (One of our CSIP goals is for all students and teachers/staff to achieve technology competencies that we have outlined.)

Raw Data Sources

Raw data for this plan came from a variety of sources. This data was used to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the district. By identifying these areas for the district, we feel we are able to make any adjustments deemed necessary in a timely fashion.

· MAP Scores (standardized assessments) TFA 1, 2, 3, and 5.

Strength – The district has been above state level on all MAP assessments except one area (Math 8, 2004) during the last five years however, we continue to work on having all students reach proficiency on all MAP assessments.

· Information about graduates. TFA 1 and 4.

Strength – 60% to 70% of our graduates attend post-secondary education

One year and five year follow-up surveys report that students felt well prepared for additional school or the workforce.

· ACT Scores (standardized assessments) TFA 1 and 4.

Strength – Southern Boone Students have scored above the state average for the last five years.

· Local Student Performance Assessments

Strength – All teachers use a variety of local assessments – scoring guides, checklist, pre/post assessments to evaluate student performance

· Staff surveys for competency and hardware use TFA 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Strength – 100% of all teachers/staff have met Level 1 Technology Competencies over the last three years. More new teachers/staff have these technology competencies when hired at Southern Boone and require very little professional development.

· Census of Technology (COT) TFA 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Strength -- The district exceeds the state average on students per internet connected computers and having 100% of classrooms connected to the internet.

· Logs from building media centers showing lab use. TFA 1, 4, and 5.

Strength/Weakness -- Computer Labs are booked most hours with classes. Teachers and students are using our facilities for learning. We could use additional labs but the budget and infrastructure will not support them at this time.

· Policies and procedures including those related to copyright, AUP, licensing, CIPA, filtering, and security. TFA 1, 3, 4, and 5.

Strength/Weakness – The district meets all requirements in this area, however, software chosen for security purposes is causing difficulty with Windows 98 Operating system.

· Student competency standards. TFA 1, 3, and 4.

Strength – Over the last five years, 95-97% of students each year have met the technology competencies adopted by our district.

· Professional development schedules, requests, and evaluations TFA 2.

Strength – Teachers and staff receive professional development at the building and district level in all areas on technology, curriculum and instruction. They are also encouraged to attend workshops, etc. outside the district. Professional Development 1% and additional local funds support PD.

· Curriculum Standards including Technology

Strength – The district meets all MSIP and A+ standards in these areas. All curriculums are available on the network. Technology competencies are also on network

· Administrative networked tools (financial and budget management) TFA 4.

Strength – The district uses SISFIN system for finance and budgeting. All principals, secretaries, and anyone else with need have access to this program.

· Data management tools (student records, special education records, grade books) TFA 2, 3 and 4.

Strength – All administrative and teacher/staff machines have the Student Information System on their computers. This includes a Special Services and A+ Module. All teachers use a grade book program that is part of SIS also.

· Communication tools (Internet, web page, e-mail ) TFA 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Strength – All teachers/staff and students have access to the Internet and Web Page from every networked computer. All teachers and high school students have access to e-mail. Teachers can access e-mail from home. All networked computers have access to our intranet.

· Firewall logs with security information, filtering and network use TFA 3 and 5.

Strength/Weakness – We have the necessary security and filtering software however, computers with older operating systems are having difficulty.

· On-line inventory of equipment and software TFA 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Strength – Works very well for updating equipment and software purposes. Also inventory is necessary for insurance purposes.

· On-line work order database TFA 4 and 5.

Strength – Works very efficiently and all administrators can see progress of work.

· District budget for technology TFA 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Strength/Weakness – The district spends $150,000 to $200,000 on technology each year but that has not been enough to keep us up-to-date. Improving the infrastructure and updating computer operating systems are budget needs with major costs.

· Current Status TFA 1,2, 3, 4, 5

Strength/Weakness – Student and teacher access to technology is a strength. Problems with infrastructure, virus and spam filtering, operating systems are a weakness.

· Total Cost of Ownership TFA 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Weakness – Different formulas that we have used have not allowed us to make good use of this information.

The majority of our needed data has been in electronic format prior to the last technology plan cycle. This format allows us to obtain facts and figures fairly quickly. By comparing how our district extracts and uses information against other districts in the state, we are able to hone in on areas where we need to improve our data collection. Over the past three years, we have upgraded many of our software packages, such as SISFIN and SIS for our financial and student records, respectively.

Goals

Previous Plan Goals and Progress

2003-2006 Goals:

Enable students to learn by using technology to organize, acquire and manipulate information.

Progress: Technology competencies have been integrated into the curriculum at each grade level. Teachers have students use more and more activities that support learning and also technology and the different curriculums.

Provide appropriate technologies to students at every grade level.

Progress: Hardware and software have been made available. Examples are: Projection devices (and smart boards) in many classrooms, computer pods in some classrooms, 4^th grade e-mints rooms, computer labs/classrooms in each building – 1 in primary, 1 in elementary plus 5 e-mints rooms, 3 in Middle School, and 4 in high school. Software includes: Inspiration, Kid picks, Scholastic Reading Inventory, PLATO, Photoshop, In Design, CAD, etc.

Provide “real-life” knowledge of technology-based applications.

Progress: All computers have the Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, Power Point, software that teachers and students use every day. We also have advanced software programs that our high school students use in particular classes. These include: PLATO, Photoshop, In Design, CAD, and many other smaller programs that are curriculum associated.

Provide adequate background, training and support so the staff may effectively use technology items available to them.

Progress: Teachers continually receive instruction and in-service on new equipment and software. We now have two technology support staff who work on repairs and updates.

Expand the integration of technology into even more areas of curriculum.

Progress: We have more for lab use than our labs can support. Teachers and staff have equipment and software requests that the budget has a hard time supporting.

Technology Goals 2006-2009

Technology is changing and growing more rapidly every day. It has become an integral part in a majority of occupations in today’s world. It is, therefore, necessary that schools produce graduates that are able to interact with computers and are able to use them as job tools.

Students are already aware of the existence of computer technology and possess some proficiency in dealing with this part of our world. It is important, however, to teach students how to use more than the technology tool of computers. It is imperative that we, as the educational institution, prepare them for a wide array of technology tools that they will face beyond the school setting.

To achieve our mission statement of creating life-long learners, we have set the following technology goals:

Continue to implement technology in all curriculum areas to improve student learning.

(TFA 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) (CSIP 1, 4, 6, 7)

Work to improve the technology infrastructure. (TFA 3, 4, 5) (CSIP 1, 3, 6, 7) This includes fiber to the South Campus, additional electricity to the Elementary and Middle School, and improvements to the network.

Keep up-to-date with equipment and software. (TFA 1, 2, 3, 4) (CSIP 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) This includes having servers and computers use the most current operating systems, adding new software and keeping current on present software, and having equipment that is efficient and operational and in adequate amounts.

Have students meet technology competencies for NCLB and the district. (TFA 1, 4) (CSIP 1, 6)

Provide professional development to administrators, teachers and staff to assist with delivery of instruction and with administrative/communication functions. (TFA 2, 3, 4)

(CSIP 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7)

Comprehensive School Improvement Plan Goals

The district has identified seven objectives in the most recent CSIP as goals:

Objective #1: Students at Southern Boone Schools will achieve the “high MAP Performance Index Score on All MAP Assessments. (TFA 1, 4)

Objective #2: The district and each building level will have at least five parent communications/opportunities for parent involvement each year. (TFA 1, 4, 5)

Objective #3: The School Board has written long and short range plans for the maintenance/renovation/replacement of its facilities to accommodate the district’s instructional programs. (TFA 4, 5)

Objective #4: The At-risk plan for students in grades K-12 will focus on keeping the dropout rate below 3%. (TFA 1)

Objective #5: The student attendance percentage at Southern Boone Schools, K-12, will be at 95% or above. (TFA 1)

Objective #6: All students will meet developed technology competencies. (TFA 1, 2, 3, 4)

Objective #7: All disaggregated groups will make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) on Communication Arts and Math MAP assessments. All disaggregated groups will make similar progress to the whole group on all Southern Boone MAP assessments. (TFA 1, 4)

We feel that technology is a valuable asset for each of our CSIP goals. We have progressed rapidly to the stage where technology is not taught as a separate science, but is incorporated in each and every aspect of our students’ and staffs’ daily lives. We use technological tools to aid in achieving each of our CSIP goals.

Our district is currently meeting or exceeding all CSIP Objectives except Objective 7. The free and reduced student subgroup at 10^th grade Math did not make AYP. We are addressing the deficiency in that objective by focusing on computer-aided math tutoring.

Student Learning (Performance) is the focus of everything we do. Our mission statement, CSIP Goals, Professional Development Plan, Technology Plan and day to day activities are centered on meeting the learning needs of our students. These needs include meeting the NCLB 8^th grade technology integration and literacy goals.

Teacher Preparation and Delivery of Instruction: Professional development funds spent for teachers must focus on student performance. This includes utilizing technology in presentation and classroom activities to promote learning.

Data Analysis

TFA 1 Student Learning –

#	Data Examined	Strength Or Weakness	Results	Show-Me Standard MSIP/CSIP	TFA	Technology Implications for District
S1	MAP, Crystal Reports Show-Me Standards GLEs, Curriculum	Strength/ Weakness	MAP, SAT 10, ACT scores are above the state averages.	G1.4, G2.7 6.2; 4.2 CSIP 1	1,2,3,4,5	Student achievement is enhanced by the accessibility of technology. All students need to become proficient in CA and MA.
S2	Equipment Inventory, Census of Technology Software Inventory, Staff building technology meetings	Strength	Technology access and use is at or above the state level. Software is available district-wide.	G1.4, G2.7 6.4 CSIP 1, 6	4	Student learning is not compromised by lack of hardware or software. Programs such as Reading Counts, Kid Picks, Photoshop, In Design, etc. have created interest in using technology.
S3	Policies, Procedures, CIPA guidelines	Strength	All appropriate policies are in place. Internet policy, copyright agreement, etc. follow government expectations.	G3.8, G4.7 G1.10 6.4 CSIP 1, 6	1,4,5	Student learning is not compromised due to lack of district responsibility for technology instructions.
S4	Established Technology competencies/classes for students	Strength	Students meet tech competencies or take classes	G1.2, G1.4 6.4 CSIP 1, 6	1,4	Students incorporate technology competencies into curriculum activities.
S5	CSIP	Strength	All CSIP objectives focus on student achievement.	G2.7, G1.4 6.2 CSIP (1-7)	1,2,3,4,5	Computer-based alternative programs have been added at the high school level to increase student achievement and graduation rate.
6	Equipment use survey	Weakness	All hardware is not used to its fullest district wide.

District Facts

Technology Committee

Technology Committee

Position Held

Group Representing

District Mission Statement

Technology Mission Statement

Technology Vision Statement

Goals

Comprehensive School Improvement Plan Goals

TFA 1 Student Learning –