Description

=Description=

This professional development training will support the sound vision and values established by the Georgia Department of Education and Carrollton Junior High School. Georgia’s goal for developing strong education leaders particularly at the building level will be specifically addressed as well as the state’s mission for establishing strong collaboration and continuous improvement values (Georgia Department of Education, 2010). The activities presented during the workshop will also provide learning opportunities that will lead to improvement of student achievement and workforce readiness skills.

The vision of Carrollton City Schools to empower students to be life-long learners who become responsible productive members of society will be an underlying concept throughout this workshop. The school system’s mission for preparing teachers to be their best while offering quality instructional resources and tools will also be strengthened through this educational session (Carrollton Junior High School, 2010). This faculty workshop will highlight the school’s emphasis of merging technology into innovative teaching techniques through a rigorous academic program that offers engaging classroom experiences.

Carrollton Junior High School is part of the Carrollton City School System and houses grades sixth through eighth. There are approximately 975 students currently enrolled at CJHS. Their mission is to “focus on success for all students” and ensure that “each Carrollton Junior High School student should be accepted as an individual and provided with diverse academic experiences that promote maximum growth in knowledge acquisition, character, self-discipline, responsibility, and citizenship” (Carrollton Junior High School, 2010, pp.8). The school is designed to provide students with as many learning opportunities as possible by using various resources that are available. Students have access to numerous forms of technology; some of which are listed below:
 * 1) Classrooms are equipped with student computers
 * 2) 24 Interactive whiteboards throughout the school
 * 3) One business education lab with 31 computers
 * 4) Computer lab with 30 computers; interactive whiteboard, and ceiling mounted projector
 * 5) Media Center with 30 computer work stations; interactive whiteboard; ceiling mounted projector
 * 6) 2010 Technology update throughout school which added ceiling mounted projectors, document cameras, and sound systems to classrooms.
 * 7) Entire school system is connected through networking; CJHS also has its own closed circuit network. (Carrollton Junior High School, 2010).

Obviously, Carrollton Junior High School has a progressive approach for procuring and providing technology within the school. Because of this, the focus within this initiative on integrating technology throughout daily instruction will be of great benefit to both students and faculty.

Carrollton Junior High School has met Adequate Yearly Progress each year since the passage of the No Child Left Behind education reform law. However, based on CRCT data, there are areas of concern, especially concerning sub-groups within the student body. In order to address these needs, the faculty has recently implemented an afterschool program called Trojan University. Trojan University is funded from a grant to build 21st century community learning centers. There are three main purposes to this program. The first goal is to provide tutoring services to students as well as enrichment opportunities. The second purpose of this program is to offer additional services and activities to not only reinforce, but also complement the academic program that students engage in during their regular school day. The third purpose is to provide opportunities for greater parent involvement.

The program specifically targets students that did not meet the standards in Math and/or Reading based on their CRCT scores. Since the process for applying for this grant began during the summer of 2009, the needs that were accessed for CJHS were based on CRCT scores from April, 2009. Trojan University is offered at no cost to those students that qualify and transportation after school is also provided to these students. When determining the need for a grant to provide a program such as this several factors had to be examined. During this examination process numerous risk factors within the community were identified. There are several economic factors that exist, such as a low median household income, the high unemployment rate in the community, the percentage of people that live below the poverty level, and the percentage of students that qualify for free or reduced lunch. Other factors that were considered were the percentage of adults without a high school education and the teen pregnancy rate (Georgia Department of Education, 2010).

Carrollton Junior High School’s 2010 CRCT scores represent several areas that show where improvement is needed. In math, 22.5 % of the sixth graders that were administered the CRCT, did not meet the passing score for this content area. Science scores were of equal concern with 24.9 % of the 6th graders at Carrollton Junior High School not passing that portion of the test (Georgia Department of Education, 2010).

As a means of enhancing our students’ math and science skills, CJHS was recently awarded a STEM grant. STEM grants provide middle and high schools with funding to meet goals in promoting science, technology, engineering, and math in 21st century learning classrooms. STEM is intended to help schools establish STEM labs that enable students to engage in activities that require hands-on learning; provide students with multiple opportunities to use technology tools and build technology skills while working with the Georgia Performance Standards (Carrollton Junior High School, 2010).

The implementation of both Trojan University and the resources that can be purchased using the STEM grant can be used to provide all students at CJHS with either remediation or enrichment that is rich in technology use. Both can provide students with opportunities to engage in project based learning activities that are based on the topics that are being studied while being able to incorporate technology into math and science, which have been identified as areas of concern (Carrollton Junior High School, 2010). The documentation described above show the need for and the importance of collegial discussion and collaborative planning offered through professional training such as this proposed workshop.

Audience & Goals