Equity and Excellence: Instructional Technology in Small Rural Schools

1. Equity and Excellence:Instructional Technology in Small Rural Schools Tools for Great Teachers: www.toolsforgreatteachers.com Hallsville ISD: www.hisd.com White Oak ISD: www.woisd.net

2. From Tools for Great Teachers: Kathy McConnell Fad and Paula Rogers From Hallsville ISD: Stacey Perkins, Kelly Graff, Toni Erickson, and Paula Rogers From White Oak ISD: Nina Peery, Pam Cranford, Claire Koonce, and Danieli Parker Team Members

3. Who’s Rural? • Definitions vary but some examples are: • Communities with fewer than 2,500 people (U.S. Census Bureau) • Schools with fewer than 600 students (U.S. DOE) • Towns with fewer than 25,000 residents (Advocates)

4. Why Focus On Rural School Issues? • More than one in five students in the U.S. attends a rural school. • More than one-half of all school districts are in rural areas. • More than one-third of all public schools are in rural areas. • While overall enrollment in public schools grew about one percent from 2002 to 2005, rural student enrollment grew 15 percent. • National Center for Educational Statistics: http://nces.ed.gov • Rural Schools and Community Trust: http://files.ruraledu.org • Education Week: Rural Education: http://wwwledweek.org

5. Why Focus On Rural School Issues? Large urban school districts often set the tone for education initiatives and are the impetus for government policies, but small rural districts educate their students without benefit of the same financial support, community partnerships, technological resources, and geographical advantages.

6. Why Focus On Rural School Issues? • Many rural areas face serious educational issues like: • Concentrated poverty • Difficulty recruiting and retaining teachers and principals • Lack of or limited Internet access • Limited secondary coursework options (e.g., AP, IB classes) • Less funding than urban areas • Shrinking tax bases • “Brain Drain”

7. Why Focus On Rural School Issues? • In addition, there are challenges facing the many rural public schools in Texas that are a result of decisions made at the state level. For example: • Texas ranks 47th of the 50 states in per student spending in public schools, more than $3,000 below the national average. • Texas has both the lowest number and the lowest percentage of children without health care coverage. • Since drastic budget cuts to public education in the last legislative session, more than 30,000 public education jobs have been lost. References: Dallas Morning News, retrieved on February 22, 2013 .http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com National Education Association database

8. Why Focus On Rural School Issues? • Even so, rural schools also have some important advantages like • Strong community support • Close links to community employers • Educators willing to “try anything” • Instructional Technology!!

9. Instructional Technology In Rural Schools In this discussion, we will focus on sub-populations in small rural schools….groups that can be most significantly and positively impacted by instructional technology. • Students with disabilities. • Sub-groups who feel the effects of rural school issues more keenly: Economically disadvantaged students, second language learners, and students isolated from opportunity by geography.

10. Priority 1: Students with Disabilities

11. Students with Disabilities in Inclusive Settings in Small Rural Schools • Hallsville ISD focuses on including students with disabilities in general education through a co-teaching model. • Students are educated with their non-disabled peers in general education classrooms. • Both a general education and special education teacher are in the classroom and work as partners. • Students have the advantage of highly qualified teachers who are experts in differentiation and who consistently respond to individual needs.

12. Definition of Co-teaching Utah’s co-teaching handbooks has a great definition of co-teaching. • “Co-teaching is the instructional arrangement in which a general education teacher and a special education teacher deliver core instruction along with specialized instruction, as needed, to a diverse group of students in a single physical space. Co-teaching partnerships require educators to make joint instructional decisions and share responsibility and accountability for student learning.”

13. Co-Teaching in Small Rural Schools • Because co-teaching requires a commitment of personnel and resources, which are often limited in small rural schools, teachers have to make the most of what they have. • This is where instructional technology comes into play. IT can make all the difference for students and their teachers.

14. Priority 2: Specific Sub-Populations of students

15. At Risk Sub-Groups In Small Rural Schools • For economically disadvantaged students, second language learners, and rural students with limited opportunities due to geography, lack of exposure and experience can result in long term educational disadvantages. • While instructional technology can’t erase the impact of the risk factors, using instructional technology can make a big difference in foundational skills like Academic Vocabulary.

16. Academic Vocabulary • Academic vocabulary refers to the words associated with the content knowledge. • Within every discipline there is a specific set of words to represent its concepts and processes. • These words are conceptually more complex than everyday language; therefore, they are more difficult to learn.

17. Academic Vocabulary • A student’s depth of word knowledge within a discipline, or academic vocabulary, relates to success in that subject (National Institute for Literacy, 2007). • To learn specialized words, such as the vocabulary of science, students must know the content associated with the word (Armbruster, 1992; Graves & Penn, 1986). • Source: Sage Publications

18. Academic Vocabulary • Vocabulary knowledge has been identified as the most important indicator of oral language proficiency, which is particularly important for the comprehension of both spoken and written language. • In addition, general vocabulary knowledge is the single best predictor of reading comprehension. The interdependence of word knowledge and reading comprehension increases as students advance through school.

19. Academic Vocabulary • Many low income children and English language learners have limited word knowledge, which negatively affects their reading comprehension in the upper elementary and middle school grades. • As early as the first grade, children from higher income families know at least twice as many words as children from less affluent families.

20. Academic Vocabulary • As students advance in grade level, the materials they read become more difficult, and students who lack academic language can neither access nor comprehend these texts. • In addition, children who are learning English often enter kindergarten lagging behind their English-only peers in the skills necessary to start reading, with the gap remaining throughout their school years.

21. Academic Vocabulary • This literacy gap is rooted in children’s early experiences at home and at school. • Both the quality of children’s oral language experiences at home and the quality of vocabulary instruction in school have lasting consequences that contribute to the gap.

22. Academic Vocabulary • Many students acquire academic background knowledge outside of school and come to subject-area classes already knowing and using terms essential for understanding content. • For example, they or their families may have traveled extensively, exposing them to a variety of individuals, experiences, and cultures.

23. Academic Vocabulary • Such students commonly take part in conversations at home that include information that will be useful to them in school. They have incidentally gained the academic background knowledge they need to succeed in school. • By contrast, students from families with fewer resources or who live in rural areas lack such opportunities and, thus, have not incidentally acquired important academic background knowledge. • Source: • Effective Vocabulary Instruction. National Center for Reading First; Technical Assistance • Putting the Pieces of the Puzzle Together: How Systematic Vocabulary Instruction and Expanded Learning Time Can Address the Literacy Gap. White, and Kim, 2009, Harvard Graduate School of Education

24. Academic Vocabulary • One of the problems for students in rural areas is their lack of exposure to people, places, and things outside of their community and, sometimes, outside of their school. • This is magnified for students who are economically disadvantaged, have a disability, or are limited English speakers.

25. Academic Vocabulary • Hallsville ISD and White Oak ISD, like many other rural school districts, have students who have …. • Never eaten in a “sit down” restaurant • Never seen an escalator or been in an elevator • Never been to a store other than a convenience store, even stores within 10 miles of home • Never been to a public library, a museum, or a concert hall • Never gone swimming, hiking, skating, bicycling, fishing, or sledding • Never taken a family vacation or even a short trip

26. The Role of Instructional Technology • Instructional Technology, when used effectively and extensively, can bridge the gaps the face students in small rural schools. • We will share examples and ideas with you so that you see the impact IT can have.

27. Strategies and Resources You Will See and Hear • Parent and Administrator Support • Digital Responsibility • Blogging • Mobile Devices (QR codes; Nanos) • Software (Edmodo, , Moodle, etc.) • Continuing Education and Training • Communication (Skype, Twitter, etc.) • Students’ Attitudes Toward Technology