From What to Why…

1. From What to Why… Paul A. Romero CTO Albuquerque Public Schools

2. A little information… APS provides educational services to students in Albuquerque, Rio Rancho, Corrales, Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, Tijeras, San Antonito, and Edgewood. In addition, we serve Laguna, To’hajiilee, and the Atrisco Land Grant. APS is the city’s second largest employer, providing jobs for nearly 15,000 people. We are considered a urban-suburban-rural school district with more than a third of our students coming from homes where the primary language is not English.

3. Technology Information The 30th largest school district in the U.S. with an annual budget of $1.3 billion, provides I.T. services to 104,000 users, 140 school sites, four administrative campuses, an FM radio station, a juvenile detention center, and a commercial printing operation. The APS network encompasses 1,200 miles over three counties and is almost as large as the state of Rhode Island. The Information Technology budget this year was $25 million.

4. Technology Information 43,000 devices in a lab environment 70,000+ overall computing devices 10,000 additional devices deployed/yr.

5. How I felt when I started to get my feet wet at APS…

6. From What to Why… WhatWhy

7. From What to Why… WhatWhy

8. Overriding Goal for aps I.t. To focus on the overriding business goal of the organization: To ensure that our students are college and career ready Aligning our vision on matching the business objectives is key to the success of our children and reestablishing I.T. as a critical/necessary function of the organization.

9. Project REDRevolutionizing Education • National survey to analyze what’s working in technology- transformed schools • 997 schools • In-depth search for proof of cost savings by deploying technology in the classroom 997 Schools, 49 states, and DC 11 diverse education success measures Ratio findings -1:1, 2:1, etc.

10. Direction of the research • Identify the technology implementation strategies that can successfully transform American schools • Isolate the variables that were having the greatest impact in order to create impactful guidelines for schools • Research the potentially positive financial impact of success technology implementations in schools • Look at the impact of a 1:1 computing deployment on student performance and education budgets

11. Findings Properly implemented educational technology can • substantially improve student achievement • be revenue positive at all levels–national, state, and local Continuous access to a computing device for every student leads to even greater academic achievement and financial benefits, especially when technology is properly implemented

12. 1st and 2nd order change • 1st Order Change – Try to make what exists more efficient and effective without disrupting basic organizational arrangements or how people perform their roles • 2nd Order Change – A dramatic change or difference in current practices requiring new knowledge and skills for successful implementation

13. 2nd order change Project RED defines second-order change for our schools as follows: • Mechanisms in place to address each student with personalized instruction programs • Exchange of seat-time requirements for demonstrated proficiency in coursework • Change in focus to student as customer

14. Education Success Measures • Disciplinary Action Rate: a strong, leading indicator of academic success or failure – shows if students are engaged • Drop-out rate • High-stakes test scores • Paper and copying expenses • Paperwork reduction: When paperwork is reduced, teachers have more time to spend on educationally productive tasks

15. Key implementation factors • Intervention Classes – technology is integrated into every intervention class – ELL, Title I, SPED, Reading • Leadership by Principal – leaders provided time for teacher PD and collaboration every week • Principal Training – trained to lead effective implementation – ensures teacher buy in and model best practices • Online Collaboration – students use technology DAILY for online collaboration (to include social media) • Core Subjects- technology is integrated into every curriculum • Online Formative Assessments – assessments are performed weekly • Student to Computer Ratio – lower ratios improve outcome • Virtual Field Trips – at least one monthly • Search Engines – used daily (research)

16. Technology works • 92% report disciplinary action reduction • 90% report high-stakes test scores increase • 89% report dropout rate reduction • 63% report graduation rate increase

17. If your organization cannot adapt, evolve and respond to the expectations and desires of the people you’re serving (children) – including your employees – you will fall in their estimation and find your company mired in mediocrity. - Prof. Tony O’Driscoll, Duke University