Sunday, October 2, 2011

Individualizing instruction with technology.

Individualizing instruction with technology. PROBLEM DON TYLINSKI INHERITED A challenge when he became superintendent ofthe Seneca Valley (Pa.) School District in 2004. The 7,363-student K12district located 30 miles north of Pittsburgh was under strain becauseof the arrival of large new industries in the area, including a newfacility of global nuclear power plant builder Westinghouse. "Thegrowth in student population had everyone in the district scrambling. Welost consistency in the curriculum," says Tylinski. As a result, the Pittsburgh Business Times, which ranks districtsbased upon the results of the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment The annual Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) is the Pennsylvania state standardized test. Every Pennsylvania student in grades 3 through 8 and grade 11 is assessed in reading and math. Every Pennsylvania student in grades 5, 8 and 11 is assessed in writing. exams held in grades 3-8 and 11, ranked SVSD SVSD Seneca Valley School District (Harmony, Pennsylvania)SVSD Swan Valley School Division (Canada)SVSD Saucon Valley School District (Hellertown, Pennsylvania)as 43rd out of 100districts in western Pennsylvania Western Pennsylvania consists of the western third of the state of Pennsylvania in the United States.Pittsburgh is the largest city in the region, with a metropolitan area of about 2.4 million people, and is the cultural center for Western Pennsylvania. , much lower than the community wantedthe district to be. Specifically, SVSD had a difficult time identifyingand reaching its struggling K8 students and helping them advance tograde level. "Teachers couldn't reach them because they didnot have the resources or lessons at each student's specificlevel," says Tylinski. Administrators felt there needed to be amore individualized in��di��vid��u��al��ize?tr.v. in��di��vid��u��al��ized, in��di��vid��u��al��iz��ing, in��di��vid��u��al��iz��es1. To give individuality to.2. To consider or treat individually; particularize.3. approach to assessment and instruction. SOLUTION The district implemented a multi-tiered strategy, combiningimprovements in instruction, early intervention ear��ly interventionn. Abbr. EIA process of assessment and therapy provided to children, especially those younger than age 6, to facilitate normal cognitive and emotional development and to prevent developmental disability or delay. and assessment. Severalresources were critical. "Technology filled the gap that hadprevented us from reaching a lot of kids in the past," saysTylinski. SVSD implemented Compass Learning's Odyssey curriculumsoftware and assessments from the Northwest Evaluation Association, butadministrators also needed a way to identify the prerequisite skillsthat students needed for each grade level. "A good portion ofeducation is sequential, and concepts have to be learned in a certainorder," explains Tylinski. To that end, the district implemented aWeb-based program called Learning Plans On Demand from the InternationalLearning Corporation. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Creating Custom Learning Plans To use Learning Plans On Demand, teachers log in to the Web site,select the subject area, narrow down to the grade level and specifictopic within each, and select from a page of learning objectives withinthe topic that are correlated to state standards. To determine ifstudents need remediation, teachers select objectives and the programdesigns an assessment test that can be printed or taken by studentsonline. The program then creates a custom lesson plan that includeslists of necessary materials, worksheets, and detailed teachingtechniques and strategies targeted to each student's level. Learning Plans On Demand also allows administrators to monitorwhich teachers are using the program and how, how well students aredoing, and which specific skills most often require remediation."When a teacher creates an individual plan, the program keeps arecord of that information, and administrators can access reportsdetailing the contents," says K6 assistant superintendent JeffreyFuller. "This allows us at the district level to pinpoint what weneed to enhance in our curriculum, or in which prior grade levels weneed to be doing something different," says Tylinski. Seeing Results Five years after Tylinski joined the district, and after thesestrategies, student achievement has significantly improved, liftingSeneca Valley in the Pittsburgh Business Times rankings from 43rd to16th. "These technologies have been a big part of it. Years ago,when I was told that someday some��day?adv.At an indefinite time in the future.Usage Note: The adverbs someday and sometime express future time indefinitely: We'll succeed someday. Come sometime. we would have individualized instruction Individualized instruction is a method of instruction in which content, instructional materials, instructional media, and pace of learning are based upon the abilities and interests of each individual learner. inschools, I was skeptical. But after the success of the past five years,I think we're definitely getting there." The superintendent is not quick to claim credit, however."This job is like being a coach following another coach. Everysuperintendent has different goals to deal with at different times. Ididn't have the population growth and building projects that mypredecessors did, for example. Instead, I have been able to focus onimproving the curriculum, raising achievement and getting more resourceslike this into the hands of teachers." DA Kurt Eisele-Dyrli is products editor.

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