'Computers@Home'
Captures
Texas Civic Star Award
March 4, 2005
Plano ISD captured the prestigious Texas Civic Star Award presented
by the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) for the
district’s Computers@Home program at AASA’s national conference
held in February in San Antonio.
About the Formation of 'Computers@Home'
Dr. Doug Otto, superintendent of
schools, has challenged his leadership staff since
1996 on ways to extend the learning day for students and
minimize any gaps that may exist among students in
areas such as academic achievement and access to technology.
Nationally, a part of this challenge
was later given a name – the digital divide. Opening up our
school sites for longer periods of time only partially answered the
challenge of increased student access to technology resources – the
more complete answer depended upon placing technology resources directly
in students’ hands, in their home environment, along with high
quality instructional software programs.
Working with state legislators and community leaders, Dr. Otto, along
with the Plano ISD Board of Trustees, was successful in promoting
legislation that was authored and passed during the 2001 legislative
session that eventually allowed school districts the opportunity to
donate any technology equipment that was designated as surplus directly
to students who were educationally disadvantaged. Since the district
was in the process of a community funded replacement program for technology
equipment in our 65 schools, the timing of this legislation was fortuitous.
The superintendent and Board of Trustees gave formal approval to
creating a program to provide technology resources to students under
the guidelines of that state legislation in Fall 2002. Jim Hirsch,
the associate superintendent for technology, working with the Plano
ISD technology steering committee (which included parents, staff and
community members), identified requirements to administer the program
and named it Computers@Home.
Key elements of the program included
the ability for each of the local schools to design
the actual logistics of identifying eligible students,
providing evening opportunities
for students and their families to attend training
sessions and to obtain equipment and having a support
plan that tracked the receiving
students' academic and social progress and offered
ongoing training opportunities for families in the
use of the equipment and software.
The district technology division provided assistance to each school
for the initial delivery and training event, delivered and setup the
surplus computer equipment at each event and provided licensed software
for each computer. Additionally, businesses throughout the community
provided support through donations of related equipment such as printers
and power strips as well as mentors for students and families.
Local
service organizations such as PTAs and the League
of United Latin American Citizens provided language
translators, meals and child care
for the school-based evening sessions. High school
students, staff and parents volunteered time to serve
as mentors during the sessions.
The Plano ISD Education Foundation, through funding
raised in the community, provides DSL service for over
30 families in this program.
As of May 2004, more than 1,250 Plano ISD students
and their families had received computer systems through
the Computers@Home initiative.
The impact of this program has been far-reaching. Students have been
able to continue work on math, reading and writing
skills beyond the school day and have shown an increase in achievement
as measured
on statewide tests, but more importantly, these students
have been able to gain more experience and comfort in the use of technology
resources and display greater participation in their
classrooms.
Families
have improved their skills by using CD-based training
materials from their work, completing job applications
in a more professional looking
manner and learning overall technology skills that
assist them in their jobs and enable them to support
their children. The Plano ISD
Computers@Home program is making a difference in
closing the digital divide and the achievement gap for Plano ISD students
and families.
Related Link
Computers@Home
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