Running Head: CURRENT CONDITIONS SYNTHESIS REPORT

Current Conditions
Synthesis Report Title Page
EDIT 760-D1 Instructional Tech Leadership S118
Markeda Stuckey
Coastal Carolina University
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Hannah Pamplico Elementary Middle School is one of very few schools in South

Carolina that services K-8th grade. Students enter in kindergarten and continue to matriculate to

the end of their 8th grade year. Transitioning to the high school, is the only formal transition.

The school itself is a part of a rather small knit community where everyone pretty much knows

you or someone from your family personally. 90% of the staff are residents of the community,

and the turnover rate is very low to none practically every year. The superintendent just

completed his third year with the district. His initiative was to transform Florence County

School District Two into a technology efficient district. He immediately began distributing HP

Elitebook 1040 laptops to fifth through eighth graders and staff. Grades fourth and third were

issued Chromebooks, and the other grades received iPads. Everyone was pleased with the new

sweep of technology. Classes were being placed on a rotation list to receive the latest smart

boards. Needless to say technology came in with a mighty rush. Staff were strongly advised to

incorporate technology into their lessons. Many seasoned teachers began to complain about the

lack of technology trainings and tutorials as well as on hand staff to assist with technology

glitches. Over the next two years he implemented many trainings, specialized technology teams,

technology coordinators, and additional technical resources.

Our school has seen a drastic change within the past three years. We went from having a

few promethean boards in the building to massive technology improvements. We are definitely

one of the leading technology rich schools in our area. With the technology enhancements,

teachers are in need of a specific outline or guide to steer classroom strategies. The International

Society for Technology in Education standards for administrators were designed as a definitive

route for providing digital support, and assist in producing a technology-rich learning

environment. ISTE’s ultimate goal is to allow technology to usher computational thinking into
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classrooms. In return, students achieve the desired learning objectives. Computational thinking

encourages students to make meaningful connections between their classes and beyond. ISTE

believes computational thinking is an essential skill that benefits everyone, not just computer

scientist. Educators should incorporate computational thinking throughout all subjects.

Standards one through five were closely examined and depicted through evidence in the subject

school. Each week a different person was interviewed and an analysis of the specific standard

was conducted. The interviewees were strategically selected. Our school is very fortunate to

have a technology team which consists of administrators, our technology director and

coordinator, community members and staff. My five interviewees are all a part of our

technology team, which means they have explicit insight about our technology status. They were

all willing to participate. I appreciate their candor, thoroughness and dedication. I can recall a

couple instances where three interviewees paused to research the question. One made a phone

call during the interview to double check their response.

I have learned a lot about my school throughout this assignment. Standard 1 is

considered the visionary leadership standard it addresses the vision and or mission statement and

the role it plays with technology integration. This standard has opened my eyes and challenged

me to really examine our school’s mission statement. A mission statement says a lot about the

school, it outlines the goals and objectives. Our school does have a well written mission

statement, but it does not include our technology initiative. That in itself is misleading. Reading

that alone, you would not know how we aim to incorporate technology throughout our entire

district. The second standard is titled, The Digital Aged Learning Culture. It addresses

modeling and promoting technology use, technology friendly classrooms, and endless

advancements of digital age learning. The interviewee for this standard was the perfect person to
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answer these questions. She conducts classroom observations, reviews our weekly lesson plans,

and facilitate many of our technology trainings. There is no doubt about the evidence of this

standard within our school. I have mentioned many of our technological enhancements, which

are collaborated with additional PD’s, tutorials and observations it is a concrete indication of

Standard 2. The next standard is titled, Excellence in Professional Practice. Standard 3 suggests

that educational administrators promote an environment of professional learning and innovation

that empowers educators to enhance student learning through the infusion of contemporary

technologies and digital resources. This standard was somewhat similar to the previous standard.

There was clear evidence of it within our school. The interviewee went in detail to discuss how

we integrate technology, solicit ideas from stakeholders, and partake in various professional

developments.

Standard 4 Systemic Improvement, indicates administrators should provide digital age

leadership and management to incessantly better the body through the effective use of

information and technological resources. The interviewee identified a school weakness from this

standard. She was asked to elaborate on how HPEM establishes metrics, collect and analyze

data, interpret results, and share findings to improve staff performance and student learning. She

was able to list a few which I agree upon, but she felt as if there should be more. Data should be

used to drive a school, and if we are not using all of our data wisely we are leaving room for

error. The only way to strengthen a weaknesses, is to first acknowledge it. If we are simply

overlooking it or sweeping it under the rug the underlined issue will never improve. The

interviewee recommends the school track student attendance and proficiency rates for all

subjects, and research grants. The final standard addressed digital citizenship. This standard

encouraged administrators to model and facilitate an understanding of social ethical and legal
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issues and responsibilities related to an evolving digital culture. The interviewee and I agreed

HPEM needs to improve how we model and facilitate the development of a shared culture

understanding and involvement in global issues through the use of contemporary communication

and collaboration tools. She was able to list one of her upcoming plans to address this very

indicator. She plans to introduce her students to E-Pals. This would be a magnificent way for

students to receive firsthand knowledge about other cultures.

My next step will be to create an improvement plan. This plan will consists of

overarching issues that were revealed throughout this process. I will give my personal opinion as

to how to improve those areas. The first being the mission statement. HPEM needs to update

the mission statement to address technology. The next one is the data the school tracks.

Currently there is a very limited amount of data being tracked, and that needs to be modified.

According to the fifth standard HPEM also needs to amend the development of various cultures.

We have to get our students to look outside of home and widen their scope, because the world is

larger than Pamplico. The last issue comes from my personal experience from the classroom.

This day and age we still have some teachers that refuses to use technology. Their technology

incorporation is limited to typing and printing their lesson plan, which is totally unacceptable. I

understand they have questions and concerns, but all of that could be cleared up in our

technology trainings and tutorials.

In conclusion, this assignment has enlighten me in several ways. As an educator, I am

more aware of the importance of creating a technology-rich learning environment. We play a

critical role in student learning, and everyone benefits when we unite invigorating technology

and resources. I am not sure if our school directly implements ISTE standards, but I will be sure

to integrate them. HPEM has evidence of the standards, but there is always room to improve.
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References

International Society for Technology in Education. (2018). ISTE. Retrieved from

http://www.iste.org/standards/for-administrators