Success Story: Thomaston Upson Schools

Activating learning in every classroom







Key Facts

Goals:

To create the ultimate classroom for today’s students.
To empower teachers to address the needs of all students.
To facilitate an environment for student-centered learning.
To encourage collaboration by teachers with their students and with other teachers.

Solution

Activboard
Activstudio
Activslate
Activote


Challenges and Goals

Today's students live in a multimedia world. The technologies that students enjoy in their lives outside school make it more difficult for teachers to capture their attention with "old fashioned" tools, like traditional chalkboards, whiteboards, and overhead projectors.

So, in 2001, the Thomaston-Upson County School District technology department initiated a plan to research new and exciting tools to assist teachers in improving upon more traditional methods of teaching that would significantly impact student learning. Their research led them to an electronic or interactive whiteboard.

They first saw the Activclassroom solution at an education conference in middle Georgia. A highly interactive teaching, collaborative presentation solution, the Promethean system includes the Activboard, an interactive whiteboard; Activstudio software, which offers teachers a library of image, background and annotation resources; Activslate, an accessory that promotes real-time interaction by allowing teachers and students to direct and control the whiteboard from anywhere in the room; and Activote, a wireless student peripheral that provides teachers with instant student feedback.

The original plan at Upson County was to purchase one Activboard system for each of the five schools in the district. That was quickly revised to seven portable boards per school and now there is one board permanently mounted in every classroom. Additionally, the district saw the beneficial collaborative effect of the total system and purchased one Activslate for each classroom and two sets of the Activote wireless peripherals per grade level to be shared by adjacent classes.


Funding

Funding was made through a capital expenditure through SPLOST (Special Local Option Sales Tax -1 penny) for $1.2 million. It was to go towards wiring, Activboards, projectors and training.

In order to make this successful, they verified first that the teachers wanted it and the students wanted it through initial installations.

The community was the obstacle and the previous SPLOST vote had failed with 65% voting "no." They showed this solution around the community to get buy in and won the SPLOST vote with a high margin with 65% voting yes this time.

Past experience played a key role
Mike Gatlin, Director of Technology and Federal Programs explains, "I could continue to fund existing initiatives, add something new like laptops for students or teachers, put more computers in the classroom, add mobile wireless labs. But in all of these cases, I found that the same teachers were always the ones who were using the technology no matter what we introduced. Time consumed to "check out" the equipment and unreliability were a key factor."

In the past, the district administrators had found that the problem with most new or improved technologies was the technology itself. Some technologies had a steep learning curve. Others were difficult for teachers to integrate with their classroom instruction. And, others failed to interest teachers and students after the initial excitement wore off. After trying program after program and product after product, Thomaston-Upson district officials were determined to keep this experience focused on the most important factor in improving student achievement -- teacher instruction. We decided the Promethean solution would make the most impact for all teachers.

Initial Teacher Reaction

Julie English, elementary teacher says her initial reaction when she was told about this was "That ELSE to I have to do NOW ?"

But by the second day of staff development, that all changed. Even by the end of the first day of training, the teachers were running back to their rooms to see if their Activboards were connected so they could start working!

"A key to our success was the ability to share what we created with other teachers. A central file server was set up with each grade level given its own folder. We just split the load (of developing lessons) and got the job done!"

Implementation and daily use

"We were immediately convinced that this solution allowed for true curriculum integration," said Dr. Howard Hendley, superintendent of Thomaston-Upson County Schools. "The novelty of this teaching solution doesn't wear off. It gets better and more effective by the hour. This solution has proved to be a perfect marriage with our district initiatives and goals."

Advanced research and planning has resulted in the teacher's computer, cable TV, DVD player, and VCR all running through the classroom’s ceiling-mounted projector and onto the interactive whiteboard. Teachers can now come in each morning, turn on the computer, pick up the remote control for the projector, and have all those technologies at his or her fingertips.

"While I have watched many technology initiatives come and go over the years, the Promethean system is the most seamless method of technology integration we have ever seen, "said Gatlin, "It has provided the truest integration between existing equipment, teacher usage, and student acceptance. It simply allows teachers to do what they do best: teach."

Jones reports that teachers easily adapted to the system because they didn't have to redesign their existing lesson plans to incorporate the technology. "The technology has clearly enhanced their lesson plans with multimedia features and interactivity. It also has opened the door to new possibilities."

Today, the district's teachers use the system to enhance their instruction in a variety of ways.

To teach a lesson on landforms, one teacher projected a video onto the interactive whiteboard for the class to view. Worksheets with 10 questions were then passed out, and the students were led on an Internet scavenger hunt to find the answers. To begin the hunt, the teacher projected a Microsoft Word document listing the 10 questions with hyperlinks to the appropriate Web sites. As the class visited each site, students scanned the Web page to find and record the answers on their worksheets.

Another teacher created a game similar to "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" in preparation for a test on the seven continents. She created a list of questions with multiple-choice answers and projected it onto the interactive whiteboard. The student "contestants" then used the Activslate to control the whiteboard from their seats and select the answer. If a student needed help, he or she could poll fellow classmates who used the Activote to select the answer they thought was correct.

Teachers in all subject areas use the Activote to administer quizzes and tests to students because they can get instant results which confirm areas the student understand and identify areas that need to be re-addressed.

Results

The excitement created by this new technology has changed the climate of the schools - district-wide.

"It has ignited our imaginations, said Hendley. " When we walk the halls, we see a noticeable difference in the activity level and energy in classrooms. Teachers are standing up, facilitating information. Students are moving back and forth from the interactive whiteboard to their desks, or interacting from their desks using the wireless peripherals. We hear more of a dialog between students and teachers, and see that students are more involved and motivated to learn."

What about test scores and other scorecards such as NCLB and SAT?

Dr. Henley explains, "I do believe that our test scores are being raised but we don't have longitudinal data yet. Our test scores ARE soaring however. Why? We have made many positive changes in our instruction including this new technology that have contributed to this achievement. We have a quiet revolution in Upson County Schools.

Dr. Jones added, "Students love the multimedia features and interactivity, which make learning more fun and exciting. Teachers report that students pay closer attention and have become more involved in class. Even parents are talking about the system because their children come home from school raving about it."

Recent test results show that the high school completion rate within the Thomaston-Upson School System has increased for the second year in a row while the dropout rate within the T-U System has decreased for the second year in a row.

District Profile

Thomaston-Upson County School District in Georgia is enthusiastic about education. Serving over 5,000 students with approximately 325 certified teachers and an additional 300 support staff, Thomaston-Upson County's school system offers a broad instructional program, meeting the needs of all students, from the gifted, to college prep and vocational/technical students and those with special needs. The system operates a comprehensive PK-12 program at five schools -- three elementary, one middle school and one high school. Approximately 40 percent of students are eligible to receive free and reduced priced lunches. All schools are accredited through the Georgia Accrediting Commission.