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| Involve staff in planning
and design
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Mumford
High School has been known as a technology school since
1989, when it was funded by the Detroit "Compact" program.
This partnership between Detroit businesses, institutions
of higher education, and the city schools is intended
to implement strategies to increase student test scores
and better prepare them for higher education and work.
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| Valerie Hatten,
the school's union representative, served on Mumford's
original technology steering committee to plan technology
implementation. Several committee members visited sites
throughout Southeastern Michigan to get ideas for the
design. She recalled, "We were able to come back and provide
our own personal experience of what we saw, what we learned,
what we thought would be useful here at Mumford, and from
there they were able to put together [the plan]." |
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| Seek outside
funding |
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Shortly after Principal
Sallie Polk identified funds to build the first technology
lab at Murray-Wright High School, she helped develop a
partnership with the University of Michigan to build a
second lab in the school. |
Motivated to increase the pool of qualified minority applicants,
the university developed a program that not only paid
for equipment, but also funded professors and university
staff to develop a student-to-student mentoring program
between university and Murray-Wright students. Murray-Wright
students e-mailed essays to college students for comments
and suggestions to improve writing skills. The grant also
paid for Murray-Wright staff development in portfolio
assessment.
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In
1998-99, Murray-Wright High School became a part of the
IBM Reinventing Education: Wired for Learning program
in Detroit, a program to enhance parent involvement through
building electronic networks between schools and neighborhood
housing developments. |
| The
program provides tools for teachers to create Web pages
for their classes, threaded discussions, and an online
conference center for teachers and families to communicate.
Parents can access the environment from the two computer
labs located in the Jeffries and Park Side housing developments.
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Bogan High School's principal, Linda Pierzchalski, has
been alert to opportunities for funding from outside organizations.
Pierzchalski advises: "Write a lot of grants and do a
lot of proposal writing because, no matter how much you
get from federal or the district, there are always more
needs." |
| Bogan participated
in three Technology Literacy Challenge Fund grants. One
of these paid for Bogan's first T1 line and its Web server.
Bogan has also received a grant from the Annenberg Foundation
to do staff development on the use of technology with
two elementary schools. |
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The principal
at Renaissance High School, Irma Hamilton, knew the school
lacked resources to offer technology facilities to students.
While seeking funding for a lab, they developed a partnership
with the Detroit Free Press. Journalism students use the
Free Press offices to design and lay out their student
newspaper. |
| In addition, a number of
art students participate in the Scoop Program at Wayne
State University, in which students use video editing
equipment to produce videos. Others have learned animation
at a city art school. Recently, Renaissance students did
a tribute piece on Gordon Parks that was shown at the
Detroit Art Institute. |
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| Dedicate staff time |
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Teachers at
Von Steuben Center are comfortable seeking assistance
and trying new ideas with their students in the school's
technology-based Writing and Media Centers. |
| The success
of these centers in becoming integrated with classroom
activities is due to the funding of full-time staff to
support them: Teachers Lucy Kowalski and Randy Snow have
a clear mandate to spend time collaborating with teachers
and supporting innovative curriculum ideas. Teachers can
schedule technology-based activities, knowing they will
have assistance if they run into difficulties. |
