Jeni Corn
Senior Research Associate
Friday Institute for Educational Innovation
North Carolina State University
Successful implementation of a 1:1 learning initiative can be a daunting task for any school or district leader. Chris Toy carefully reflects on his experiences as a principal at a middle school in Maine where laptops were provided to every 7th and 8th grade student and teacher. He thoughtfully provides ten specific and very practical recommendations for school leaders who support a laptop initiative in their school or district.
Many of Toy’s practical suggestions are also supported by research in the field of school administration, change in schools, and instructional technology. For example, Stein and Gewirtzman (2003) identify modeling desired behavior (Lesson 1), focusing first and always on student learning (Lesson 7), and valuing parent and community participation (Lesson 9) as critical instructional leadership characteristics. Additionally, Marzano, Waters, and McNulty (2005) found specific school-leader behaviors to be correlated with successful schools such as: clearly communicating expectations (Lesson 3), organizing the resources necessary to fully support the initiative (Lesson 4), and being a visible proponent of school efforts in the community (Lesson 10). Fullan’s work (2001) on change in schools enhances our understanding of how school and district leaders can effectively support new educational initiatives, like a 1:1 project. He encourages school leaders to focus on how the innovation will ultimately benefit students to promote buy in and commitment from educators (Lesson 2). Finally, research on other 1:1 learning projects affirm Toy’s considerations about supporting early adoption and innovation (Lesson 5) (International Society for Technology in Education, 2002), ensuring every key educator has access to the technology (Lesson 6) (Bonifaz & Zucker, 2004), and focusing on use of the laptop to complete instructional tasks (Lesson 8) (Penuel, 2006).
Obviously, Toy has made some insightful recommendations to school and district leaders regarding the successful implementation of a 1:1 learning initiative. However, there is one area that I believe has not been emphasized enough in this article – the importance of evaluation and continuous improvement. I would add one more lesson to Toy’s list…
11. Principals should use data to make decisions about their 1:1 learning initiatives.
It is imperative that schools take the time to collect, analyze, and reflect on data from their staff, students, and parents before beginning any new project. Information about technology skills, attitudes, beliefs, concerns, use, etc. is vital to planning and implementing a successful technology project – knowing where your staff, students, and parents currently are can make all the difference when trying something new. Feedback on professional development, leadership, hardware/software, etc. can provide much needed guidance about decisions along the way. Every day in every classroom, teachers constantly monitor learning and adjust their teaching to best meet their student’s educational needs – school and district leaders should certainly apply the same efforts to major educational initiatives. Information and resources related to conducting formative evaluation of educational technology projects in school and districts is available at http://www.serve.org/Evaluation/Capacity/EvalFramework/cape01.php.
References
Bonifaz, A., & Zucker, A. (2004). Lessons learned about providing laptops for all students. Newton, MA: Education Development Center.
Fullan, M. (2001). Leading in a Culture of Change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
International Society for Technology in Education. (2002). National educational technology standards for administrators. Eugene, OR: Author.
Marzano, R., Waters, T., & McNulty, B. (2005). School leadership that works. Aurora, CO: McREL.
Penuel, W. (2006). Implementation and effects of 1:1 computing initiatives: A research synthesis. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 38(3), 329-348.
Stein, S., & Gewirtzman, L. (2003). Principal training on the ground: Ensuring highly qualified leadership. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. |
