St. Tammany Parish Making Progress
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JANUARY 2013 Volume 2 St. Tammany Parish Making Progress LOUISIANA BELIEVES: Louisiana’s Technology Footprint www.louisianabelieves.net Technology has changed the way educators teach, how students learn, and the way teachers and students communicate. Making the Commitment The Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) is committed to support its schools in their efforts to ensure technology is available for preparing students to be college and career ready, supporting accountability and more rigorous standards, supporting teaching effectiveness, and ensuring school improvement. As a result of this commitment, LDOE expanded upon previous submissions network utilization for the testing has created the Louisiana Believes: by collecting additional data on window. The calculations provided Louisiana’s Technology Footprint to testing environments, connectivity do not take into account robust serve as a tool for LEAs and schools options, device specifications, and enhanced items; however LDOE has to analyze their current technology testing parameters. Based on this new attempted to provide estimated usage readiness status and to create, information, many schools’ readiness for districts to use in their planning. implement and evaluate their strategic statuses have changed. In addition As better guidance is developed, efforts related to technology devices, to collecting more information, LDOE will include that information infrastructure, bandwidth and support. PARCC released new minimum within its footprint documentation device specifications in an effort to This document is a living document assist districts who are struggling to Future footprints will also provide that will continue to be updated and meet the recommended standards. districts with clear guidance relative enhanced biannually as the state, Districts should not take this release as to testing times and test scheduling. districts and schools work toward a notification that they can relax and Each state is required to determine achieving their educational and not continue to strive toward ensuring a subset of testing guidance for assessment technology goals. all devices meet the recommended their schools and districts which fall specifications. Instead districts and within the larger broader windows Seventy-seven (77) public school systems schools should consider these devices that PARCC must provide to its 28 completed the fall 2012 submission as a back-up plan that is hopefully not state consortium. Until this guidance of the Partnership for Assessment of needed. Readiness for College and Careers is released, the state has provided (PARCC) Technology Readiness Tool PARCC also released new guidance estimated calculations for the LEAs to (TRT) survey. The fall data collection, relative to Internet access and use for planning purposes. 2 Statewide Improvement Overall initial baseline data provided specification. In addition, once all District and school concern levels via the PARCC Technology Readiness of the parameters for administering varied on the need for training Tool suggests that the state has over the PARCC online tests are known, of test coordinators and IT staff. 232,692 computer devices with only minimum device specifications could Additional information on both 82,754 of these devices meeting change. The state and its districts training and staffing needs will need recommended device readiness will continue to monitor and analyze to be collected in future technology specifications as well as testing device technology readiness to ensure readiness surveys in order for LDOE environment specifications. There all schools are prepared for testing. and districts to determine if their are an additional 92,287 computers current capacity is adequate for which meet PARCC minimum Survey results also showed that 100% testing. hardware specifications for testing in of participating schools have Internet 2014-15. Of the 232,692, there are access, however 90% of these schools Districts and schools strongly an additional 5,080 devices that met also reported Internet or network reiterated throughout their surveys recommended hardware specifications congestion, school-level network the concerns and challenges relative but their availability for testing was hardware that limits connectivity, to the increased technology burden, unknown. These devices will be nonexistent or limited wireless access insufficient numbers of computers, assessed in future footprint reports as within school sites and dwindling and lack of dedicated funding to more data is collected. Districts also IT staff to support technology support the expansion of online have over 37,000 devices that could expansions. assessments. potentially be upgraded to meet testing specifications. If none of these The surveys also sought to identify devices can be upgraded, LEAs across the levels of concern related to the the state would need to purchase a staffing and training of personnel minimum of 14, 913 devices to meet required for administering statewide PARCC minimum standards and online assessments. Although schools 46,413 devices to meet recommended indicated various levels of concern standards. in the four areas of questioning, 98% of districts had schools that We should note, the PARCC indicated a need for additional minimum specifications will only be information technology and/or valid for 2014-15 testing. Future testing administration staff as well as testing administrations will require all training for testing administration devices meet the recommended device and support personnel. Statewide Testing Device Needs Across the state, 17 districts have enough devices to test in 2014-15 based on PARCC minimum standards and 10 districts have enough devices to test based on recommended standards. The chart below demonstrates the number of devices which districts will either need to purchase or upgrade to meet current recommended standards. Testing devices required In thousands Additional devices needed 1-to-1 1-to-3 1-to-5 1-to-7 3 Key points In preparing and planning for online testing, districts and schools should set milestone targets in the 3 key areas of readiness: device readiness, network readiness and staff readiness. Device Readiness Network Readiness Staff Readiness Schools and districts should plan and Schools and districts should strategi- Schools and districts need to assess implement efforts to upgrade and cally plan any necessary network and their ability to manage and monitor procure an adequate number of de- Internet upgrades. As a cost saving testing as well as to provide technol- vices to meet, at a minimum, testing option, districts can phase in new ogy support during each testing win- needs. All devices should meet the wireless infrastructures for testing by dow. Districts may want to consider LDOE recommended device speci- first creating a wireless network for short-term staff augmentation to fications. Devices which only meet their testing labs and then expanding assist in these areas. Districts should PARCC minimum specifications will that wireless network for classroom also assess if any of their full-time not meet minimum testing specifica- learning. staff needs professional development tions starting in 2015. or further training. PARCC Minimum Device Specifications LDOE Recommended Device Specifications DESKTOP, LAPTOP, NETBOOK, & THIN CLIENT/VDI DESKTOP, LAPTOP, NETBOOK, & THIN CLIENT/VDI Operating Systems: Operating Systems: Windows XP – Service Pack 3 or newer Windows 7 or newer Mac OS Mac OS 10.5 or newer Mac OS 10.7 or newer Linux (Ubuntu 9-10, Fedora 6) Linux (Ubuntu 11:10, Fedora 16 or newer) Chrome OS 19 Chrome OS 19 or newer Memory: 512 MB of RAM Memory: 1 GB of RAM (preferably 2 GB of RAM) TaBLETS TaBLETS Operating Systems: Operating Systems: Android 4.0, Apple iPad 2 running iOS6, Windows 8 Pro Android 4.0, Apple iPad 2 running iOS6, Windows 8 Pro Memory: 1 GB of RAM or greater or newer Memory: 1 GB of RAM or greater ALL DEVICES Connectivity: Wired or wireless access to the Internet ALL DEVICES Screen Size: 9.5 inch screen size or larger Connectivity: Wired or wireless access to the Internet Screen Resolution: 1024 x 768 resolution or better Screen Size: 9.5 inch screen size or larger Input Device Requirements*: Keyboard & Mouse/Touchpad Screen Resolution: 1024 x 768 resolution or better Headphone/Earphone and Microphone Requirements: Input Device Requirements*: Keyboard & Mouse/Touchpad • Headphones/earphones and microphones are required for all Headphone/Earphone and Microphone Requirements: students taking the English Language Arts/Literacy Speaking • Headphones/earphones and microphones are required for all and Listening Assessment. students taking the English Language Arts/Literacy Speaking • Headphones/earphones are required for students using text and Listening Assessment. to speech or other auditory accommodations. • Headphones/earphones are required for students using text to • Microphones are required for students using speech to text speech or other auditory accommodations. accommodations. • Microphones are required for students using speech to text accommodations. * The input device must allow students to control an on-screen cursor to point, click, drag, and select an area. The input device must allow students to enter letters, numbers, and symbols and shift, tab, return, and backspace. Other assistive technologies may be needed for students requiring accommodations. PARCC and LDOE will release Accessibility and Accommodations Guidelines in June 2013. 4 Schools