Rutherford LEAP: Changing the game
The 21st century skills movement is accelerating across the world. Some projects are on a very large, national scale, others are on a local scale. Both are equally important to education reform. In the United States, we have a massively decentralized education system, with each state setting standards and assessments for students. Only when students take high-stake tests like the SAT or ACT, do college admissions officers get a view of nation-wide assessment of common skills. Some people believe that these tests and their impact create a deeply-flawed system (people like me). The assessment game may need to change to become more accurate and fair.
Education reform in the United States must start at both the national and local level if it is to be successful. Large and small heroic districts like Daviess County, San Diego Unified and Gwinnett County are leading the charge. One especially progressive program is located in Rutherford County, Tennessee. Through the Rutherford LEAP program, every 7th grader will get their keys to the digital world, an individualized portal to their future through an innovative 1:1 program.
“The mission of RutherfordLEAP is to assist children in the Rutherford County school system to leap forward into the 21st century through the use of technology on a regular basis in the classroom. The goal of the program is to provide every seventh grader in the Rutherford County school system with a laptop computer that will be used as a supplemental learning tool in the classroom through the twelfth grade. The essential elements the laptops offer the students are: Internet research, spreadsheets, word processing, and presentation skills. Proficiency in these skills will enable the students to be competitive in today’s work force.”
Joining me today is Sara Brody, Director of Rutherford LEAP.
SCHMEDLEN: Sara, it sounds like there is a lot of excitement in Rutherford County!
BRODY: Thanks, Mike! I am honored to speak with you. There sure is a lot of excitement in Rutherford County! Seventh and eighth graders at Kittrell School in Readyville, Tennessee are participating in a two-year pilot program, in which they use laptops or netbooks throughout the school day to enhance school curriculum. It is Rutherford LEAP’s goal to help the Rutherford County school system establish a robust 1:1 laptop program so that every seventh grader entering school each year (approximately 3,000 students annually) will be given a laptop to use through twelfth grade. It’s true that this is a progressive program; few public schools have the resources to equip their students in this manner. We consider classroom technology to be an essential tool for success, not a privilege.
SCHMEDLEN: How did the idea of 1:1 evolve?
BRODY: The idea of a one-to-one laptop program evolved when my husband, Ira, and a Murfreesboro-based friend, Nate Schott, were discussing the fact that $15 million dollars in expenses faced the county school system for new school libraries and research materials. Libraries are certainly important resources; however, Ira and Nate believed students could access information quickly and efficiently, if they only had individual laptops or netbooks. Ira mentioned their conversation to me, and thinking about individual technology tools progressed from “it would be great if only…” to “why don’t we?”
I had worked for many years as a project manager, most recently in the technology division of a major corporation. I loved my work, but I’d always had the desire to form a non-profit organization and to contribute to the world in that way as well. My lifelong passion for learning and education, coupled with the desire to contribute to my community, helped me realize what I was meant to do. My technology and project management background made developing our organization a natural fit for me.
We approached the county schools’ director with the idea. With his approval, I worked with an enthusiastic group of educators in the county administration office over a period of about five months. During this time, we discussed, molded, and finally developed the concept into a two-year pilot program. Ira and I donated the first 110 laptops, and the program began in September 2008 with 110 seventh-and eighth-graders at Kittrell School in Readyville, TN.
SCHMEDLEN: Was the curriculum reworked to accommodate all of the new devices?
BRODY: That’s a great question. Although Rutherford LEAP participates in many facets of the planning process, we are not involved in creating curriculum. Amy Blanton, Rutherford County’s Coordinator of Technical Instruction, and her team were instrumental in this area. The curriculum remained unchanged. However, strategies for content delivery were modified.
For instance, with the use of the laptops, teachers began to allow students to do more research and investigation in small, collaborative groups. The groups then delivered information to their peers utilizing multi-media presentations. The students are learning practical applications of technology in academic and potential work settings, which we believe prepares them for successful futures.
SCHMEDLEN: What is the Professional Development strategy for the teachers?
BRODY: In early 2008, teachers met and began to develop ideas for incorporating the new technology into their classrooms. This collaboration and training continued throughout the school year during their common planning times, after school, and on scheduled in-service days. Kris Marshall, middle-level Instructional Technology Specialist, designed materials and led these sessions. The group met in the spring for a full day of training and a “debriefing”. Two of the teachers were part of new teacher training, so they received an additional two days of training for integrating technology into the curriculum.
As the program expands, additional training for teachers will be provided. Dr. H. Willis Means is an Associate Professor in the Elementary and Special Education Department at the largest university in the state, Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), which is located here in Murfreesboro. Dr. Means has begun to collaborate with the Rutherford County Board Of Education and Rutherford LEAP on how his department can assist with additional professional development for teachers, as well as instructional tools for students. It’s all very exciting!
SCHMEDLEN: Rutherford LEAP is a 501(c)3. Are you an NGO, a charity? What is the connection with the school system?
BRODY: Rutherford LEAP (Learning Educational Advancement Program) is a non-profit charity and IRS-approved 501(c)3 created to raise funds for the purchase of computers for students in the Rutherford County school system, in order to establish a 1:1 laptop program.
With the help of generous donations from individuals, foundations, local businesses and corporations, LEAP has been able to purchase laptops, and give them to the Rutherford County school system, which issues them to the students currently participating in the program.
Unfortunately, most public school systems are unable to provide each student with a netbook/laptop to fully establish a 1:1 technology program. LEAP assists the county by providing the funding for the program, and by initiating the purchase of the technology. The technology choices are a collaborative effort between the county and LEAP.
The laptops/netbooks are teaching tools used to implement the state’s learning initiatives; LEAP does not participate in the teaching portion of the process. We have excellent teachers in the school system here; LEAP simply helps equip students with the tools they need. The response from teachers in the program has been extremely positive.
SCHMEDLEN: Was it easier to achieve consensus as a non-profit entity than, say, a school superintendent or teacher’s union?
BRODY: In any situation, achieving consensus with a group can be a delicate task if the entire team is not “on board”, and working toward the same goal. Perhaps I should explain that I have never been a teacher, a union member, or a school superintendent. Therefore, I can only speak from my 22 years of work in the “for-profit” realm, managing projects in the investment banking world.
I have had the most wonderful experiences working collaboratively with the Rutherford County administrative team from the board of education office, as well as with the Kittrell School principal and teachers. This intensely dedicated group of professionals is so “in sync”, in terms of desire to provide the best educational environment for students, that achieving consensus has never been an issue. Each of us brings his or her own area of expertise to the table that is respected; out of this mutual respect, the group works together very well! It’s a wonderful process.
SCHMEDLEN: What are the hopes for this program?
BRODY: Ira and I have several “hopes” for the program. First, we hope that the use of technology in the classroom will empower the students to become more excited about learning, and that through technology, they will “go” to places they’ve never been before: exploring new subjects, learning about places they hope to visit in the future, and expanding the goals they set for themselves.
Further, we hope that the establishment of a 1:1 netbook/ laptop program in Rutherford County will be used as a pilot program for the entire state of Tennessee, so that, in the near future, all students in Tennessee public schools will receive a netbook/laptop to use in the classroom on a daily basis. It is LEAP’s hope that the use of technology in education will be incorporated into the statewide curriculum. In today’s digital world, computer proficiency is imperative for students to be successful, productive citizens in their professional and personal lives.
SCHMEDLEN: What are the metrics that you are tracking for the program?
BRODY: As a baseline to begin the process of measuring the success of Rutherford LEAP, the Rutherford County Board of Education team and LEAP will review the test scores of seventh- and eighth-graders who have participated in the LEAP program, versus those in a similar school who did not participate. These results should be available for review by November of this year.
We want to insure that we meet our original goals and make a lasting impact on Rutherford County students. Therefore, our program will be carefully expanded from 110 students in a K- 8 school during a two-year pilot program, to a middle school where the full scholastic results of 320 seventh graders can be followed. As the new school year began in August, Rutherford LEAP and the Rutherford County Board of Education team are collaborating to establish a system to measure students’ academic results based upon Tennessee’s new curriculum. Processes will be developed to measure
LEAP student performance will be measured against the performances of students who are not yet included in the program. Some of the areas of consideration include:
• Improvement in writing skills
• Tracking attendance and behavior, such as the completion of homework on a timely basis
• Reviewing a child’s yearly progress via the TVAS scores (Tennessee Value-Added System), a system designed to track a student’s growth from year to year in terms of how much academic progress was made by the student over the year.
Due to improvements in the standards of K-12 education in Tennessee, additional methods of tracking students’ improvements in Language Arts, Social Studies and Science, for example, will be visible via the New Strands research process. This is under development by the state, and will be implemented during the 2010-2011 school year. LEAP will work with the Rutherford County Board of Education team to incorporate this new information into its project evaluations. Essentially, the metrics created to track the success of the Rutherford LEAP program will be measured against the scores of students who are not yet participating in the program.
SCHMEDLEN: Sara, thank you very much – I look forward to hearing about the outcomes as this program grows!
For more information on the Rutherford LEAP, http://www.rutherfordleap.org
