Secondary Education “Administrivia” (1.21.15)

• Digital Technology Initiative Mid-Year Update:
  • We are half way through year 1 of our three year grant from the DEED.  Our mid-year report was submitted January 15^th to the independent evaluator (Dr. Dale Cope)
  • The 15 teacher cohort is in the middle of their formalized training/PD sessions.
  • Most cohort members have completed the Quality Matters online course training curriculum.
  • Several Blended Learning topic Lync session trainings have/will also take place throughout this school year.
  • 19 Educators attended the iNACOL conference in Palm Springs, CA funded by the grant
  • 20+/- Educators will also attend ASTE this February in Anchorage funded by the grant
• Activity/Field Trip Travel Possible Technology Assistance:  
  • David Henson and Jim White are working on a prototype activity trip tracking system that will preload trips, participants, emergency paperwork, and the ability to add/subtract trip participants and add notes/details using a smartphone and a QPC code reader application.
  • We are going to be working with some schools to pilot this  year and hope to go live district-wide next Fall for all activity and fieldtrips (K-12).
  • A new Travel regulations memo will be formalized by the end of this year to reflect all current and any new activity travel expectations for schools (i.e. travel range restrictions, when use of ALMR radio is expected, private vehicle transport restrictions, coaches driving restrictions, and driver on duty/driving time restrictions, etc…).

• Distance Learning Program:
• Our second semester course enrollment numbers are at 1010 as of this morning (1.21.15).  This is early for numbers to be this large and our teachers are near capacity on their individual teacher loads.
• Some changes planned include allowing students to enroll in distance classes during the course enrollment period directly from Powerschool (DP/Counselors working on this now)
• Next year Credit Recovery Courses for Connections and our K-12 program will no longer be supervised/Teacher of Record by the Distance Learning Program.  Like our larger high schools have for years, these schools will now need to oversee Credit Recovery with their own teaching staff.
• As the program grows we are hearing concerns/worries from teachers about whether they will eventually be replaced by distance education.  This is absolutely not the case and I would be happy to discuss these concerns with anyone.  Please refer questions on this matter to me (John O’Brien)

• Summer School Credit Recovery Session:  
• The session will be run just as it has in the past.
• Our large high schools provide the program (SoHi, Nikiski, Homer, KCHS, Seward)
• All CORE areas are provided (Math, Lang. Arts, Social Studies, and Science)
• The program is an “on-line prescriptive” web based program through Pearson called “GRADPOINT”
• The Session runs for three weeks in June. Half days (8:00-noon) June 1-19
• Principals do their own hiring by emailing internal certified staff to solicit interest
• Staff need to be certified and HQ in one of the four CORE areas (preference)

• Policy Change TAKE NOTE: 
• AR 6146.1 High School Graduation Requirements: Additional quality points will be assigned for College Board Advanced Placement (AP) courses for the purpose of calculating grade point average (GPA). For each passing semester grade in an Advanced Placement course, 0.021 will be added to the student’s cumulative GPA. Effective for SY 2015, the fall semester weighted quality points will be added at the conclusion of the fall semester (like before).  In order to receive the spring semester weighted quality points, students must also complete the National Advanced Placement course examination.

KPBSD sent 17 educators to the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) Symposium in California.  Through the Digital Learning Initiative Grant that the KPBSD received we were able to send a team of district teachers and administrators to learn about “Blended Learning.”  This conference focuses on showcasing districts, schools, and classroom teachers who are using new learning models considered blended learning.  The intent is to “level the playing field for students through the creation of new learning models, and to ensure that students everywhere have access to a world-class education that prepares them for a lifetime of success, no matter their geographic location or economic situation.” -iNACOL

What is Blended learning?  Blended learning is any time a student learns at least in part at a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home and at least in part through online delivery with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace; often used synonymously with

Hybrid Learning. (Horn and Staker, 2011)

KPBSD hopes that this 3 year Digital Learning grant will help us to build the capacity of our teachers to learn how to and begin to apply blended learning strategies throughout our district’s 43 schools. Over the next three years the grant will help fund professional development and learning opportunities for three cohorts of 15 teachers per year. The teacher cohorts will learn how to implement blended learning/teaching strategies within their classrooms and to share what they have learned with colleagues in their schools so that blended learning can be implemented in more and more classrooms.

Blended learning is all about personalizing the learning experience for each student focusing their individual learning at a time, place, path, and pace that meets their unique learning needs.  By using digital learning tools  within the classroom setting, teachers are able to leverage these tools and skills to provide higher quality immediate feedback to their students about their learning and growth.  Some teachers in our district already employ blended learning strategies in their classrooms and we hope more and more of our classrooms will become blended in the near future.