| State: California | Number of Students: 3,524 |
| School Type: Public School District | Free and Reduced Lunch: 5.0% |
| Grade Level: PK-8 | English Language Learners: 8.5% |
School Context
This school sits in a well off suburban community. Only 6% of students qualify for free and reduced lunch and there are very few English language learners. The district is focused on project-based learning, game-based learning and personalized learning.
State of Technology
This school is really interested in understanding what personalized learning looks like for the school district. While they are trying to understand what personalized learning look like for a school district focused on deeper learning, project-based learning and game-based learning. They do not want to adopt tools that students only use to rotely learn skills. They want to give students the ability to go as far and deep into the curriculum as they like. They also need tools to focus on deeper learning and more conceptual learning, rather than teaching rote memorization or computation.
Currently the types of teaching depends on the teacher in the classroom. They give teachers a ton of autonomy. But they have more and more been moving toward a project-based learning model where kids are doing projects and pull technology into projects to do them better. What they are missing is an overlay of individualized learning opportunities that offer students the opportunity to practice some of those skills in a way that's conceptual and aligns with deeper learning.
Tech Needs & Requirements
They would like to find supplemental math tools that could support students to learn computation and pre- algebraic thinking through conceptual ways of thinking. They want to give teachers this supplemental tool as something they can use to overlay on top of their project to give student individual learning time. The tools need to allow students to work at their own pace and have ownership over their own learning. They are most concerned with the type of learning and the pedagogy the tool reinforces (wanting it to be game-based, deeper learning or project based learning) so that it teachers in a conceptual way. They are less concerned with having the tool be adaptive. It should be something students can pick up and work on individually and independent of the teacher. Students will use this tool a few times a week, enriched into their projects. The tool should focus on critical thinking and basic computation.
Student control is super important. Ultimately, they want students to own their own learning and be able to assess where they are at, address any needs and have options on where they might want to go. This tool needs to give a student a way to track their progress and their data.
Teachers should spend very little time in the tool. They should be able to use it to monitor what happens and coach students, but the tool should take over all of the facilitation.
The school offers grades K-2 students with 10+ iPads in each class and also computer based Mac labs. The grades 3-4 students have 2:1 Macbooks. They are moving toward a 1:1 model for all students in the next couple of years. The tool must allow students to work at their own pace, allow students to track their own progress and teach in a conceptual way, no drill and kill. Access to data is important, but it is not a driving factor. They would prefer tools that give students a chance to show evidence, so qualitative data is great. They also think numbers are important too, but they do not overemphasize them. Having the ability to export data via a CSV file is preferable, but not a non-negotiable. The tool must be able to work on iOS ecosystem and must work on iPads. Access to Google single sign on would be great, but is not a non-negotiable.