| State: Florida | Number of Students: 356,086 |
| School Type: Public School District | Free and Reduced Lunch: 70.7% |
| Grade Level: PK-12 | English Language Learners: 66.3% |
School Context
Raising the Academic Bar: The district is committed to ensuring that all academic instruction is rigorous, relevant andinnovative.
Positive Learning Environments: Safe, positive and welcoming learning environments are a focus for the district.
Effective Educators: Miami-Dade County Public Schools aim to support the development of all educators and schoolleaders.
Communication Efforts: The district works to make sure that all stakeholders feel informed and engaged.
State of Technology
Digital Convergence Plan (DCP): Miami-Dade is shifting the structureand learning environment in its schools to make instruction moreengaging. In an effort to bring together various technology tools, thedistrict distributed laptops, mobile devices, Promethean boards andnew digital content into its schools while simultaneously embracinga BYOD policy. The district began the initiative during the 2014-2015school year, deploying 60K devices in 2014-2015 and another 44K in2015-2016. HP laptops carts were distributed at the elementary level,while HP tablets were distributed at the middle and high school levels.At the middle school level, there is an in-school model targeting socialstudies. Tablet carts were distributed to 7th grade Civics classroomsand 8th grade US History classrooms. At the high school level, 9th and10th grade students can check out tablets which have been pre-loadedwith many of the textbooks being used.
Devices for Social Sciences: When the district deployed tablets tomiddle school Civics and high school World History classrooms, theDepartment of Social Sciences created curriculum to integrate thedevices into instruction using content from textbooks that could beaccessed offline. Students in these classes have the option of using aclassroom device or bringing their own. There was also a day for allinvolved teachers to engage in professional development around topicsrelated to the work they are doing with technology.
A Shift to BYOD: To further support the Digital Convergence Plan,Miami-Dade is allowing students, teachers and families to bring theirown devices to school and use them for instruction. The district alteredits policies during the 2013-2014 school year, prior to the device rollout.It also started the Connect@Home program, which provides laptopsand Internet connectivity for fourth graders to use at home. Thisprogram is currently happening at nine schools. The goal is for studentsto be able to continue learning at home by accessing digital contentonline. To support the initiative, the district is hosting training sessionsfor families on laptop care and teachers are being trained in variousareas like blended learning, device care, digital citizenship, and specifictools like Edmodo.
Making Moves in Math: The district wanted to make some changes inits math curriculum, to better align with the new Florida Standards.It received $30M in Race to the Top Funding and used it to developthe iPrep Math Model in 49 middle schools. IPrep Math uses CarnegieLearning’s Mathia program to support a blended learning modelfocused on personalized learning. Students access content usingLenovo laptops, which were dispersed before the deployment ofmobile devices. Additionally, after the mobile devices were distributed,the district wanted to better support math instruction, specifically foralgebra so it started using Mathia and i-Ready for in middle and highschool classrooms. Middle school algebra and science teachers werealso given the opportunity to opt into accessing code.org lessons with atablet.
Tech Needs & Requirements
Miami-Dade encourages vendors interested in workingwith district to submit a Vendor Application Form andto visit the bid portal to learn about current needs. Thedistrict uses Onvia DemandStar to publish and managethe RFP process.
There are some technical requirements for example, toolsmust have single sign on capabilities and any softwarepurchased should run on all platforms.
The district is currently in the process of vetting Learning Management Systems.