Niagara Falls City School District

Niagara Falls City School District

The district is committed to promoting digital environments by providing technology to teachers and students and assessing their proficiency with it in order to identify strengths and areas of improvement.

State: New York Number of Students: 6,659
School Type: Public School District Free and Reduced Lunch: 75.0%
Grade Level: K-12 English Language Learners: 1.0%

School Context

Achieve Always: The district is committed to continuously improving students’ academic achievement outcomes.

A Strong Team: NFCSD believes that creating a cooperative, trusting work environment where employees feel empoweredis critical to success.

Dollars and Sense: A priority for NFCSD is to maintain a balance between fiscal conservatism and the responsibility toprovide a quality education for all students.

Partners in Learning: The district is focused on developing strong partnerships with members of the community.

It’s a Digital World: NFCSD is committed to promoting digital environments by providing technology to employees andintegrating the use of it throughout the organization.


State of Technology

Devices: At NFCSD all of the elementary classrooms have a laptopfor each student to use. In addition, in middle school each classroomsupports four desktops, with additional laptops from 15 carts which areshared among teachers. The middle schools also have two computer labswhere students can work on digital programs such as Fast ForWord. Thedistrict’s high school has 35 mobile carts with 25 computers each andfive computer labs. Students at the high school can check out laptops asneeded.

A Diagnosis: The district is undergoing a three year process to assessstudents’ and teachers’ proficiency with technology. In the 2014-2015school year, NFCSD purchased TechSteps by Edvation and used it toassess students’ digital literacy. Teachers will take an initial assessmentthis fall and a final assessment in 2017. The district plans to analyze thefirst round of results this year so they can identify strengths and areas ofimprovement for using technology.

Technology Mentors: One way that the district supports teachers isby providing Technology Mentors (TEMPs). TEMPs are retired teacherswho are responsible for helping NFCSD teachers integrate technologyand instruction. TEMPs facilitate webinars and workshops, and searchfor resources to support teachers. This summer they offered classes onhow to use Microsoft Office, Kahoots, Padlets and how to build teacherwebsites.

*Content From 2015

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