July 2004 — SETDA
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South Dakota: Linking Data Collection & Professional Learning at the Britton-Hecla SD
By Linda Richter, Librarian for Britton-Hecla School District and LOFTI Site Coordinator, and Gloria Steele, Education Technology Specialist for Technology & Innovations in Education and LOFTI Evaluation Team Member
Linda Richter, district coordinator of Learning Organizations for Technology Integration (LOFTI) for the Britton-Hecla School District reflects on her participation in the ISTE/LOFTI Teacher Performance (ILTP) Study: 'Being involved in the ILTP study was such a rewarding experience. I remember thinking, 'Why did I volunteer to do this and how will I find time to interview three teachers?' When all was said and done, I thought 'Wow, what a great experience!' And, instead of completing three interviews, I had done five interviews with teachers close to my school district.'
Situated in the northeastern corner of South Dakota, the Britton-Hecla School District serves a student population of 511 with a teaching staff of 39. In the fall of 1998, when the statewide LOFTI project launched, Britton-Hecla was one of four school districts selected to begin a five-year journey 'to facilitate professional development related to the integration of technology as a vehicle to affect the redesign of curriculum and instruction practices.'
Prior to the beginning of the LOFTI project, the Britton-Hecla School District prided itself on being a district in which technology was embraced and district leaders were proactive in garnering support for technology hardware and software acquisitions necessary to facilitate classroom use. One of the bigger challenges facing the district was finding ways to support teachers in their acquisition of technology skills and their ability to design meaningful technology-based classroom experiences. The resources provided through the LOFTI project enabled the district to address this challenge and focus professional development activities on these two areas. The work of LOFTI was grounded in the 2000 ISTE Teacher Performance Standards, which served as a guiding document for project planning. These standards also served as a framework for collecting data relative to both individual teacher progress toward attaining the standards and district-level progress relative to systemwide attainment of the standards.
Focusing on Data Collection
A variety of data collection processes and tools were used by the local district to help LOFTI project leaders understand the results of their professional development efforts during the first three years of the project. By the fourth year, the district participated in a standardized statewide data-collection process called the ILTP study. The ILTP study featured two strands of work: an online survey and a structured teacher interview and artifact collection process.
The online survey questions had a specific focus on ISTE Standard I: 'Technology Operations and Concepts' and Standard V: 'Productivity and Professional Practice.' Britton-Hecla teachers were among more than 1,500 teachers statewide who completed the online survey. The following chart shows how district teachers compared to a statewide sample in several identified categories.
Teaching With Technology Online Survey Results:
