Phase Three: Needs Assessment

Phase three of my technology plan is assessing and describing the current educational development status of schools within my school division.  It is important to bear in mind that a needs assessment allows you to narrow your focus while maintaining a big picture vision.

After consultation with the head of our district IT department and assistant superintendent on technology, I have put together a needs assessment with the following criteria. The five categories that require a needs assessment are:

1) Curriculum Integration
2) Professional Development
3) Equitable use of educational technology
4) Infrastructure and telecommunications services
5) Administrative Needs

These areas of need are vast to say the least. It is my hope that schools and teachers will be able to build personalized assessment needs for individual schools using this framework.

Needs Assessment

In this section, you are to assess and describe your PWSD current educational technology status in five categories:  curriculum integration, professional development, equitable use of educational technology, infrastructure and telecommunications services and administrative needs. 

Curriculum Integration

   When evaluating your needs, consider:

§  current curriculum strengths and weaknesses and the process used to determine these strengths and weaknesses;

§  how curriculum strategies are aligned to state standards;

§  current procedures for using technology to address any perceived curriculum weaknesses;

§  how teachers integrate technology into their lessons - including ways technology is presently used for entire classroom and for small group instruction; and

§  how students use technology - including ways students presently use technology for purposes beyond practice of skills.

Professional Development

   When evaluating your needs, consider: 

§  the process PWSD uses for assessing the technology PD needs of teachers, administrators and noncertified staff;

§  the technology PD activities that have been offered to teachers; and

§  how the effectiveness of the PD activities will be assessed.

Equitable Use of Educational Technology

      When evaluating your needs, consider: 

§  the availability of technology to students and staff in the district – all students should have equal access to the technology;

§  the amount of time available for the use of technology by students and staff; and 

§  a description of the types of assistive technology tools that are provided for students with disabilities, where necessary/applicable. 

The following matrix may be used to determine the extent technology is available to staff.

	Please include information about the type and availability of staff access both on and off campus.
Administrators
Teachers (preschool)
Teachers
Noncertified staff

The following matrix may be used to determine the extent technology is available to students.

	Please include information about availability in classrooms, the library-media center and all other areas where students have access.  Mention the extent of supervised access before and after school.
Students (preschool)
Students (elementary)
Students (middle school)
Students (high school)
Students (with disabilities)

Infrastructure and Telecommunications

·         When evaluating your needs, consider: 

·         the current technology infrastructure of each school in your district - explaining the type of data and video networking and Internet access that is available;

·         the effectiveness of the present infrastructure and telecommunication services that have been provided by the district; and

Administrative Needs

·         When evaluating your needs, consider: 

·         how do administrative (certified and noncertified) staff use technology, including accessing data for decision-making, student information system reporting, communication tools, information gathering, and recordkeeping; and

·         the professional development opportunities that are available to administrative staff.