The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust

Using Computers
in American Primary Schools

School Administration & Management

• Explanatory Notes

• Domestic Aspects
  of the Fellowship

  • Purpose of the Fellowship

  • Success of the Fellowship

  • The Fellowship Grant

  • Suggestions for Future Fellows

  • Dissemination of the Report

• Professional Aspects
  of the Fellowship

  • Overview

  • Information & Communications Technology (ICT)

  • Delivering the ICT Curriculum

  • Other Curriculum Areas

  • Assisting with Teaching Tasks

  • School Administration
    and Management

  • Electronic Communication

• Conclusion

• Appendices

  • Acknowledgements

  • Itinerary

  • Technical Details

  • Internet Links

  • TELDEC Grant Project

  • Gates Foundation Grants

  • US Dept of Education
    Executive Summary

  • WebQuests

• Picture Gallery

Administrative Uses

Schools made considerable use of word processors and Desktop Publishing to produce a wide range of documents such as parents’ newsletters, school information booklets, policy documents, minutes of meetings and timetables. These were circulated in printed form and there was little to suggest that computers had helped to reduce the amount of paper in the system!

All schools had a student database. This was created jointly by the school district and its schools. Enrolment takes place at District level and administrative information about children is gathered at this point. Schools maintain and add to the data locally. This is sent to the District where it is merged with existing data. Medical information is also made available from local health services and added to the database.

Financial Information was managed at District level and schools had online access to their own data. A considerable amount of ordering is now carried out online.

School Libraries

School libraries made considerable use of ICT to manage their work. For example they had access to a number of online library catalogues such as Seattle Public Library and the Seattle Schools District library. Libraries also made use of a card catalogue application for finding books, authors, subjects and topics.

However the main use was to manage the book lending system. Typically this worked in the following way:

• Children select a book and take it to the computer.

• They scan their name and their library record is displayed.

• The book is scanned using a barcode reader. (Most material is bar-coded. Exceptions include videos and big paperback books.)

• Details are added directly to students’ records.

• Any returns are also dealt with and the record is updated.

• Book records in the main library database are also updated automatically.

A record of children’s reading history can be kept but this hadn’t been used in the schools I visited.

School Library, Kimball Elementary School, Seattle

Management Uses

Schools were at an early stage in their use of ICT as a management tool and I only found a few examples of this.

Standardised scores from class tests were entered into school databases. The main purpose was to provide data for State reporting of progress across the system. Schools did not appear to use this information to help them evaluate the work of the school and plan next steps.

Purchasing was dealt with at District level and although schools did receive regular reports of spending they made little use of ICT for budgeting and tracking spending.

However all this is set to change……….

WAshington Virtual Education Space - WAVES

WAVES is a state-wide initiative to create an Internet-based data warehouse. The aim is to have a one-stop shop for administrative, curriculum, financial, management and personnel information which will be made available to a variety of audiences who will be contributors as well as users of data.

WAVES modules will include but will not be limited to:

• curriculum management

• instructional design

• student performance and assessment tools

• student online portfolio and learning resources

• professional development and online training

• classroom management

• communication and collaboration

• student/family/community/environment data

WAVES will comprise two major components: the Educator Workspace and the Student / Parent Workspace. The Educator Workspace will provide educators with the following:

• Access to Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) and Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) data for all students.

• The ability to create classroom-based assessments and record the results of those assessments.

• The ability to design units, lessons and activities aligned with district objectives.

• The ability for students to access learning resources.

• The ability to archive evidence of student work in an online portfolio.

Within the Educator Workspace, teachers will use this information to plan and design teaching and review and revise the curriculum to improve student learning.

The Parent and Student Workspace will provide parents and students with the following:

• The ability for students to use their own WAVES learning spaces to monitor their progress relative to state and local standards.

• The ability for students to create online portfolios of their academic progress.

• The ability for parents to review their children’s portfolios.

• The ability for parents to access learning tools to assist in their child’s academic development.

WAVES information will be web-based and will therefore be available to educators, students and parents 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from any Internet-capable computer. The information will be held securely with passwords being required at every level. WAVES is currently under development and will be introduced in a rolling programme with full implementation planned by 2005.

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