CommunityLink

Springfield, OR

Education

By Nancy Golden

One-to-One Student Laptop Initiative

The Springfield Public Schools conducted a significant outreach campaign to identify the community’s vision of a quality education. The process worked with a broad base of constituent groups from the community, along with staff members, to identify strategies for delivering students a quality education. Through the process, the district created the Springfield Quality Education Model (S-QEM).

Throughout the S-QEM process, staff and community members reiterated the need to ensure that students become technology-literate throughout their K–12 education. Additionally, participants called for the use of instructional technology to increase student achievement. In response to this input, Springfield Public Schools began to explore possibilities for integrating technology into instruction.

We are pleased to announce that we have recently entered into a partnership with Apple Computer Inc. to begin a laptop initiative at Springfield Middle School (SMS). The One-to-One Student Laptop Initiative began its pilot phase in the 2004/2005 school year. Springfield is the first district in Oregon to participate in such an initiative, although there are already 400 schools across the nation that have implemented similar programs.

This initiative will provide a laptop for each of the 300 students enrolled at Springfield Middle School, as well as with the 40 students enrolled in the Gateways Alternative Middle School program, also located at SMS. Currently, teachers are participating in ongoing training with the laptops, learning how to integrate them as an instructional tool in the classroom. Students received their laptops in February 2005.

The primary goal of the initiative is to use technology as a means to increase student performance at SMS. Other schools across the nation that have implemented a One-to-One initiative are experiencing students who are more engaged in school as a result of having the laptops. They are also noting increased student attendance and a reduced number of negative behavior incidents. In addition, One-to-One initiatives have resulted in a higher level of parent/student participation at some districts.

Springfield Public Schools hopes to experience similar results with its initiative, with the ultimate goal of increasing student achievement through this unique partnership. The program at SMS is a pilot effort that the district will be evaluating based on its impact on student achievement. If it proves to be effective, the district is committed to looking for other funding options to extend this program to additional schools.

Springfield Academy of Arts and Academics (A3)

During the creation of the S-QEM, many community members mentioned their desire for the district to have
highly rigorous secondary programs that challenge students and prepare them for college.

The community also noted its commitment to the arts and a desire for it to remain an active factor in the education of the children of our community. With this goal in mind, district staff entered a competitive selection process for an Employers for Education Excellence grant, hoping to obtain outside resources to assist in meeting the needs identified by the community.

Employers for Education Excellence recently announced that its Oregon Small School Initiative, a $25 million multi-year effort supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Meyer Memorial Trust, would fund four innovative new schools that promise to increase student achievement, particularly among students of diverse backgrounds and from low-income homes. Each school selected for the initiative received grants based on projected enrollment to help cover planning and startup costs. In addition, the initiative provides a school change coach to each school, technical assistance, workshops and other support.

Springfield is pleased to have been selected to receive a grant of $312,000 to assist with the planning and creation
of a district-wide sixth to 12th grade magnet school, The Academy of Arts and Academics (A3), which will have
a programmatic focus on academic classes and media arts. Writing will be emphasized across the curriculum, with addi­tional empha­sis on movement, voice, storytelling, graphic design and video production.

The Academy of Arts and Academics is still in the planning stage, so no details are yet finalized about the makeup, location or start date of the school. If you would like to kept abreast of the progress of A3, please e-mail Interim Coordinator Mike Fisher at mfisher@sps.lane.edu and ask to be added to the A3 listserve.

Springfield Public Schools is very excited about this opportunity and looks forward to collaborating with the community in creating a vision for the A3 program.