Technology's blog

The six regional data warehouses (Willamette ESD, Linn-Benton-Lincoln ESD, Eugene 4J SD, Beaverton SD, Portland Public Schools/Clackamas ESD and Hilsboro/Northwest Regional ESD) and the Oregon Department of Education came together on Thursday, May 13 at Willamette ESD to provide demonstrations and information of their data warehousing efforts.This event provided attendees with current information about the work being done around data warehousing and the direction the State is moving as an enterprise.

This meeting, which was a joint effort with the Data Quality Workgroup (DQWG) and the Education Enterprise Steering Committe (EESC), had over 100 people attend, including State Superintendent of Public Instruction Susan Castillo. Data driven decision making and using relevant data is at the core of school improvement efforts around the state. Data warehouses are at the heart of supporting these school improvement efforts.

For those who were able to attend this meeting a survey has been created to gather your input for future events of this type. Please take a moment and complete the 10 question survey which is located here.

A report which details the current fucntionallity of the data warehouses in the state can be found here.

After considering much input regarding the timing of the Title IID Enhancing Education Through Technology Student and Staff Assessment ODE will be taking the following actions:

1.       Postponing the full statewide survey of staff and students for one year.  This does not remove the obligation for the districts to evaluate technology literacy of students by the end of eighth grade or the evaluation of teachers’ ability to integrate technology into learning and teaching as required by ESEA Title IID Enhancing Education Through Technology statute.
2.     Renaming the Oregon Simple Assessment to the Oregon Simple Survey and changing the pass/fail to a raw score.

3.      Inviting a number of districts to pilot Simple Assessment by sampling 10-15% of their staff and students between now and June 30, 2010.  This will give important information regarding the ability of the Simple Assessment to measure student and staff technology skills.

NOTE: Districts that have received Title IID and IID ARRA competitive subgrants are required to participate in the pilot and conduct this survey with 100% of participating students and teachers, a requirement of the award, and as many eighth grade teachers and students as feasible.  This does not limit the district from assessing additional students and teachers if desired.

4.     Convening a stakeholder group that will include ODE, OEA, and K-12 representation from curriculum, Title IID program specialists, assessment,  IT and test coordinators to assist in the development of the Ed Tech program evaluation.  This group will review the Simple Assessment and other tools and options for effectively evaluating educational technology in Oregon.

ODE believes this as an opportunity to learn how to best implement a method for effectively and efficiently collecting data from across the state. This data will be used in part for federal reporting purposes, but more importantly, provide valuable information for future planning, and coordination with other educational organizations.  

For regular updates on the work of the Stakeholder group, please visit the ODE website at: http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?id=1879. As soon as we begin convening, we will post meeting notes at this location.

If you have questions about the Title IID Enhancing Education Through Technology plan for evaluation or would like to volunteer to sample a portion of your students and staff with the Simple Assessment, please contact me at carla.wade@state.or.us or call 503-947-5631.

The Oregon Health Network has released their September newsletter with updates on their progress and information on future activities. You can find the complete newsletter at http://oregonhealthnet.org/pdf/news/Sept09_newsletter.pdf.

Past newsletters can be found at http://oregonhealthnet.org/news.cfm near the bottom of the page.

On Thursday, October 1, at 10:00 AM ProofPoint will be providing a demonstration of their Software as a Service email archiving solution. This demo is open to anyone who would like to attend. Below are the instructions to join this web conference.

When: Thursday, October 01, 2009 10:00 AM-11:00 AM (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada).


Dial in: 1-866-714-4214
Conference Code: 1010-329-657

Join the meeting
Audio Information
Audio has not been set up for this meeting.
First Time Users:
To save time before the meeting, check your system http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=90703 to make sure it is ready to use Microsoft Office Live Meeting.

Troubleshooting
Unable to join the meeting? Follow these steps:
1.      Copy this address and paste it into your web browser:
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/proofpoint2/join
2.      Copy and paste the required information:
Meeting ID: P5RG3G
Entry Code: sw%6RSm
Location: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/proofpoint2
If you still cannot enter the meeting, contact support

There are two scheduled WebEx support meetings around the grant. Details to connect via WebEx are listed below for each session:

Monday, September 14, 2:00 - 3:00 PM

Topic: LastMile Connectivity Grants
Date: Monday, September 14, 2009
Time: 2:00 pm, Pacific Daylight Time
Meeting Number: 750 904 977
Meeting Password: grant

To join the online meeting
Go to https://oregon.webex.com/oregon/j.php?ED=117141222&UID=0&PW=064ec3cd0b19160411
Enter the meeting password: grant

Call-in toll-free number (US/Canada): 866-699-3239

 

Wednesday, October 14, 9:00 - 10:00 AM

Topic: LastMile Connectivity Grants
Date: Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Time: 9:00 am, Pacific Daylight Time
Meeting Number: 755 068 137
Meeting Password: grant

Go to https://oregon.webex.com/oregon/j.php?ED=117141637&UID=0&PW=5b774c86e02e0251564d
Enter the meeting password: grant

Call-in toll-free number (US/Canada): 866-699-3239

 

 

The Legislature, through the Oregon Department of Education, has alloacted $500,000 in funding for the 2009-11 biennium to provide one-time grants for connections to broadband resources for improving connectivity to schools and buildings which serve students that currently do not meet minimum standards. 

High Desert ESD, as the contracting agent on behalf of the EESC, will disseminate these grant funds to winning applicants, based on selection by the Review Committee and endorsement by the EESC.

The grant process is open as of Thursday, September 3, 2009 and will close on November 30, 2009 at 4:00 PM. Further details and complete information can be found in the application attached to this article.

Two question and answer sessions have been scheduled via WebEx. The first will be at 2:00 pm, Monday, September 14, 2009 and the second at 9:00 am, Wednesday, October 14, 2009. Complete details to access these WebEx meetings can be found here.

 

Any questions concerning the LastMile grants need to be posted here in the form of a comment. Thank you!

Two technology grants are being made available to Oregon school districts. Complete details on the grants can be found on ODE's website at this address- http://www.ode.state.or.us/news/announcements/announcement.aspx?=5115

Attached below are the completed reports for the 2008-09 LastMile grants. Grant reports for Lowell School District, Junction City School District and Pleasant Hill School District can be seen at this website, http://lesd-fiber-grants.pbworks.com/FrontPage

There are still grants that are active and have not completed the reporting phase as of yet. As soon as those reports are completed they will be posted here!

In December the State Board adopted Oregon's new Technology Standards. These new standards are closely related to the NETS-S developed by ISTE. Attached is a pdf of the standards complete with cross-walks to the NETS-S standards and the new Oregon Diploma Essential Skills for technology.