Evaluation KilbackD

7/31/2019 Evaluation KilbackD

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Maturity Model Benchmarks Review- Middle Eastern American School -

Background and DemographicsThe Middle Eastern American School is a co-educational day school founded in 1964. It isprivately owned and offers an academic American curriculum from Pre-Kindergarten throughGrade 12 to both national and expatriate students. The MEAS is accredited by Middle States

Association of Colleges and Schools and is formally recognized by the Ministry of PrivateEducation. MEAS has a student enrollment of just under 2000 full-time students and a facultyof just over 200 full-time staff. MEAS students represent 46 different countries with a staffcoming from 10 different countries. The current MEAS enrollment is 45% Nationals and 55%Expatriates. There is a 57% male and 43% female gender breakdown. The school is dividedinto an Elementary School (Pre-K through Grade 5), Middle School (Grade 6 through 8) andHigh School (Grades 9 through 12). The school tuition is the highest in the country and theschool has an extensive admissions waiting list.

Maturity Model Benchmarks - Administrative FilterThe MEAS included 6 Integratedand 2 Emergingstages of technology use with respect tothe Administrative filter. Resource availability throughout MEAS campus is strong but theseresources are not yet available to, and not yet universally accepted by, all staff on campus at alltimes of the school day.

Policy - MEAS is a dual-platform (MAC & PC) school that includes a pupil-computerratio of 6:1. Technology is used in all parts of the school with student and staffappropriate use guidelines in effect and communicated through school, staff, andstudent handbooks. Further, teachers include technology-use related language in theirclass syllabus and course outlines. Instructional staff and students are on-board with theneed for policy development and adherence but we currently have strong resistance to

following guidelines for new technology from our Business Office as they prefer to utilizetime-tested databases and spreadsheets in favor of new, innovative, budgeting andpayroll software. Further, we are in the midst of ratifying the language in a campus-wide

Acceptable Use Policy for technology. As such, I am reticent to rate the Policy sectionbeyond the integrated stages.

Behavioral: Integrated Resource/Infrastructure: Integrated

Planning - Technology planning has been incorporated into both formal tech-curriculum

development and school-wide initiatives including the promotion of Moodle use byteachers and students, the development of Curriculum Maps, and the school-wide use ofUnderstanding by Design as a template for unit development. Our Technology Adoption

and Integration Plan is currently under development, is short-term in focus, and iscoming on the heels of the completion of a two-year Technology Hardware ImprovementPlan.


Budget - As a privately-owned educational institution, MEAS has a budgeting procedure

based on general guidelines rather than firm numbers. A formal technology budgetdoes not yet exist but is currently in development. A review of the past 5 years of


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tech-related investment has been underway and will serve as a scope from which todevelop a formalized technology budget for MEAS. This budget will be referenced in ourTechnology Integration and Adoption Plan with the hopes of formalizing the purchasing,delivery, deployment, integration, and adoption of hardware and software on campus.


Administrative Information - MESA currently uses an outdated Administrative

Information Systems platform (AdminPlus and GradeQuick) where student recordsand data are available only to Administrators and our Database Manager. There is aconcerted push from our school community for a comprehensive system that allows forparent access to grades, staff to work remotely on their gradebooks, and staff access tostudent discipline data. Further, our Business Office is being encouraged to participatein the selection of a new Information System that could include a student paymentrecords program that is more robust than the current spreadsheets that are used in theaccounting department of our school. This is an area of our school that is in need of anew plan.

Behavioral: Emergent

Resource/Infrastructure: EmergentMaturity Model Benchmarks - Curricular FilterMEAS predominantly ranked at the Island stage with respect to the Curricular Filter.Technology resources have been planned for (student email accounts, high-speed fiber internetservices, and campus wifi) and will be available this fall for the first time but, currently, are not.

Electronic Information - Presently we have a basic approach to providing electronicinformation at MEAS. All staff have individual workstations, email accounts, a basicsoftware package, and access to DSL internet services. Students have limited accessto computer labs and student workstations in our Media Resource Center. Student andStaff access is not integrated, is not pervasive, can be inconvenient, and is not available

at all times throughout campus. Behavioral: Integrated Resource/Infrastructure: Islands

Assessment - Technology is used to develop the vast majority of the content presentedin classrooms and the many assessments used by instructors to evaluate studentlearning. Technology is not used in any marked or sustained way by instructors to gatherdata on student learning that can assist in driving instruction or directing the course ofcurriculum refinement.

Behavioral: Integrated Resource/Infrastructure: Islands

Curriculum Integration - We have a traditional Curriculum Director who advocates forstandards-based education tied to traditional methods of delivery. This is problematicas many new standards are infused with technology-related skills. Further, technologyis used in developing much of our curriculum related documentation such as curriculummaps and UbD units with little emphasis placed on leveraging technology to engagethe learner. Rather, emphasis is placed on using templates, adhering to font size, andfollowing specific word choice when developing units and lesson plans.

Behavioral: Islands Resource/Infrastructure: Islands


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Teacher Use - Teachers utilize technology (PCs, SmartBoards, document cameras)

on a daily basis. Often this use is seen in lesson delivery. We are not yet a one-to-one school and, as such, much of our content and evaluation is formally delivered andreceived on paper thus making delivery possible with a decrease in available classroomtechnology resources.


Student Use - Student use of technology is apparent in the completion of out-of-classwork but not necessary for the majority of in-class activities. There is a definite passiveaspect to student learning where students are viewing teachers using technology duringlessons without ever having to use technology in the classroom themselves.


Maturity Model Benchmarks - Support FilterThe Support Filter is again Island-stage heavy. While MESA has a collaborative culture that

involves stakeholders in the development of policy and planning there is a distinct lack ofresources placed in training and retraining opportunities for staff. Consequently, staff memberswho find themselves with the opportunity to participate in technology-related training areexpected to quickly become masters of these platforms and then facilitate training opportunitiesfor colleagues without the assistance of an external support community.

Stakeholder Involvement - There is a high level of engagement and involvement byvarious stakeholders (students, teachers, administrators, support staff, tech supportstaff) in the development of our new Technology Integration and Adoption Plan.However, communicating and promoting this plan and making its goals clear andprocesses accessible to all stakeholders is proving to be problematic and challenging.

Behavioral: Integrated

Resource/Infrastructure: Integrated

Administrative Support - Our Senior Administration is characterized by technologicaldisengagement and an unwillingness to advocate for the staffing of positions that arenot directly tied to student instruction and face-time with students. There is a distinctdisconnect and lack of understanding when it comes to the value of non-teachingpositions such as integration coaches, network and tech support staff, and databasemanagers.


Training - There is often a cost-cutting approach to technology-based training. Teachers

or tech personnel who are given the opportunity to travel for training are expected toreturn with a level of competency that is unrealistic for short training seminars that arenot certificate based. Consequently, many of the teachers and administrators are left toself-teach software programs.


Technical & Infrastructure Support - Technical Support is limited at MESA. With a

student enrollment of 2000 and a staff component of 200 there is a FTE Technology


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Director, Network Administrator, and three Technical Support staff. Consequently thereare times when tech-related tasks are not fielded in a timely manner and this leads tostaff dissatisfaction and an unwillingness to rely and depend on the MESA TechnologySupport Staff.


Maturity Model Benchmarks - Connectivity FilterThe Connectivity Filter is improving. For the past five years we have run the campus on a 3MBCorporate DSL connection that was unreliable and needed constant monitoring and demandedheavy usage restrictions in order to run smoothly. This year we have invested in a dedicatedfibre channel and will be shifting to a 15MB up and down connection. It is our hope to use thisconnection to supply students with wifi access and begin encouraging a BYOD (bring your owndevice) approach for students on campus.

Local Area Networking - Teachers and students currently have access to technologybut it is limited and is dramatically impacted by scheduling and availability. It is our hopethat shifting to a BYOD approach as we lay the groundwork for an eventual one-to-one

adoption we will improve tech access throughout campus. Behavioral: Islands Resource/Infrastructure: Islands

District Area Networking (WAN) - Staff access to various networks is robust but not

sophisticated. Our ability to complete basic tasks is reliable but moving beyond thebasic into streaming audio and video is not currently an option for staff or students oncampus.


Internet Access - Staff have reliable internet access at their classroom workstations

and students have access to internet services in our computer labs and media resourcecenter. However, this access can be limited due to scheduling and availability and duringhigh-use times can be rather restrictive.


Communication Systems - Staff use email, messaging, and Moodle services robustly

for communication. Some students use Moodle services on occasion but no studentshave school-based email accounts and there is not a comprehensive school-wide planfor ensuring communication with students or parents beyond recording personal orcompany emails in our school database.

Behavioral: Intelligent

Resource/Infrastructure: IslandsMaturity Model Benchmarks - Innovation FilterThe Innovation Filter finds MEAS firmly entrenched in the Island stage. New technologies andpossible innovations are often received enthusiastically by tech personnel and but resisted bythose with staff members with little technology-related investment or ability. Our TechnologyDepartment is enthusiastic in testing new software and hardware but often hamstrung withan unwillingness by the school to fund extensive training or supplemental tech-related FTEpositions.


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New Technologies - Staff are often receptive to new technologies and innovative

software and enthusiastic about their application but due to a lack of a sophisticatedor reliable training program or support mechanism there is little to no experimentationoccurring on campus.

Behavioral: Islands

Resource/Infrastructure: Islands

Comprehensive Technologies - There is little advanced application or sophisticateduse of technology on campus. Most use is basic in nature due to a lack of extensive orin depth training opportunities and workshops that are limited to basic levels rather thanrobust application.


Maturity Model Benchmarks - MEAS SummaryI would place the Middle Eastern American School as moving from the Island Stage to theIntegrated stage. Technology is easily accessed by both students and staff but this is done in a

basic and traditional manner with students using computer labs, teachers using their individualteacher workstations, and data projectors being to enhance instruction and delivery. Technologyuse is rudimentary and involves supplementing a stand and deliver model where the teacheris the focus and the students part in the learning process is largely passive. Technology isbeing used in communication and instruction but this use is not yet sophisticated or innovative.Directly involving students with technology in hands on, authentic, and meaningful waysduring the lesson and capturing learning data, and improving overall efficiency need to bethe new goals for MEAS. MEAS lacks a culture where technology is truly integrated throughcollaboration. The school has recently completed an extensive technology plan focussed onimproving the hardware available to teachers and this has given them a strong groundwork tonow build up from. Strong policies, procedures, and plans along with a shift to a stakeholderdeveloped, collaborative, and transparent technology plan have been established and demand

to be built upon. MEAS is now at a place where it must deeply consider extensive training thatgoes beyond the basics where broadening software use and application is the focus. Thiswill allow the school to begin to leverage the potential of the new hardware resources thathave been adopted and fall in line with the Integrated Stage and avoid seeing their investmentgather dust and become obsolete due to a lack of understanding regarding real-world use.Further, advocating for a shift to a BYOD approach, and an eventual one-to-one adoption, thatwill ultimately allow for seamless use by students and staff in the processes of teaching andlearning is paramount need to be a goal at MEAS.

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Evaluation KilbackD