Fayetteville Prepares For Another National Site Visit

Technology Education Meeting Scheduled For March

By Rose Ann Pearce

Posted: November 20, 2009 at 4:42 a.m.

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FAYETTEVILLE — Another national site visit in the Fayetteville School District is being planned for March. This one will be broader and deal with the district’s technology education and its role in a 21st century curriculum.

The Fayetteville School Board received an update Thursday on planning for the event.

The National School Boards Association has selected Fayetteville to host a national visit showcasing how technology impacts 21st century teaching and learning. Fayetteville is one of four school districts in the U.S. and Canada to host a site visit in 2010.

Patty Plummer, a technology coordinator in the district, outlined plans to the board. The meeting is scheduled for March 14-16.

Educators, who are part of the school boards’ association Technology Learning Network, are expected to attend the Fayetteville site visit. While here, they will tour several schools at all four levels — elementary, middle, junior high and high school. There will be breakout sessions for educators to learn more about 21st century education in general and what Fayetteville is doing in particular. They will also visit Fayetteville Public Library and the University of Arkansas Global Campus.

Several schools also will participate in an “excellence fair” to demonstrate different aspect of 21st education already launched in those schools.

School Board President Susan Heil noted, “This is a good way to put all the great things we’re doing out to the nation.”

The school district this week hosted a four-member team from Phi Delta Kappa, an international service organization for educators, who are contracted to do a curriculum management audit for the district.

While here, the team visited every classroom in every building; interviewed administrators and school board members and conducted focus groups for teachers, parents and patrons. Their report is expected in February.

In other business, the board also heard an update on the recent voter survey on the outcome of the election in which a 4.9-mill increase in the property tax rate was overwhelmingly defeated in a September election as well as a report on incorporating more technology in the school board’s work rather than using paper.

“We have a huge responsibility in technology and we need to do that,” Heil said of the board becoming paperless.

WEB WATCH

Technology And Learning Site Visit

More information about the National School Boards Association technology and learning site visit next March in Fayetteville is available at:

www.fayar.net/nsba/nsbaMain.html

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