ROGERS — A laptop for every student, more counselors, coordinators responsible for fostering parent partnerships, more after-school programs and teacher training are all part of the vision cast for the Rogers School District in an application to the national Race to the Top grant.
By The Numbers
Grant
The grant is divided over four years and all Rogers schools, including two scheduled to open in 2013, Janie Darr Elementary School and New Technology High School. Programs would benefit all students, administrators said.
Project costs over four years:
10,000 computers — $10 million
800 charge carts — $1.7 million
500 interactive white boards — $1 million
Internet service/software/wiring — $705,000
Reading/math materials or software — $1.44 million
Consultants to train teachers — $800,000
Supplies for New Technology High School — $1.5 million
Family night materials — $24,000
Multi-station gym packages — $1.2 million
After-school teachers (hourly) — $375,000
Partnerships with nonprofit agencies — $320,000
Office supplies — $12,000
Source: Race to the Top application
The federal program will award between 14 and 25 grants before the end of the year. Rogers is one of 892 school districts that indicated they will apply for Race to the Top funds.
Race to the Top is a federal program created to spur education innovation and reform.
If the district is awarded the grant, it would mean $28.3 million spread over four years for the district. Districts awarded grants should be notified by the end of the year.
“It’s like a question in class: ‘If you were given $30 million what would you do with it?’,” said Mark Sparks, assistant superintendent.
The biggest expenditure would be for technology of some kind, with $14.1 million set aside to buy software and 10,000 devices — either laptops, netbooks or tablets. Included in the technology package proposal are 500 interactive whiteboards, 800 charging stations and the cost of upgrading wireless service at the schools. E-rate funds would supplement the grant.
E-rate is a federal program allowing for discounted Internet access to schools.
With the Race to the Top money, every child third grade and up would have uninterrupted access to a computer, said Chris Carter, the district’s chief information officer. The district has more than 8,000 computers, netbooks and tablets for 14,000 students now, Carter said. The idea would be for students in the upper grades to have a laptop with them at all times, even to take home.
Parent Renee Concoby sees the need for computer literacy, but said she was neutral on whether children should be allowed unfettered computer access. Her twins are in fourth grade at Eastside Elementary and Concoby said it is their first year to really have research homework. They must be taught skills to use a search engine or the computers are useless, Concoby said.
Personnel grant would add:
Two computer techs
Substitute teachers
Four reading/math coaches for teachers
Two career counselors
Two social workers
Four middle school counselors
Two certified teachers for night school
Two data coaches
Grant administrator and assistant
Instructional parent coordinator/facilitators
Source: Race to the Top application
More interactive whiteboards would be a good investment, she said. Teachers can show images from their computers on the screens and allow children to move and sort them like a giant iPad.
“I think having a book in front of you and having a SMART board are so different,” she said.
The new Common Core standards put more emphasis on technology, asking students to have skills in computer presentations, Internet search, file and data management. New exams, currently scheduled for release in the 2014-15 school year, will be on computer.
“I do believe that eventually we will move away from printed textbooks and move toward electronic access to information,” Sparks said.
Common Core demands more access to nonfiction resources, requiring students to look things up at the source, said Jane Keen, REACH facilitator at Greer Lingle Middle School.
“If I had one-on-one computer access, I would use them almost daily,” Keen said.
Technology is getting less expensive over time, administrators said. A textbook can cost a $100 or more.
“The price of textbooks is not too much different from the cost of laptops anymore,” Carter said.
Without the grant, students will be encouraged to take their own devices to school, Carter said.
In July, the district upgraded speeds for data coming in and out of the central office. The grant would allow for greater saturation of wireless access points, improving Internet access at all schools.
Other parts of the grant would add career counselors, middle school counselors, social workers, after-school teachers and reading and math coaches. All teachers would get training in a teaching style that builds lessons on student feedback. Teachers cue into student learning by asking students to rate their understanding on a scale of “I can teach this” to “I don’t know anything about it” before and after lessons.
Parent facilitators would work with new parent groups to involve them in the schools. Extra funding could increase the number of after-school or summer trips to local parks and museums, Sparks said.
The changes made by the grant would be phased into the district’s budge, said Kathy Hanlon, treasurer, although two positions coordinating the grant would be phased out at its end.
Even if the district does not get the federal money, writing about and brainstorming about possibilities gave the staff direction for the future, Sparks said.
“If you don’t get in the game you don’t have a shot at all,” Hanlon said.
Web Watch
Grant Application
To see the Rogers School District’s application for a Race to the Top grant go to www.nwaonline.com/documents.