Environmental Scan
In the district I work at, SharylandISD, the majority of my students are Hispanic. As a school librarian I would observe that many of the students are recent immigrants from Mexico that have come to the United States in the last 5-10 years. At my school the majority of the students speak Spanish at home.(Murphy et al.2023) There are parents who work in farms, office work, construction, and some will have mom’s who stay at home. The area where I work is called the Rio Grande Valley is in South Texas. It is a dry and extremely hot place where the summer months may be quite above 100F.
Most of the students in the area go to Sharyland ISD which is a public school, but there has been a rise in charter schools and the district has seen a downfall in enrollment. There is also a private Catholic school that some students in this area attend.
The majority of the teacher’s at my elementary school use technology with the students. Assignments are given through Google classroom. According to the report, “Learning platforms such as Moodle and Google Classroom make it possible for students to access homework assignments and class materials anytime, anywhere.Teachers reported that these tools help them track assignments and provide rapid responses to student assessments.”(Environmental scan, 2016, p.89) You tube or Edpuzzle videos are shared on their devices for class assignments.Teachers reported that these tools help them track assignments and provide rapid responses to student assessments. Students also use other technology apps such as Britannica online, Brain Pop, Accelerated Reader, and Rosetta Stone. At the elementary level, students are given a chromebook to use in school, but are not allowed to take it home unless there is a special circumstance. I believe junior high and high school students are allowed to take the devices home. At the elementary level we prohibit the use of personal devices whether it be their personal computer or cell phone.
The majority of the students have shared that they are unable to connect at home because they do not have computers, so most will use their phones if they need to finish an assignment or use it as a resource. Most of the students have access to broadband and I believe an initiative by the district was established during and after COVID19 to assist students with proper internet service.Having proper technology at school and a reliable broadband service is crucial for students in my district.
References:
Michael Cohen Group, LLC. (2016, December). Environmental scan of
educational technology in U.S. public school. www.mcgrc.com/. https://www.mcgrc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Report-Environmental-_-Final12.22.2016.pdf
Murphy, R., Daniel, A., Cai, M., Lau, E., Schumacher, Y., & Astudillo, C. (2023, May 1). Lloyd & Dolly Bentsen Elementary School. Texas Public Schools. https://schools.texastribune.org/districts/sharyland-isd/lloyd-dolly-bentsen-elementary-school/
That is interesting to see that no elementary students can take their devices home. At my elementary, students from 3rd to 6th grade can take their computers home. Honestly, this is probably a bad idea, since a lot of them have either lost or broken their device. Our district should do what yours is doing and only make it junior high and high school.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like the biggest barrier to connectivity is that there is no home network available, and if there were, students mighr not have a machine available to use at home. This also implies that parents aren't online users. What about the local library situation? Are there any classes offered to get adults online? If so, are they taught in Spanish? This was an enlightening scan!
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that Sharyland is pushing for the digital work, but not providing the resources for students to take home a computer if needed. You did mention special cases, but what qualifies as a special case? What if a student does not finish an assignment in school and needs to complete it at home but does not have access to a computer or access to Internet, what happens in that case? For schools to successfully push a digital classroom, I believe the district needs to fully commit to it, meaning in this case, elementary students should be allowed to take home a device!
ReplyDeleteI left the classroom in 2021 and had similar issues here in Houston. When our campus started offering in-person classes, all of the students who didn't have technology at home or connectivity had to return, whether their families wanted them to or not.
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