Elmira City School District—RESET Project:
RE-imagined and Systemic Educational Transformation through Technology
2021-2024 Learning Technology Grant Program
The Elmira City School District will partner with four neighboring rural districts (Campbell-Savona CSD, Hornell CSD, Spencer Van-Etten CSD, and Waverly CSD), Notre Dame High School (non-public in Elmira CSD), and the University of Rochester Warner School of Education (Warner team) to lead the RESET Project (RE-imagined and Systemic Educational Transformation through Technology). The RESET Project will serve 144 administrators (school principals, assistant principals), educational leaders (e.g., directors of instruction, curriculum, technology), curriculum coordinators, and teachers at grades 9-12. Programming, implemented at six public high schools and one non-public high school over the three-year grant period, will support the integration of educational technology and blended learning practices across core subject areas (English, mathematics, science, social studies) to address identified student needs, including the need for increased engagement, expanded access to instruction in core subject areas, and college and career readiness.
The participating districts are all identified by NYSED as high-need, low-resource districts with populations characterized by high poverty and a low percentage of adults with post-secondary experience. Close to 20% of children between 5 and 17 are classified as living below the federal poverty standard across the five districts with percentages rising to 24.01% in Elmira and 23.45% in Hornell. Only 10% of adults across the districts have a bachelor’s degree. The consortium, which qualifies for 10 bonus points, includes two districts with CSI and TSI schools, five districts with over 50% economically disadvantaged populations, three districts with over 15% of students classified as students with disabilities, and one district meeting the rural classification for this competition.
Goals of the RESET Project:
• To increase capacity to implement and sustain instructional practices that lead to digitally rich learning environments in high school classrooms.
• To create capacity to transition to educational practices that leverage the power of technology to increase access to learning for all students.
The RESET Project will provide districts with the infrastructure and capacity to affect the systemic and sustainable shift in educational practices necessary to create digitally rich, responsive learning environments that will improve outcomes for all students, particularly those at risk. Three phases of professional development programming, informed by the TPACK framework and tenets of cognitive apprenticeship and identity theories, will be coordinated by the RESET Project Coordinator and delivered by the Warner team.
Phase 1:
A leadership cadre, comprised of 14 district and building administrators and educational leaders, 5 curriculum coordinators, and 25 core subject area teachers that will become teacher leaders will participate in leadership training and professional development. The leadership cadre will build the foundation for change by developing strategic plans, policies, and procedures that will support systematic training of teachers in the effective use of educational technology. Curriculum coordinators and teacher leaders will participate in additional leadership training, targeted professional development, mentoring through PLCs, and individualized coaching that will increase their capacity to transition into training/coaching roles to support the implementation of new practices by classroom teachers.
Phases 2 & 3:
The leadership cadre will meet to refine plans and continue common planning while teacher leaders and curriculum coordinators will receive ongoing support of their scaffolded transition into training/coaching roles. Programming will expand to include 25 core subject teachers in year 2 and 75 additional core subject area classroom teachers in year 3 that will be trained to implement technology-infused educational practices that will increase engagement, facilitate learning through different mediums, create student-centric classrooms, and develop students’ 21st century skills.
Contact Information:
Jay Hillman, jhillman [@] elmiracityschools.com
Alicia Bubb, abubb [@] elmiracityschools.com