Andres+Anzaldua

Andres Anzaldua Performance Improvement Intervention: Implementation of iPads Executive Summary MemorialMiddle School is continuously investigating innovating strategies to engage students in the learning process, so they are well prepared to tackle down all their future problems. Technology is evolving, and the current educational system needs to incorporate it for the students’ benefit. The purpose of this Performance Improvement Intervention is the implementation of iPads for every student. This proposal includes the problem summary, mentions the school’s background, states who the stakeholders and decision-makers are, and identifies the performance gap through a cause analysis method. It also includes the organizational history and background. This section analyzes the goals, history, and mission and vision that MemorialMiddle School has. This proposal suggests low-end, middle-end, and high-end interventions for the implementation of iPads. It also analyzes each implementation and explains the effects on the classrooms and students. Then, it provides a justification why the high-end implementation is the best choice. This proposal analyzes the manger’s roles in the implantation of iPads. Finally, it describes the manger as a change agent and his responsibilities. These responsibilities include the preparation of a budget for the purchase of technology, additional equipment, and training for teachers and formative and summative assessment to evaluate the project’s success.

** Performance Improvement Intervention: ** ** Implementation of iPads ** ** Memorial **** Middle School ** MemorialMiddle School wants its students to experience the best education possible. The current education system advocates for the implementation of technology in every curriculum, so it is imperative that students understand and use current technologies such as the iPads. Teachers and students do not use technology as a learning tool; they are using it as a presentation tool in the instructional process. Technology needs to be incorporated into any curriculum, so that students can learn the basic skills needed to succeed in their future lives, and new technologies will provide a solution to this problem. According to Johnson, Levine, Smith, and Stone (2011), mobile technologies are functioning better and costing less than regular laptops and desktops. They are finding a way into the educational system. MemorialMiddle School needs to incorporate these technologies to motivate and engage students in the learning process. In this way, students will take an active role in their education and gain the necessary skills to be successful in school and their lives. Prensky (2001) states today’s students do not fit the present educational system. It is necessary to modify the instruction delivery and incorporate the technology that students are using outside the classroom. School districts and teachers need to create environments where students feel comfortable and are engaged in the learning process. Furthermore, iPads will provide teaching resources to address the needs of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners. At the same time, students are learning technology skills that will help them throughout their learning path, daily life, and professional career. MemorialMiddle School is part of the La Joya Independent School District. This district is situated in the western section of Hidalgo County, Texas. The southern boundary is the Rio GrandeRiver, and the northern boundary is the 13 mile line (La Joya Independent School District, n.d.a). MemorialMiddle School has had its own building since 1997, which is located at 2610 N. Moorefield Rd. in Mission, Texas. In La Joya ISD, MemorialMiddle School was the first, middle school to get a //Recognized// status under the 2001 accountability system of the Texas Education Agency. This means that at least 80% of the students passed the state assessments in math, reading, and writing, and each student subpopulation passed, as well (Texas Education Agency, 2000). This school has always strived to provide the best education, so that students are able to achieve success in all areas of their lives. Current information about the school is found in the Report Card (La Joya Independent School District, n.d.b). MemorialMiddle School’s Website is: http://memorial.ljisd.com/home The plan of implementing the iPads will affect administrators, teachers, and students. The administrators will make decisions on how to implement the iPads. They will also train and motivate teachers to incorporate the iPads in their daily instruction. Teachers will need to embrace technology to engage students in the learning process. In this way, teachers will provide resources to address the students’ needs. Visual learners will have pictures and videos. Audio learners will have access to audio clips and movies. Kinesthetic students have technology that can be manipulated. Therefore, teachers will provide accommodations to address the students’ needs. Students will be eager to use the new technology in the classroom. Students are exposed to technology every day. Most students have cellular phones, iPods, and other electronic devices that they use constantly. Administrators and teachers need to accept this fact and bring it to the educational setting. Teachers must find alternative ways to address the students’ needs through the incorporation of technology. The school principal and assistant principals will be the key personnel to provide insight about the implementation of the iPads and their purpose. The administration team consists of Melinda Flores, principal, Evangelina Garza, assistant principal, Jessica Gonzalez, assistant principal, and Alejandro Carranza, curriculum facilitator. This team will monitor the implementation of this project. They will ensure teachers receive the proper trainings and meet, by grade level and departments. This will stimulate the creation of learning communities among them for the benefit of the students, school, and teachers themselves. MemorialMiddle School has been implementing technology to satisfy the requirements of the Texas Education Agency (TEA). However, this technology is restricted to two computer laboratories for the whole campus. A laptop, a projector, a document camera, and one to four computers are available to every teacher or classroom. Perhaps this setting has been ideal in the past, however, technology is rapidly evolving and both teachers and students need to keep up with these changes. Schools need to incorporate new technologies that will invite students into the learning process while teaching the necessary technology skills needed to succeed beyond the school boundaries. **History.** MemorialMiddle School was the first, middle school, in La Joya ISD, to obtain a //Recognized// status under the accountability system of the state of Texas. Its administrators and teachers are always investigating and reviewing creative strategies to help student excel academically. Other middle schools in the district are checking what MemorialMiddle School is doing to achieve students’ success and following its steps. Chevalier (2007) suggests selecting solutions based on the organization’s culture, cost, and goals. With this in mind, the following solutions are proposed. The first solution proposes MemorialMiddle School to buy a classroom set for each of the three grade levels. The second solution is to buy a classroom set for each core-subject teacher. The ultimate solution is to buy iPads for each student. The goal of MemorialMiddle School is to provide the best education to its students, so the acquisition of iPads for all students is the best proposal. This proposal will benefit school, teachers, and students. The school will save on textbooks and library books. Teachers will have access to technology that can be incorporated into every curriculum. Students will have access to textbooks and library books any time, anywhere. Students will be able to read and then take reading quizzes, since they will also have access to the Internet at any time. However, some of the limitations are cost and upgrading the current technology to support this proposal. The low end intervention is a good solution to schools with insufficient funds. Buying a classroom set of iPads for each grade level is a modest investment that would provide students and teachers with some access to the latest technology. However, schools cannot take advantage of some of the benefits that iPads can offer such the elimination or reduction of textbooks. Teachers would not have access to technology on a daily basis because would be shared with all teachers in the same grade level. These limitations do not satisfy all the goals of this proposal. The middle end intervention is also an acceptable solution because would help core-subject teachers to use technology in their classrooms. Students would also have access to technology and textbooks during their core classes only. Some of the limitations of this intervention are the cost and expenses to upgrade the school server in order to support this technology. This solution is not the best one to meet the goals of this proposal. Students need to have access to technology all the time. Elective teachers need to integrate technology into their curriculum, as well. The person who tries to find a solution to the implementation of iPads needs to sit back and reflect on the school’s goals. The cause-analysis questions suggested by Chevalier (2007) helped the researcher to understand the school’s goals and create solutions to meet these goals. The proposed solution will allow students and teachers to have the technology at their fingertips every day. Technology will be part of every classroom in MemorialMiddle School. In this way, MemorialMiddle School will be in the advanced tech and target stages of the STaR chart because teachers and students are integrating technology seamless during the instruction delivery and learning process. Chevalier (2007) mentions one of the roles of a manger is to become a coach. In this way, the manager will set the expectations, build teamwork, and motivate people to be the best they can be. The manger will interview teachers to evaluate their technology skills and knowledge about integrating technology into a curriculum. This information is necessary to design professional development sessions that will address the teachers’ needs. At the same time, teachers will need encouragement and support when implementing the iPad technology. The manager will motivate teachers and state goals of implementing this technology throughout this project. Donaldson, Smaldino, and Pearson (2008) state resource management is another role that must be considered in a management position. This role includes a delivery system and information resources. In this proposal, the manger will design a delivery system that targets the teachers’ and students’ needs. This delivery system will include two professional development sessions at the beginning of the year. This training will allow teachers to use the iPads and how to integrate them into any curriculum. There will be five additional training sections; every session will be at the beginning of the six-week period. This will allow teachers master this technology. With these trainings teachers will be able to mange the iPads and feel confident using this technology with their students. During these trainings, teachers will have the opportunity to exchange experiences and help themselves get better on incorporating iPads into their own curricula, as well. At the same time, professional development trainings will allow the manager to guide and motivate teachers by presenting data that will help teachers understand the benefits that iPads have in students’ education and success. Moreover, the manger will need to monitor teachers to ensure that they are using the iPads as part of their lessons to address the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills Standards. The manger will collect teachers’ lesson plans to document the use of iPads in their lessons. The manger will also make walkthroughs randomly to observe how teachers are using iPads with their students. In addition, the manger will request department meeting by grade level, so teachers can plan together and help each other. In this way, the manger will be building teams to meet the goals of this proposal. The manger will motivate teachers and state the goals of implementing this technology. The manager will be in charge of purchasing the iPads and assessing the implementation of the technology. The manager, with the help of the technology department personnel, will determine the number of iPads and accessories necessary to buy for this project. In addition, the manger will contact the staff development office to arrange trainings for the schoolteachers on how to implement the iPad technology in the classroom. Finally, the manger will create a project assessment tool to evaluate the iPad implementation at MemorialMiddle School. The manager will create a summative assessment that will summarize the results of the formative assessment and the teacher’s interview on their experiences with the iPads. Chevalier (2007) suggests asking “How are you using what you’ve learned? Are there other things you need to apply what you’ve learned? How has the training you received impacted your on-the-job performance?” (p. 137). In addition, this evaluation will review the results of the STAAR assessments and how the implementation of iPads has influenced these results. A form for this assessment is in Appendix C.
 * Problem Summary **
 * Background of Organization **
 * Stakeholders and Decision-Makers **
 * Performance Gap: Cause Analysis **
 * Actual Current Performance. ** Teachers are using technology to deliver instruction and do clerical work. Students are taken to computer labs where they can work on tutorials, exercises, and take reading quizzes. Access to the computer labs is limited, but one of the requirements from the district is that students need to use SuccesMaker Enterprise to improve their math and reading skills. According to Texas Teacher School Technology and Readiness (STaR) Chart (Texas Education Agency, 2006), this stage is the early stage, and the school needs to be operating in the advanced tech and target tech.
 * Desired Performance. ** Teachers and students need to use new technologies as part of their daily instruction to improve students’ academic success. Technology is a tool that can help students succeeds academically and motivates them to keep learning. Technology also helps students became self-directed and lifelong learners. MemorialMiddle School must operate in the advance tech and target tech; this will ensure teachers and students are using technology appropriately. In this way, teachers and students are using technology as an integral part of the lessons or daily activities.
 * Performance Gap. ** Teachers do not have access to the newer technologies. Therefore, students are not exposed to these technologies, either. Technology needs to be part of daily instruction, so students can learn the technological skills needed for their futures lives. In addition, the school is operating in the early stage of the STaR chart, and it needs to move to the advanced tech and target tech stages. This will help students gain the essential skills to be successful in school and other areas of their lives.
 * Cause Analysis. ** MemorialMiddle School and its school district do not have the money to buy and provide new technologies. Moreover, MemorialMiddle School will need to train its teachers, so they can implement the new technologies efficiently and effectively to address the students’ needs. It also needs to create the infrastructure to support these technologies. This gap exists because technology is evolving rapidly and people in charge of technology are not considering this fact in their planning. In addition, the state of Texas has technology standards that teachers and students must follow. These standards are described in the Texas Teacher School Technology and Readiness (STaR) Chart (Texas Education Agency, 2006). Therefore, MemorialMiddle School needs to prepare students to succeed in their STAAR assessments, place of work, and community.
 * Organizational History and Background **
 * Goals. ** One of the goals of MemorialMiddle School is to encourage and challenge students to fulfill their educational dreams. With the new technologies, teachers will be able to stimulate students, so they become active participants in the learning process. Additionally, students will learn technological skills that they will use in subsequent educational courses and their working and professional careers. This also helps fulfill another goal that states students will become active citizens who will keep society evolving and progressing.
 * Mission **** and Vision. ** The mission of MemorialMiddle School is to provide an environment where students can reach their educational potential. Its vision is to become the best middle school in the nation by creating leaning communities and forming partnerships with professionals and community members.
 * Three Intervention Strategies **
 * Low end intervention. ** Buying a classroom set for each of the three grade levels to share is a cheaper solution. The school does not need to spend a lot of money to expose students to the iPads, but teachers and students will not have access to this technology all the time. The implementation will not be seamless. The current technological infrastructure will not support this solution. Moreover, this intervention will fall in the early tech stage of the Texas Teacher School Technology and Readiness (STaR) Chart (Texas Education Agency, 2006). In this stage, teachers and students have limited access to technology. Technology is used to reinforce what the students have learned. It is imperative that teachers and students work in the advanced tech and target tech stages.
 * Middle end intervention. ** Buying a classroom set for each of the core-subject teachers is a solution that allows teachers and students to use iPads most of the time and reap their benefits. However, the current infrastructure does not support this solution; it is necessary to upgrade it to handle all the iPads. According to the Texas Education Agency (2006), this stage falls in the developing tech stage. In this stage, teachers use technology to present lessons, and students have regular access to technology. A caveat is elective teachers are not having access to this technology.
 * High end intervention. ** Buying iPads for all students is the goal of this proposal. This solution provides a number of benefits to the school and its students. Having books in a digital form might reduce the school budget for textbooks. Students do not need to carry heavy textbooks but will have access to them all the time. As with the middle end intervention, this solution would also call for an upgrade of the current infrastructure. According to the Texas Education Agency (2006), this intervention falls in the advanced tech and target tech stages of the STaR chart. These stages are the goal of the technology standards in the state of Texas. Teachers and students are using technology as an integral part of a daily lesson. Students can use technology as their wish to solve problems or create projects.
 * Justification for Intervention Strategy **
 * The Manager’s Many Roles **
 * The Manager as Change Agent **
 * Financial and Budget Information. ** The current enrollment at MemorialMiddle School is about 850 students, and there are about 80 teachers. This is a total of 930 iPads and this total will be rounded up to 1000 iPads. IPads have a cost of $399.00 each in the Apple Website (http://store.apple.com/us). It is also necessary to buy a cart in order to charge and store the iPads. In this proposal, the manger will also include professional development workshops to train teachers at the beginning of and throughout the year. This proposal will include monies to buy applications requested by teachers throughout the year, as well. Finally, monies are allocated to update the wireless network to support additional mobile devices. A detailed budget proposal is in Appendix A.
 * Project Assessment. ** The purpose of this project is to incorporate technology into the classroom, so students can use current technology during their learning process. The manger will create a formative assessment that includes teacher’s participation, lessons with iPad implementation, monitoring, and teacher’s meetings. This formative assessment will help the manger to overview the project and provide feedback to teachers. If something is not working properly, the manger and teachers will have the opportunity to fix it. The manger will encourage teachers to be better. A form for this assessment is in Appendix B.

** References ** Chevalier, R. (2007). //A manager’s guide to improving workplace performance//. New York, NY: AMACOM. Donaldson, J. A., Smaldino, S., & Pearson, R. (2008). Managing. In A. Januszewski, & M. Molenda (Eds.), //Educational technology: A definition with commentary// (pp. 176-193). New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. Johnson, L., Levine, A., Smith, R., & Stone, S. (2011). //The 2011 horizon report.// Austin, TX: The New Media Consortium. Retrieved from: [|http] [|://] [|wp] [|.] [|nmc] [|.] [|org] [|/] [|horizon] [|2011/] La JoyaIndependentSchool District. (n.d.a). //Brief history//. Retrieved from http://www.lajoyaisd.com/about/briefhistory.php La JoyaIndependentSchool District. (n.d.b). //Curriculum and evaluation//. Retrieved from http://www.lajoyaisd.com/dept/CandI/EandA/index.php Prensky, M. (2001, October). Digital natives, digital immigrants: Part 1. //On the Horizon, 9//(5), 1, 3-6. Texas Education Agency. (2000). //Section// // III //// : 2001 accountability rating criteria and standards //. Retrieved from http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/account/2001/manual/ Texas Education Agency. (2006, Fall). // Texas //// STaR chart: School technology and readiness: A teacher tool for planning and self-assessing aligned with the long-range plan for technology, 2006-2020 //. Retrieved from http://starchart.epsilen.com/docs/TxTSC.pdf

Appendix A     Technology Budget
 * Item  ||   Amount   ||   Price Unit   ||   Total   ||
 * iPads ||  1,000   ||   $399.00   ||   $399,000.00   ||
 * iPads Smart Cover ||  1,000   ||   $39.00   ||   $39,000.00   ||
 * Bretford Power Sync Cart for iPads ||  30   ||   $2,599.95   ||   $77,998.50   ||
 * Applications || || ||  $50,000.00   ||
 * Professional Development Sessions || || ||  $10,000.00   ||
 * Wireless || || ||  $25,000.00   ||
 * Total || || ||  $600,998.50   ||
 * Total || || ||  $600,998.50   ||
 * Total || || ||  $600,998.50   ||

Note: The information on the first three items is from the Apple Website (http://store.apple.com/us). Appendix B     Formative Assessment This instrument will help monitor the iPad implementation in MemorialMiddle School. This instrument will help gather information on how teachers are using the iPads. This information will have five areas: Appendix C     Summative Assessment This instrument will help evaluate the iPads implementation in order to improve students’ performance. This will also help monitor teachers and support them to maximize the use of the iPads. This tool will have five areas:
 * Teachers’ trainings and meetings on iPad implementation,
 * Implementation of iPads in their classrooms,
 * Documentation of the use of iPads in teachers’ lesson plans, and
 * Students’ success in the learning process.
 * Administrators will observe and evaluate teachers on iPad implementation.
 * How are teachers using the iPads to address students’ needs?
 * What recommendations are teachers requesting for improving students’ performance?
 * What trainings are teachers requiring to target the students’ needs?
 * Are teachers participating in workshops and sharing their experiences on iPads?