DA+1.C+Other+Data+Analysis

 **Section I C. Data & Analysis – Other Data Item 1 – Attributes and Challenges of the District and Community That Have Affected Student Learning ** Student Surveys by Next Steps (December, 2009) Faculty Surveys by Next Steps (December, 2009-January, 2010) Community Surveys by Next Steps (December, 2009-January, 2010) Tri-Valley Certified Staff Evaluation Instrument (examined January, 2010)
 * Description - Provide a description of other data collected during the development of the Action Plan. It may include existing data considered in the writing of this plan. This is a list of tools and, where appropriate, dates administered. All data used to develop the Action Plan must be made available to ISBE, the United States Department of Education, the Universal Services Administrative Company, and the local community upon request.**

 Tri-Valley CUSD #3 is located in central McLean County within 10 miles of the largest McLean County population center, Bloomington-Normal. The nearby city is the source of employment for many of the Tri-Valley residents. Not only is Bloomington-Normal a place of employment it is the nearest place for shopping, entertainment, higher learning and other activities. The largest employer is State Farm Insurance followed by Illinois State University and Country Companies.
 * Summarize the Data - This box should include a summary and analysis of the significant data.**

The District includes the villages of Downs and Ellsworth. According to the last census (2000), the population is over 90% white, over 90% have graduated from high school, and the average income is over $50,000. The Tri-Valley campus includes four buildings: Tri-Valley Elementary School, Tri-Valley Middle School, Tri-Valley High School, and the Tri-Valley Unit Office. The September 30, 2009 enrollment was 1073 students with a professional and support staff of over 100.

There is strong support for the schools within the community. Co-curricular, academic and drama events and sporting events are well attended and the sports and academic boosters supplement the budgets of teams and clubs. The parent/community technology survey results state most parents strongly agree that technology is critical to the learning experience of students (67.0%) and most (51.0%) strongly agree they would support additional funding for technology.

Tri-Valley community members have access to a computer and the Internet at both home (88.0%) and at work (88.0%) and they report they have good computer skills (86.0%). The communication between the schools and home is done primarily through the use of technology (i.e., school and class websites, voice messaging, e-mail, etc.). Many of the community members who took the survey were also parents and most (87.6%) rank the need for technology as a 7 of 10 or higher although less than half (44.0%) would rank technology as the highest need facing schools.

Tri-Valley needs to communicate the district technology vision better. Many community members (55.6%) report they were unaware of the vision, they don’t receive communication about how the technology we have in place is used (55.0%) or understand the results from technology use in schools (55.0%). Many community members expressed some interest in collaboration but none reached the 50% mark.

Most Tri-Valley students in 5th and 8th grades report they have used computers more than four years (80.4%) and consider themselves to be ethical most (38.5%) or all of the time (51.9%). They also report they are proficient users of computers (55.0%) and the Internet (44.0%).

Students in 5th and 8th grade use computers mostly in science (75.0%), Language Arts (69.2%), Reading (51.9%) and History/Social Studies (51.9%). Most report the highest frequency of use is word processing and many use it either weekly (48.1%) or daily (18.5%) and many can use it independently (42.0%) or can teach others (53.0%). All students report they can use hand held devises with skill levels at the beginning level (3.0%) through the ability to teach others (63.0%).

Most students in grades 5 and 8 could not create databases (66.0%) or podcasts (65.0%). Given the fact that teachers report they have no skills in database creation (44.0%) or podcasting (64.0%), this is not a surprise. Further data analysis shows many students don’t possess the skills to create with technology, only the ability to use it.

Tri-Valley teachers are all highly qualified for their assignments and most have between six and fifteen years of classroom experience (51.6%). They report they have been using technology in their classrooms for more than five years (53.8%). The use of computers for learning is primarily for Internet access (62.0% daily) or to use productivity tools such as word processors (37.05 daily). The results are confusing when teachers rate themselves as technology users: 56.0% rated themselves as beginners with support but 48.0% rated themselves capable of teaching others how to use the Internet or have the ability to design and assess lessons supported with technology resources for students (48.0%). All teachers report the have the skill to use or teach word processing (100.0%) with most able to teach others (68.0%). They report 100.0% have the personal skills to use e-mail for school work and use Internet tools at different levels of skills.

Teachers report they learn about technology at workshops (84.6%) and weekly efforts to learn instructional technology through ideas for student projects discussion (53.8%). They also report the learning they need most is designing learning projects using technology (57.7%).

Teachers agree (30.8%) or strongly agree (61.5%) their principals expect, support, and assess their learning and effective use of technology with their students. Technology use is on the Tri-Valley Certified Staff evaluation instrument.


 * Key Factors – The information in this box is directly aligned to the data analysis and identifies probable causes or contributing factors to the identified needs/gaps that can be influenced by the goals and strategies in this plan.**

There a community pride in the academic and athletic achievements of the students.

Parents and community members are supportive of the schools and of the use of technology in general. Students are rarely asked to create projects that use technology beyond word processing and PowerPoint presentations in grades 5 and 8. However, observation of activities at the high school level show the opportunities to learn about Internet broadcasting, movie making and podcasting expand.

Teachers don’t have the skills to teach more creative technology skills because they don’t know what skills are available.


 * Conclusions - The information in this box will include one or two solid conclusion statements drawn from data and information stated above. The statements should be relevant to the development of the Action Plan. The data collected in this box will focus on student achievement.**

Although teachers have strong technology skills using e-mail, grading and attendance programs, word processing and the Internet, more focus needs to be on how students can create more than typed papers and slide presentations to demonstrate learning.

Parents and other community members need to be made aware of the vision and goals Tri-Valley has for technology and how they can be involved with technology in their schools.