Learning Technology Grant Program Overview: Amityville Union Free School District

Award Years: 2021-2024

Amityville UFSD  Learning Technology Grant : Where Do We Go From Here? 

“Where Do We Go From Here?” attempts to reconcile the challenges faced by creating a blended learning approach focused on the integration of the arts and literacy across core subject learning to support culturally linguistic relevance in a project-based learning environment. The project will be conducted in three Amityville Union Free School District (AUFSD) schools: Northwest Elementary School, designated by NYS for Targeted School Improvement (TSI), Park Avenue Memorial Elementary School  and Edmund W. Miles Middle School, a NYS designated Comprehensive Support and Improvement School (CSI). Four nonpublic schools have also agreed to participate.

The AUFSD serves a community of 79% economically disadvantaged students, 15% students with disabilities, and 23% English Language Learners.  The district’s students are  33% African American, 57%  Hispanic/Latino, 4% White, 1 % Asian/Pacific Islander, 1% Native American and 3% multi-racial.   

“Where Do We Go From Here?” will impact 95 classroom teachers, 3 library media specialists and at least 2400 students, grades 2 through 8, over a 3-year period. Digital Age Learning (DAL) will work collaboratively with all participating teachers to develop a team-building approach for instruction where students participate as designers, documenters, and strategists creating multimedia projects that integrate creative arts and literacy aligned with core curriculum standards.

The program will develop a cadre of expert teachers to build capacity for turn-key training and bring the project to scale for implementation throughout the district, beyond the grant period. “Where Do We Go From Here?” will develop a scaffolded approach to  project-based literacy and arts integration fostering the 4C’s of 21st Century Learning: critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication as a pathway to college and career readiness.

Project goals are to:

• Provide ongoing, sustained professional learning opportunities to targeted administrators, teachers, and specialists that build capacity to offer a standards-based blended learning approach that integrates arts and literacy with the core curriculum. 
• Build student voice and  21st century learning skills using digital media to address students’ academic needs and develop evidence- based projects that integrate arts and literacy learning in science, social studies and mathematics. 
• Develop and disseminate instructional materials as regional and state-wide public resources supporting the expansion of a blended learning model that integrates literacy and arts-based learning throughout the core curriculum. 

Contact:  

Dr. Joan K. Lange 
Interim Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction
Amityville UFSD
jlange@amityvilleufsd.org
(631) 565-6037
Website address: NYSED LTG Project (google.com)