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Educational Design & Technology

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Learning Technology Grant Program Overview: NYC CSD 10

Award Years: 2021-2024

Honoring Student Voices (HSV)

The Learning Technology Grant-funded HSV program will be conducted in three New York City (NYC) Community School District 10 (CSD10) schools in the Bronx.  CSD 10 is one of the largest urban school districts in NYC serving a population of over 50,000 students. HSV will impact 53 classroom teachers, 5 teacher specialists (technology , library media , literacy coach) 3 teaching artists and at least 1450 students, grades 3 through 5, over a 3-year period.

Academic Needs

New York City Community School District 10 (CSD10) is a designated New York State (NYS) Target District that serves an ethnically diverse population of Pre-kindergarten through grade twelve students 70% of whom are from Latin American countries and 15% are of African American origin. 84% of the students are considered economically disadvantaged. 21%  of that population are Limited English Proficient (LEP) and twenty one percent are students with disabilities (SWD).  The three participating schools are among those with the greatest need in the district based on the NYS assessment performance and participation rates for ELA, mathematics particularly for the Limited English Proficient (LEP), SWD and economically disadvantaged subgroups.

Most recent assessment data from the current NYS School Report Card Performance Assessment (2019) demonstrates the need for increased academic performance and student engagement across grade levels and content areas. District-wide results on the NYS English Language Arts (ELA) assessment grades 3 through 8 averaged at 34% percent proficiency with the lowest results for students in grade 3. Similarly, NYS Mathematics achievement results also demonstrated large gaps in student proficiency with an average of 30% of students scoring at proficiency level. The NYS average for ELA proficiency is 45% and the NYS average for mathematics proficiency is 47%.

A comprehensive needs assessment of remote learning successes and challenges was conducted for the three schools participating in this grant to provide information that will be linked to activities in support of NYSED’s goal 1, access to personalized learning experiences supported by technology and professional learning for the effective use of data and technology. Survey data collected from fifty-one grades 3 through 5 teachers from the three elementary schools reveals qualitative data on teaching and learning during the last 14 months.

  • 75.5% of teachers reported that their students were inconsistently engaged during remote learning activities and 91.8% responded that engagement for students consisted mostly of oral responses during synchronous lesson sessions
  • 98% reported that visual and video cues were most affective to promote engagement
  • The biggest challenges to remote learning were the limited opportunities for varied student responses and lack of appropriate technology tools to meet varied student needs
  • 65.3% of teachers reported that one of their biggest challenges for teachers was the lack of opportunities for group work and peer-to peer collaboration
  • 65.3% reported that one of their biggest successes during remote learning was their ability to navigate from synchronous sessions to asynchronous assignment work.        

The data provided above demonstrates the need for changes in school programming that will focus on a more hands on experiential approach to learning.

Technology Needs

Although 90% of classrooms across all participating schools are equipped with Smart Boards and up to date working computer technology in the form of laptops, chrome books and/or iPads, project-based learning and the use of technology tools that support a variety of learning modalities is still at a minimal level. Although the computer to student ratio is high, due to the requirements that the pandemic has imposed, teachers need to learn how to provide more engaging, challenging digital media work to support academic rigor in all subjects.

Professional development especially for veteran teachers in using technology effectively and seamlessly to target the NYS and Common Core Learning Standards is needed in all schools. The schools in this project are ready to engage in such practices. In addition, teachers need these lessons modeled in the classroom.  The program will; use  professional development and classroom support to help expand technology usage and create a model of sustainability for best practices in implementing technology strategies.

Honoring Student Voices is an opportunity for three CSD10 schools to create, implement, evaluate and disseminate an integrated curriculum that incorporates digital media, the arts and literacy across the curriculum, creating opportunities for students to apply these concepts through collaborative, interdisciplinary projects that scaffold from grade 3 to grade 5.

HSV will support the needs of the targeted schools in three phases over the grant period that will include: design and adoption of interdisciplinary project-based units of study with arts and literacy learning (phase 1), development and implementation of academic interventions, that include specific strategies to support ELLs and SWD (phases 2 and 3); ongoing professional development and classroom support (all phases) that will increase teacher effectiveness in the adoption of 21st century teaching and learning strategies; development of evidence based curriculum maps and rubrics for assessment (phase 1) that teacher leaders will use to turn-key exemplary practices to the rest of the school community (phases 2 and 3).

HSV  will develop a scaffolded approach to  project-based literacy and arts integration through the effective use of a blended learning model that fosters the 4C’s of 21st Century Learning: critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication as a pathway to college and career readiness .

Teachers will collaborate with an artist in residence working with students in a team-building approach where students participate as designers, documenters, and strategists creating multimedia projects that integrate creative arts and literacy aligned with core curriculum standards. HSV will focus on three phases -  planning, implementation and dissemination - leading to the building, curating and publicizing of materials and artifacts.  Program artifacts will  include teacher and student digital portfolios featured on a district website, monthly school-based news casts highlighting current events and made public on a YouTube channel, and the creation of digital media projects in the form of  murals, video, and augmented reality experiences (AR).  

The goals of HSV 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
  • To 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.
  • To 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.

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