The Evansville Community School District believes that public schools are obligated to provide every student access to information and technology in order to develop the necessary skills for living and working in the 21st century.
The Evansville Community School District is committed to providing the core fundamentals for effective media and technology education. These core elements include:
• Building and communicating a shared, community-based vision that prepares students to live and work in the 21st century.
• Creating powerful learning environments using research-based strategies that effectively use technology.
• Effectively integrating information and technology literacy standards into all areas of the school curriculum through a collaborative model.
• Providing ongoing and sustained professional development for all staff in order to achieve educator proficiency with effective teaching and learning practices.
• Adequate funding to ensure adequate technology resources.
• Equitable and robust access to technology for all students, staff, and community members.
The Evansville School District will use media and technology to help improve student achievement. Technology can enhance learning, and students must develop and apply essential information literacy skills in today¹s digital age. Students must be able to work collaboratively in applying problem-solving and critical thinking skills together with basic skills through online communication for all students.
The Evansville Community School District will implement the Wisconsin Model Academic Standards for Media and Technology, and will communicate through assessments and joint plans to assure that the standards are being met. Research shows that collaboration between media specialists and educators is the most effective way to implement true integration of technology into the curriculum.
The Evansville School District will have online staff development available for anywhere, anytime training. Various models and opportunities of staff development will be developed in order to meet the ever-changing set of needs for teachers. Administrators will become effective instructional technology leaders and/or hire top quality presenters of technology for staff development.
The Evansville School District will provide an infrastructure that provides instant reliable access to software, the network, e mail, the Internet and other resources.
Technology in the Evansville Community School District will provide constant and current information, data and communication for schools and school families. E-mail, Internet broadcasting, and reliable telephone service for all employees are tools that help to involve parents into their children's education. Ultimately, this will reach every family regardless of socioeconomic status.
According to the Wisconsin Model Academic Standards for Information and Technology Literacy, it is important that all Wisconsin students become information literate. In today's society, information is doubling every three to five years and technology is providing increased access to a wide array of information. The Wisconsin Model Academic Standards define the knowledge and skills essential for becoming information and technology literate.
Technology literacy is defined as the ability of an individual, working independently or with others, to use tools, resources, processes, and systems responsibly to access and evaluate information in any medium, and to use that information to solve problems, communicate clearly, make informed decisions, and construct new knowledge, products, or systems (Fortier et al., 1998).
These standards are designed to be integrated into the various skill and content areas of the school curriculum. The focus is on learning with technology rather than learning about technology. In order to meet the goal of integrating technology into the core curriculum, there must be adequate and equalized access to technology resources.
With equal availability of instructional technology to all students regardless of socioeconomic status, culture, ability, religion, gender, age, or race, schools can help all students develop necessary skills for advancement in the 21st century.
The Evansville Community School District is committed to providing equal access to technological tools for all students. This includes a low student to computer ratio, access to the Internet for all, and adequate locations, scheduling, and resources for students to practice technological skills.
The professional library and media staff of the Evansville Community School District are committed to providing leadership in developing and implementing the vision for integrating information and technology literacy. In order to carry out the vision, the Evansville School District Library and Media team is committed to:
o Developing programs that focus on student achievement.
o Integrating information and technology standards into all curricular areas.
o Maintaining membership on district information and technology teams as well as administrative, professional development, and curriculum teams.
o Supporting and promoting the Wisconsin Model Academic Standards for Media and Technology Literacy to meet district educational goals.
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