Page 151 - Microsoft Word - Annual Report 2016

programs, pottery, and winter outdoor activities like tracking and shelter building.

Environment

Spofford Pond and Harry Lee Cole Schools Designated as EPA “Energy Star” Schools: Notification
was received in January 2017 from www.energystar.gov that the Spofford Pond and Harry Lee Cole
Schools were again designated as Energy Star” schools. The “Energy Star School” designation is an
award applied annually that recognizes superior energy performance and identifies a school as among the
most energy efficient buildings of their type in the nation as recognized by the Energy Star Program. This
marks the sixth consecutive award for Spofford Pond School. The Harry Lee Cole School has earned the
“Energy Star” designation for seven consecutive years.

Educational Technology

The Boxford Public Schools and Tri-Town School Union is preparing our students for their futures, for a
global world and society, and for jobs that have not yet been created. In the classroom, technology is now
integrated as part of regular learning and teaching in the classrooms. Technology integration is based in
solid teaching, learning and pedagogical practices. Teachers are expected to integrate technology
consistently to leverage students’ critical thinking and learning; students regularly learn and develop their
digital literacy, communication, and collaboration skills with the assistance of technology. Technology is
integrated into our teaching and learning mindfully and with purpose: it enhances effective teaching and
instructional practices, increases student learning and promotes innovative thinking and creativity.

Our approach to integrating technology is one of consistent and gradual growth: we work closely with the
support of digital learning specialists to build teacher capacity and regular integration into instruction and
learning opportunities. This process takes time, and through focus and effort, we have moved our schools
to a crucial point where the demand now consistently outpaces the supply of devices. We have
encouraged, challenged, and asked our teachers to use technology, and they have risen to the occasion. In
order to continue to support this shift towards new and innovative teaching and learning practices, we
must invest in devices, infrastructure, digital learning specialists and information technology support.
Financially, this means both increasing the number of devices to which students and teachers have access,
but also to replacing technology that is aging out so we can sustain and grow how we integrate technology
effectively and regularly into the classroom.
At Harry Lee Cole School, we continue to see laptops age out of their life cycle, and will seek to replace
them with laptops for staff. iPads and tablets continue to be the majority student device used in the
primary grades, as their applications are effectively used to assist students and teachers with learning, and
skill development and tracking data to drive instruction. We are looking to second grade as the likely
grade where students will start utilizing keyboarding skills and Google Applications for Education
(GAFE), and are hoping to provide Chromebooks in that grade to assist with further developing these
skills in the classroom with the assistance of the digital learning specialist. We are beginning to see
SMART Boards start to age out of use, and need to begin investing in newer technology to provide
interactivity boards in the primary grades, which are used regularly in classroom instruction.

At Spofford Pond School, we are in a similar replacement need as HLC in terms of our technology end-
user device status. Spofford Pond possesses a higher number of laptops, and therefore has a higher
volume of devices that are aging out and need to be replaced. Again, we will look to replace these laptops
for students and staff alike with new devices. We are considering Chromebooks as a replacement, as they
work well in the GAFE environment and are less costly than the MacBooks they will replace. iPads and