IU+13+-+Special+Education+Services+Team+1

Hello from the Lancaster Lebanon IU13 ECSES Team 1. Our team is made up of the following people:

Lori Blantz -LLIU13 Supervisor for the Elementary Emotional Support, Learning Support, Life Skills Support and Mulberry Street Programs Jen Bennett - Special Education Consultant for Elementary ES, LS, LSS and Mulberry Street program Audra Crawford - School Psychologist for Elementary ES, LS, LSS and Mulberry Street program Marcella Schreiber - Itinerant Autistic Support teacher Jill Leid - LLIU13 Teacher of K-3 Life Skills Classroom at Clay Elementary in Ephrata School District

 Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13 (IU 13) is an education service agency dedicated to delivering irresistible services to school districts and communities across the state. IU 13 is a leader in recognizing the needs of schools and implementing programs to meet those needs, with a core compelling purpose of improving student learning.  Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13 (IU 13) strives to improve student learning by providing both direct educational services and educational support services for Lancaster and Lebanon counties’ 22 school districts, as well as for adult education students, nonpublic schools, and preschoolers and their families.

**Action Research Project**
=**Lancaster Lebanon IU13 ECSES Team 1 **= = **Lori Blantz, Jen Bennett, Audra Crawford, Marcella Schreiber, Jill Leid** = = **Lancaster Lebanon IU 13** =

**Abstract**
//We have created for our staff a Wiki that focuses on bringing our classrooms into the 21st century with technology. This is a site where staff can add information and share their experiences as they go through their journey. The Wiki includes the following pages: introduction page, classroom lessons using technology, educational online resources, effective communication with staff and parents, examples of 21st century technology, online writing resources, and online social skills/autism resources. This Wiki will be shared with staff at the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year. Throughout the year, technology will be our program's focus goal. This Wiki will be used as an ongoing collaboration tool for our staff.//

**Problem, Issue, or Possibility**
//We are going to address our staff's disposition, values, and beliefs to increase their comfort level when working with technology in their classrooms.//

//Expected outcome: We would like to see an increase in staff's comfort level with technology, which will in turn increase the use of technology in our classrooms and vice versa.//
//Our goal is to provide them with a foundation to learn different types of technology and to provide training/tools and ongoing opportunities to meet and improve their knowledge/comfort level with using technology in the classroom.//

//To assess this, we will have staff complete a survey in the spring of 2011 as a "pre-test" to assess their current knowledge and comfort level with using technology. Staff will then complete the same survey in the spring of 2012 as a "post-test" and follow up to measure their growth. Each staff member will also have a professional track plan that focuses on a piece of technology that they would like to learn more about and work to incorporate into their classrooms. They will provide a mid-year and end-of-year summary to reflect their progress, growth, etc.//

**Implementation Plan**
//- Spring 2011: Survey (pre-test) completed by all staff members// //- May 26, 2011: Review and summarize survey results to be shared with staff during August staff development day// //- August 23, 2011: Professional development day to introduce our Wiki and project// //- September 30, 2011: All staff chooses one piece of technology by this date to learn more about and begin to incorporate into their classroom// //- October 10, 2011: Professional development day where staff will have opportunities to collaborate with one another and discuss progress// //- January 16, 2012: Professional development day where staff will have opportunities to collaborate with one another and discuss progress// //- Dates TBD: Three additional professional development evening sessions throughout the school year to provide additional opportunities for collaboration and sharing// //- Spring 2012: Survey (post-test) completed by all staff members//

//* Throughout the 2011-2012 school year, staff will use at least one piece of technology that they have chosen to incorporate into their classrooms.// //* Each staff member will continually assess their personal growth and comfort level throughout the year. Formal summaries will be completed and turned in to program supervisor mid-year and at the end of year in the form of a professional track plan.//

**Evaluation and Results**
//One thing we have learned is that technology can become outdated very quickly and often needs to be replaced/updated. This is important to keep in mind as we are asking staff members to incorporate more technology into their classrooms. We need to make sure that we have the necessary resources to make this project successful.//

//Through our experiences with PLP, we have learned how valuable technology can be as far as providing opportunities to collaborate with others, learn from others' experiences, and get almost immediate feedback, assistance, and support. We need to emphasize with our staff that if they need assistance throughout this project, they need to ask questions and use others as resources to assist them. We are hoping to add a page to our Wiki where staff can post questions and reply to each other.//

//We are currently in the beginning stages of our project, with staff members currently completing the initial survey (pre-test). We have created our Wiki, which will continue to be updated throughout the upcoming school year and beyond.//