What did they try?

The focus of Salisbury UniversityÕs PT3 sub-grant was to prepare preservice teachers to integrate the use of student data and technology in the instructional process to improve K-12 student achievement. The project, centered on classroom data, had several major goals:

1. Prepare mentor teachers to use handheld technology to interpret and analyze student, class and school data to develop data-driven instructional decisions;
2. Prepare teacher candidates to use handheld technology to interpret and analyze student, class and school data to develop data-driven instructional decisions;
3. Prepare mentor teachers to design, deliver and assess learning experiences that integrate technology, are data-driven, and are designed to improve student achievement;
4. Prepare preservice teachers to design, deliver and assess learning experiences that integrate technology, are data-driven, and are designed to improve student achievement.

Salisbury University partnered with Wicomico County Public Schools in this project. Preservice students worked with identified PDS mentor teachers during their 100 day internships to learn to use Palms for data collection and analysis. Interns collected achievement data on their Palms and submitted data-driven lesson plans with accompanying analysis of student achievement.

What worked and why?

• Professional development for interns delivered by a classroom teacher with expertise in teaching with handhelds gave authenticity to the project.
• Professional development throughout the fall semester with application in the spring semester provided interns time to learn and be comfortable with the technology and time to apply and then discuss the results.
• Providing each intern with a handheld to use for the academic year enabled them not only to learn to use the handhelds for their own productivity but also to adapt the technology to their classroom instruction.
• Designing professional development for interns aligned with ongoing professional development initiatives in the county schools served to strengthen the program.
• Having interns using handhelds inspired mentor teachers to pursue professional development on using handhelds.
• Attending the Michigan Handheld Conference afforded us the opportunity to network with other educators who have been using handhelds for much longer periods of time. This also inspired us to team with another local school district that was beginning to use handhelds and host a local conference.
• Hosting the Mid Atlantic Handheld Conference during the Salisbury University summer session enabled teacher candidates enrolled in Computers in Education to attend. Students who attended gave high marks to the event for enabling them to understand the benefits of handhelds for data collection and instruction.

What didn't work and why?

• Requiring teacher candidates to focus on reading skills was too restrictive. Intern placements were too diverse and the myriad requirements of internship so great that interns needed more freedom to integrate and address core content standards.
• Providing professional development for interns and their mentor teachers was too restrictive. It proved too difficult to find situations in which both partners wanted to participate.

What will they do next?

• Wicomico County will continue to provide professional development for mentor teachers in PDS schools to increase their understanding of how to effectively integrate handheld technology into instruction.
• Wicomico County will provide several class sets of handhelds to PDS schools and mentor teachers to provide opportunities for interns to teach with handhelds.
• Wicomico County and Salisbury University will collaborate with Seaford School District in Delaware to co-host the Mid-Atlantic Handheld Conference during summer 2006.