In the middle of Budget Season, Newton Public Schools (NPS) staff and School Committee members from every ward met to discuss the district’s technology initiatives. The meeting was led by Steve Rattendi, Director of Information Technology and Library Services. This is a role that, as Dr. Nolin pointed out, in most MetroWest Districts is held by two separate people: one leading the instructional area and the other leading the operational technology area.
Mr. Rattendi’s presentation described both what is currently happening and what NPS staff hope to implement in the area of technology instruction. Additional Central Office leaders and Digital Learning Specialists were on hand to answer questions. In an ironic twist, two NPS educators were on the panel that wrote the Massachusetts State Frameworks for Digital Learning and Computer Science, but they have been hampered in implementing them in Newton by staff cuts and scheduling constraints.
Curriculum frameworks & District guiding principles
In 2016, the Mass. Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) published a set of Curriculum Frameworks for Digital Learning and Computer Science (DCLS) for grade spans K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12. These might be updated soon to more explicitly cover artificial intelligence (AI), but they also contain elements that are broad enough to encompass AI. Mr. Rattendi explained that, in the same way that a student can study collecting and analyzing data in science classes and statistics in math classes, there is a fair amount of synergy with other disciplines built into the DLCS standards. These standards cover what students should be learning about using technology and thinking about the place of technology in people’s lives, and they do not specifically cover how teachers should incorporate specific instructional technology. The 2023 Comprehensive Health and Physical Education Frameworks also touch on digital hygiene. Mr. Rattendi and Liz Butler-Everitt from the Science Department are currently running a joint curriculum review around technology and engineering.
Additionally, Mr. Rattendi listed NPS’s “Guiding Values” for teaching and learning around technology, which are listed in the presentation:
- Emphasizing personal relationships in learning: For example, using the same machine, or collaborating on Google Docs,
- Research-based practices: Effective vs. for-its-own sake
- Access and equity: Does it help students have access? For example, text-to-speech, magnification
- Future Prep: AI; kids are all over the place with AI about whether it is good for learning or environmentally-friendly
- Safety and security: Making sure data is secure
Dr. Nolin noted that in addition to these principles, the curriculum review around technology and engineering is deeply intertwined with a number of current concerns of parents, including homework policies, the amount of technology use in elementary schools, students’ overall screen time exposure, and the multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) revamp at the middle school level.
Mr. Rattendi went on to say that, while the state does not have any curriculum standards specific to library or research work, NPS developed its own set for Grades K-8. NPS has implemented those in dedicated library time at the elementary level for many years, and they include sections related to: Research and inquiry skills, Library use and resource navigation, Reading for pleasure and exploration, Digital learning and citizenship, Acceptable use guidelines, and Curriculum connections. The middle schools and high schools do not have dedicated library instructional time and rely instead on ad hoc synergies with content class activities.
In addition to the state frameworks, School Committee Chair Alicia Piedalue mentioned that several Boston Public Schools elementary schools have dedicated coding and robotics time and voiced the desire to have a better understanding of what is being offered in surrounding districts. Dr. Nolin said that in her observation, most other MetroWest districts are concertedly addressing the state frameworks, sometimes in a dedicated block and sometimes incorporated into other lessons.
In technology instruction, what has been happening, and what do NPS staff want to be able to do?
Mr. Rattendi described how NPS currently employs separate teams of people who serve as technology support (supporting the operational use of technology items), digital learning specialists (DLSs, assisting teachers in designing and sometimes implementing curriculum related to the use of technology,) and librarians (teaching a variety of research techniques). The digital learning specialists provide professional development to teachers, one-on-one, in small groups, or in district-level workshops. They also collaborate with teachers on planning and co-teaching lessons when they are using new technologies in the classroom and on using technology to support Universal Design for Learning. The number of DLSs has fluctuated in recent years due to budget constraints.
Mr. Rattendi’s department maintains a list of Approved Technology Tools that have signed Data Privacy Agreements and monitors teachers’ requests for approval for use of new technology tools. In response to a survey, elementary classroom teachers who said they do not implement the lessons the DLSs provide them said that it is because there is not enough time. School Committee Member Ben Schlesinger noted that he had heard frustration from parents about the days adjacent to vacation weeks being used for movies, and he wondered if the district would consider dedicating some of the time when there is no core curriculum planned to technology lessons.
Typing instruction
In regards to typing instruction, Mr. Rattendi noted that NPS used to have dedicated instructional minutes for typing built into the ELA block in 3rd grade, but this time has been traded for time dedicated to the EL curriculum for Language Arts. The district still maintains access to a typing program that students have the option to use at home, although that is subject both the screen time limits at home and the availability of a keyboard in the home. School Committee Member Jason Bhardwaj noted that in his experience the game Nitrotype, a car-racing computer game from typing.com, had been a success with his kids and their friends playing against each other socially and markedly improving their typing at the same time. Dr. Nolin noted that this is one area where most MetroWest districts are providing dedicated instructional minutes through both Handwriting Without Tears and Keyboarding Without Tears, neither of which Newton is using.
Coding and robotics
While Newton South and Newton North High Schools both offer electives in Computer Science and Robotics, the two high schools vary in their offerings in these areas. There is no citywide programming for coding or robotics at the elementary or middle school levels. The Math Department used to spearhead “Hour of Code” sessions, but those are optional, teachers’ choice activities.
There have been a few pilots that have yet to receive funding for a citywide rollout. These include
- An elementary school pilot of coding offered at four schools during WIN block, either by student opt-in or teacher recommendation
- A grant-funded Second Grade pilot of Ozobot sets, which are small coding robot sets and were incorporated into lessons on pollination where students programmed their robots to visit flowers at same time they were talking about pollination in science class
- A Third Grade Ozobot pilot with groups of 6-12 students during WIN block; 2x/week for 5 weeks (10 sessions) where students learned about algorithms and conditionals. Students could choose the type of task they wanted the robots to do, and one was Olympics-themed with robots being programmed for “pairs figure skating” and “slalom skiing.”
One of the Digital Learning Specialists conveyed that not every coding lesson needs to be on a screen, citing an “unplugged” Kindergarten class at Cabot where the students were coding a person to walk across a classroom. Dr. Nolin stressed the importance of hands-on elementary school activities for encouraging girls in STEM activities – serving as a backbone for future computational skills and math thinking, while providing enrichment and advancement for kids in all kinds of ways. She added that Newton Community Education has great summer and after-school programming in these areas, although it is not accessible to all kids. On a similar note, Dr. Gene Roundtree, Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education, noted that Day Middle School is experimenting with offering electives that might include some of these topics, while Mr. Rattendi tempered this with the regret that electives do not get all students engaging with the material.
Media savvy and ethics
Mr. Rattendi highlighted some of the topics and techniques being used not only to teach kids the mechanics of using technology, but also to get them thinking about how they use technology and also how other people might use technology to influence them. Examples included:
- A middle school lesson on “What are design tricks? And how are social media companies using them to harness your attention?”
- An AI and Civics lesson on lateral reading and checking accuracy that emphasizes teaching how to evaluate the output of AI.
- The use of Tech Talk cards, with questions like “If you see something on-line that makes you uncomfortable, what do you do?” These were designed for teachers to be able to use during unexpected transitions or found time, and while they have not been universally adopted, the teachers who have used them say they are both helpful and popular. School Committee Linda Swain asked how the district might require use of the cards throughout the district, which was left open-ended.
Noting it as a particular concern in the area of technology ethics, Mr. Rattendi also addressed the student use of AI, and said that NPS staff are examining for themselves and their students when the best time might be to use AI in the course of an assignment. He said there is research indicating that the refining moment might be best for helping students refine arguments and edit their work, rather than at the generative moment when they should be developing their ability to think through the problem. To this end, there is a pilot going on of a “tutor” version of AI that can give students more open-ended feedback.
As a technical point, Mr. Rattendi explained that Google for Education includes a version of Gemini that includes data privacy for teachers, and he said that staff are using it, though it is not turned on for students yet. While many people are still using ChatGPT rather than Gemini, OpenAI will not sign a data privacy agreement with school districts, so the staff have been trained not to put any personal data in it.
Library
As a long-established programming area, library has more structured instruction. The most-used technological resource in the libraries at all levels seemed to be the SORA book platforms, which students can use to access both ebooks and audiobooks through the Minuteman Library Network. Other important resources cited for high school use were research databases and foreign language learning platforms.
