21st Century Learning
Our Committment to Digital Conversion
The Wachussett Regional School District is committed to finding efficiences, reducing waste, and doing our part to care for the environment. Our Digital Conversion helps us to realize these goals in our schools and offices throughout the five towns.
Paperless Offices
The District embarked on an initiative to communicate and document information in paper-free environments in our central and school offices. All administrators were provisioned with iPads and collaborate at meetings using an app called DropBox. Current systems for managing official documents and registrations will be expanded to reduce paper forms and inter-office mail. Copiers with scanning capabilities will digitize documents and share them via email directly from that copier, rather than duplicating paper. Grant funds support our implementation of the Systems Interoperability Framework (SIF) to allow our digital systems to talk to one another without manual entry from paper documents and significant data entry by staff. Finally, the District is converting to digital progress reports and report cards via parent portals in PowerSchool, our district-wide student management system.
Reducing Paper Use in Our Classrooms
The District is provisioning classrooms with technological teacher workstations that will help reduce paper use. Workstations, including upgraded computers, projectors, classroom response systems, and other instructional tools, will allow teachers to easily access their own websites, collaborate with colleagues, deliver instruction with digital media, and convert paper resources to engaging digital content when possible. The District implemented Pearson Limelight, a robust student data management system allowing us to collect, analyze, and track assessment data without spending hours creating spreadsheets and printing charts for collaborative problem-solving. Additionally, the District will launch classroom use of iPads in pilot sites beginning in September, 2012. Based on our successful use of iPads for intervention in special education and Title I services, regular use of this learning tool in classrooms will capitalize on innovative instructional delivery while reducing our reliance on paper materials for students.
More About Digital Conversion
Innovating Systems
The Wachusett Regional School District partnered with Clear Pond Technologies to design our own iPad app for delivering a comprehensive digital teacher evaluation system. This system, fully aligned with new Race to the Top guidelines for evaluation, provides real-time collaboration between educators and their evaluators, displays integrated analytics, creates efficiencies in data management, and reduces paper use. Explore an overview of our tool or visit the TeachPoint website to find out more.
