Case Study: Eagle Heights Academy
From Academic Emergency to Continuous Improvement in 2 years
"The Activclassroom System has become my primary teaching tool - every day, for every subject."
Diane Zidian, teacher 4th grade, Eagle Heights Academy
Challenges and Goals
Established in 1998, Eagle Heights Academy is a large urban community school, created to provide a choice in public education. During the past five years, the charter school, in partnership with families and the community has provided a deep-seated learning environment that motivates students to explore, excel and become life long learners.
During this same time, administrators and teachers alike have been faced with the challenges of meeting heightened performance standards under tighter financial restraints, making technology procurement and integration a constant struggle.
That is, until early in 2003, when Tony Cann, an executive from Promethean, makers of the Activclassroom System, was in Youngstown on business. A friend of his, Bruce Beard, was involved in sponsoring a charter school, and Cann was interested in getting a first hand look at the facility. He heard that this family-school-community partnership was making great strides with the daily challenges of teaching predominately "at-risk" students. Cann was eager to share Promethean's innovative Activclassroom System, and explore ways it could further enhance the academic success of Eagle Heights' students.
It was during this initial meeting that the administrators and teachers at Eagle Heights were introduced to the interactive whiteboard system.
"It was love at first sight," said Linda Mansfield, master teacher. "I knew instantly that this was the teaching solution of the future -- our future -- at Eagle Heights."
Implementation
Initially, everyone at Eagle Heights recognized the importance of integrating the Activboard solution into existing standardized curriculum, however the administration was in need of a creative monetary approach to secure it. So the school orchestrated a lease option to purchase seven complete systems.
That was two years ago. Today, the school boasts a complete Promethean Activclassroom System for every classroom -- 45 in all -- thanks in part to a substantial technology grant and community donations.
Administrators at Eagle Heights elected to install wall-mounted Activboards with the built-in Activstudio software tools and resources. The learning solution also includes an Activslate, which allows teachers and students to control the whiteboard from anywhere in the classroom, and a set of Activotes, 32 hand-held voting devices that provide teachers with instant student feedback. Additionally, each class received the Activtablet, which allows teachers to develop lesson plans and flip charts when away from the board or at home.
The decision to incorporate a comprehensive system in every classroom came as a result of teacher enthusiasm and student achievement.
“We believed that if we could engage the children in their individual learning process, then their attention span would expand, their interest level would increase and ultimately their test scores would rise,” said Mansfield. “What we witnessed was an absolute metamorphosis.”
And while the excitement for this revolutionary technology is palpable, the school staff has remained clearly grounded in its stringent academic goals for the Promethean system – increase student attention and interaction. These goals have had a direct impact on improving student achievement and student retention.
Implementation cont..
The school moved up a noteworthy two levels on the Ohio Department of Education’s Content Standard’s scale from Academic Emergency, to Academic Watch, to Continuous Improvement, in just two years.
“We use the Activboard system as a visual and auditory scaffold; that is to say, building student interest brick by brick and improving student comprehension subject by subject,” said Mansfield.
And the students aren’t the only ones to build on their individual skill sets. The teachers are expanding their knowledge of how to be better teachers, too. Most days you will see Eagle Heights’ educators collaborating by grade level as they share the lesson plans and flip charts they have developed individually for use in their classrooms.
“Every day they find something new that they can do with this innovative teaching and learning tool,” said Mansfield.
The staff has been able to incorporate the school’s existing software programs including Destinations Reading and Math from PLATO Learning, to help its students test taking skills. The school also subscribes to a Web site called United Streaming which aligns the content standards specifically by strand and grade level to the lessons that the teachers wants to present. They have also obtained copies of the Ohio Department of Education’s previous proficiency tests via the Internet and made them interactive.
For example, fourth-grade teacher, Diana Zidian uses the camera feature to snap a picture of a writing sample that is placed on the Activboard for students to revise and use as a whole class activity.
Cyndi Martin, 3rd grade teacher, reinforces mathematics by showing stored flipcharts with previous lessons highlighted. “If a child has a question about addition or subtraction -- something we covered earlier, I just push a button and I have all my notations -- plus I can use the 100's chart as a background. Everything we covered is just a click away.”
Implementation cont..
Zidian adds, “I’m able to instantly provide background knowledge to render our texts meaningful. Not to mention the color graphics and music – the novelty of this technology will never wear off.”
Martin also uses Promethean’s Activprimary, the first electronic whiteboard software program designed specifically for primary-age classrooms. And just as the Activstudio software offers unmatched libraries of images, background and annotation resources for all students, Activprimary, with its big tools, activities, games and resources is geared for young learners.
Other teachers rave about the Activote. Teacher Cyndi Martin noted that her in-class participation shot up 90 percent when she started using the Activote. “The students absolutely love voting, but I love its classroom management features. In named mode, I use it as the way a student can raise their hands instead of shooting out an answer. I ask them to press A if they want to be called on, and then I am able to see on the Activboard which names light up. I can also anonymously give each student a number, from one to twenty. When answers are cast I can determine each student’s answer.”
Zidian regularly uses the Activote to assess her students’ understanding of subject matter to be sure they are reaching their learning goals.
Results
“By using all of the online resources in conjunction with the Promethean system, our staff is now able to more effectively teach to state and federal standards and frequently assess their mastery of prime subjects,” said Mansfield. “This one-two punch of resources and collaboration, coupled with ease of use, has directly affected the immense academic gains our students are enjoying.”
“The benefit for me as an educator means I can quickly determine what I need to do to be sure my students are on track,” said Zidian. “I can review any materials that are proving problematic or I can skip ahead if it’s warranted.”
Alex Murphy, Eagle Heights superintendent, is convinced that it’s the intangible benefits provided by the Promethean system that makes the difference and the reason why he didn’t rest until every teacher at Eagle Heights had this collaborative teaching solution in their classroom.
Zidian adds, “Once we were exposed to the Activboard system, we knew that the way we had been teaching would change forever. The Activclassroom System has become my primary teaching tool – every day, for every subject.”
School Profile
Eagle Heights Academy, a charter school in Youngstown, Ohio enrolls nearly 1,000 students in kindergarten through grade 8. Approximately 90 percent of students are eligible to receive free and reduced price lunches.