"I like to draw with my computer," beams Emily, a 2nd-grade student at Portal Elementary School in Cupertino.
"I like getting on the Internet," said 3rd grader Brandon.
"I find Hyperstudio most useful in creating reports," asserted Braden, a 5th-grade student with special needs.
Student-Centered, Student-Driven Learning
To the 435 students at Portal School, technology is an integral and fun part of the curriculum. Students make choices about what they want to learn, and teachers act as guides to their learning. Every student has an individual learning plan in which academic and personal goals are set by the student, parent, and teacher and revisited five times each year. Students are taught at their developmental level, with respect for diversity, and in multiage groups working with parent and teacher teams. Gifted and special education students work side-by-side and collaboratively with their peers.
In this 1960s-built school, the walls have been knocked down to allow for open space learning environments. Each building is a rich learning environment for "villages" of teams of grades K-2, 3-4, and 5-6. There are movable screens for flexible spacing. Students sit on floors, at long tables, at workstations, or in small group clusters of desks. They work with teams of two to four teachers, parent volunteers, and numerous support staff, from the art specialist to the resource specialist. They use networked desktop and laptop computers, printers, scanners, digital cameras, ITV, DVDs, and LCDs. They stay with their villages for two to three years before graduating to the next village.
"Students demonstrate remarkable progress through this inquiry-driven process," observed Athena Scourkes, 3rd- and 4th-grade teacher. "It's a challenging but exciting role for me as more of the facilitator of learning. I'm their guide to information, not the expert. It puts more of the responsibility for learning on the students' shoulders."
Technology Enhances the Learning
Cupertino Unified School District (CUSD) was an early participant in the Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT). Yet when Portal's alternative education program was developed seven years ago, "the technology did not come first," said Harvey Barnett, Senior Research Associate at WestEd's Regional Technology in Education Consortium and former ACOT administrator in CUSD.
Portal teachers developed a common philosophy of their programmatic goals based on the district curriculum incorporating technology benchmarks. As a parent participation program with a long waiting list, parents share, support, and participate in Portal's vision of education. The principles of ACOT are incorporated into this vision - technology-enhanced and project-based learning, year-round schools, parent participation, and teachers with more than one year of experience. ACOT provided each teacher with a computer and put some in the classrooms.
Research from the 15-year ACOT model demonstrated that "If students have enough access to technology and teachers have appropriate training, then technology can make a difference in the learning," Barnett said.
Professional Development Essential
"The Teacher Development Center made the difference" in the success of Portal's program, said CUSD Superintendent Bill Bragg. All new Portal teachers are required to participate in this five-day training based on the ACOT model and housed conveniently at Portal School. Teams of two teachers from Portal and other schools visit classrooms observing how technology is integrated into the curriculum. They explore a wide range of technology tools that support learning and create projects or units of study to take back to their classrooms.
Reflection and collaboration are important elements of this professional development, noted Christine Stortz, ACOT Teacher Development Center Coordinator. "This new role of the 21st century teacher requires a significant change in teachers' beliefs about the purpose and nature of instruction," she said. "To make lasting change in the classroom, teachers need time to reflect and integrate new ideas with their own beliefs about teaching and learning."
The Center provides opportunities for reflection through journal writing, readings, and discussions. Portal teachers are also provided time to collaborate and reflect during the school week. Every Tuesday students go home early so teachers can meet to assess student progress and plan the instruction. Trained specialists teach a 1-1/2 hour block of music, art, and cultural studies every week which also allows for teacher planning and reflection.
Ongoing Student and Teacher Learning
"There's a tremendous amount of ongoing learning that teachers must do to keep up with the technology and their students' diverse learning paths," said Bragg.
That doesn't bother 3rd- and 4th-grade teacher Nancy Augason who said, "When I need technical assistance, I just call on my students to help." Fourth grader Robert agreed, "Yeah, I know more about computers than Mrs. Augason, but she knows more about our classwork."
This learning partnership has pushed Portal to consistently score at the top of California's tough Accountability Performance Index.
