At about this time last year I spent a week posting about some intriguing questions posed by David Warlick about how we are to prepare students for a world which we ourselves cannot imagine. This fall I seem to be returning to the same types of questions--this time about how to help our school districts, staff, students, and families be future ready.
The United States Department of Education has been working to help schools become future ready by working to provide high-speed wireless capability to students. This has happened through funding we receive through the government in the form of erate; funding that hopefully will continue to expand. As part of this initiative, they have asked superintendents from around the country to sign a Future Ready Pledge. As this pledge fits with where we need to go as a district to be ready for the future, I have signed this pledge on behalf of Porter Township School Corporation. The bullet points below are taken directly from the pledge, but fit right in with what we are trying to accomplish here at PTSC. At PTSC we desire to:
Foster and lead a culture of digital learning within our schools (we are always open to trying new things and work to support our teachers in expanding digital learning, supporting new classroom instructional techniques, and in preparing our students for a digital future with ideas like our online learning days)
Help schools and families transition to high-speed connectivity (we have added additional access points at BGE and BGMS and have a plan to add to PLE)
Empower educators through professional learning opportunities (buildings are given a professional development budget and asked to design a professional development plan for the year)
Accelerate progress toward universal access for all students to quality devices (even where we are not yet 1:1 we have been adding mobile labs to buildings)
Provide access to quality digital content (Indiana has been leading the charge on developing digital content as a state and continues to build the content library)
Offer digital tools to help students and families (there are some on our website, but we need to do better in this area!)
Mentor other districts to help them transition to digital learning (this is a regular part of my schedule to help others and share what we are learning on the journey)
This is a journey and by taking the pledge it does not mean we have arrived, but that we will continue to grow. Even though we encounter bumps in the road and have to recalculate our course, it is exciting to be transforming teaching and learning. I don't believe we will ever truly arrive. As we face the challenge of preparing our students for a world which we cannot imagine we must continue to press forward and I am excited PTSC is committed to taking the challenge!