Lakeland BOE Discusses Plans for Upcoming School Year

When Lakeland students begin classes this week, the Board of Education will have already jumped into discussing the district's new goals and fresh learning initiatives for the upcoming school year and beyond.

Many of these plans and possibilities will implement technology as a means of efficiency.

In Lakeland, goals for the 2010-2011 school year are divided into three main areas: curriculum alignment, response to instruction/intervention and analyzing data for success.

The administrative team has been working with teachers by department, grade level and subject across the district to create basic curriculum maps. By the end of the year, the goal is to have these maps in place, consistent and reviewed for effectiveness.

"It's an opportunity as we grow, for teachers to be able to share lesson plans on the map," Assistant Superintendent of Instruction Jean Miccio said. "It's something that's going to be revisited all the time, that's a curriculum map – something that's never finished and that's what makes it great and ongoing."

Online, teachers have access to a wiki for their subject area. Resources will allow teachers to be able to see curriculum maps for every subject area from K-12.  The plan is for this system to work as living documents – constantly changing and developing—while also creating a collaborative, team environment for professionals.

Lakeland Superintendent George Stone was positive.

"I'm hoping that everyone will be dedicated to providing the best education for all of our students by continually trying to improve how well we all perform and do our jobs," Stone said. "I'm hoping that all of our teachers, at every grade level, at every school, will work together as part of a bigger district."

The district will also continue their commitment to infusing learning styles into the curriculum and instruction. New teachers have been, and will continue to be, exposed to this growing program.

"Professional development is key to this particular goal," Director of Science Curriculum Patricia Viggiano said.

The board is also looking into two new ways technology can help students succeed. The first is possibly using Nova Net to give students the chance to recover credit. Currently, students must pay to attend summer school outside of the district.

With Nova-Net, students would be given the chance to retake a class they previously failed. They would instructed on material they didn't previously understand [assessed by a pre-test] so they can move onto the next subject with a better foundation. Nova Net incorporates different ways of learning such as video, audio and vocabulary games. However, it does not include an instructor as online courses might.

Online courses are another possibility for the future of education in the Lakeland district. The program in discussion could allow teachers to design courses for students all over the region. These courses would prepare students for college, where online courses are more prevalent. The courses could also serve as a college admissions opportunity for students pursuing higher curriculum.

Both Nova Net and online courses will be further discussed in the upcoming months in addition to other ways technology may help the district meet their future goals.