Every Child, Every Day

Description

• Valuable help for understanding fundamental change concepts for digital conversion is provided. Chapter 1 shows how it goes beyond one-to-one computing, explains second-order change and the Mooresville critical success factors, and illustrates the Mooresville students’ academic achievement with many charts and graphs. (Chapter 1)

• The mission and vision that inspired the digital conversion effort are explained to help readers understand the need to bridge the digital divide, set high expectations for all students, and prepare every student for the challenges of the 21 ^st century workplace. The role of a culture of caring and collaboration is presented. (Chapter 2)

• The emotional aspects of school life so often neglected—and how they have transformed daily interactions among adults and adults and students—are discussed, including the culture of caring and support for each individual, the need to develop leaders at all levels, how to address negative reactions to change, and the importance of joy and laughter in building a new culture that supports learning. (Chapter 3)

• The opportunity to learn from the successes of the Mooresville, NC graded school district is offered in Chapter 4 and outlines the steps, with a focus on planning, employee growth, communication, and the pilot program. Various technology decisions including laptops, infrastructure, online content, LMS, and more are presented in the description of the laptop deployment process. (Chapter 4)

• The importance of personal and team growth at all levels is illustrated in the description of Mooresville’s approach to “evolutional” capacity building. Extensive professional development opportunities available at the school and district levels are listed. (Chapter 5)

• Suggestions for driving student engagement and achievement are offered in a look at what transformed teaching and learning in Mooresville. The author discusses the impact on teachers and on lesson planning and describes evolving instructional methods such as “roaming conductors” and “teaching from the inside out.” (Chapter 6)

• How to remove the guesswork from instruction and provide accurate intervention that moves students forward every day is discussed in the presentation of data-driven decision making. Chapter 7 looks at the culture of openness and transparency whereby stakeholders meet to publicly analyze data by student, subgroup, objective, content area, and more. (Chapter 7)

• The ability for every district to undertake the challenge of digital conversion with new and doable funding strategies is discussed in Chapter 8 on budget issues, which focuses on the Mooresville experience. (Chapter 8)

• How staff and students can go “above and beyond” on a regular basis is emphasized in Chapter 9 that describes the essential ingredient of “all in,” which means that every adult and student counts in a major way and that the district wants them to know it. (Chapter 9)

• A practical, step-by-step roadmap to successful digital conversion for other districts to follow is provided in Chapter 10. Included is information about other districts that have embarked on the path to digital conversion. (Chapter 10)

• The concepts of digital conversion come to life in quotes from students, parents, teachers, and visitors presented in each chapter, and in the reflective questions at the end of each chapter.

Dr. Mark Edwards has served as a school principal; Superintendent of Henrico County, Virginia; Dean of the College of Education at the University of North Alabama; and Vice President for Business Development at Harcourt Assessment. During his tenure in Henrico County, the district deployed 26,000 laptops to students in grades 6-12 as part of a groundbreaking Teaching and Learning Initiative. The initiative received national attention as a benchmark for one-to-one computing and was recognized with numerous awards.

“Despite the challenges, there was a sense that we could improve. I knew that indeed we could and would do better.” 

 –Dr. Mark Edwards

In 2007, Dr. Mark Edwards was the new superintendent of the Mooresville N.C. Graded School District. The graduation rate was only 64%, the high school academic composite only 68%. But Dr. Edwards was convinced that Mooresville students and teachers could do better . . . and they did.

Here is the story of how Superintendent Edwards led his district in an innovative “digital conversion” initiative with very remarkable results within just four years:

• Every student and teacher got a laptop despite a very modest resource base.
• The graduation rate increased to 90%.
• The composite academic performance rose to 89%.
• A vibrant new learning environment was recognized and admired by hundreds of outsiders.

Each chapter of this inspirational and informative book gives readers a look at the visionary success factors that worked together to produce these positive results–a culture of caring, digital resources, a relentless focus on data, leadership at all levels, and student-centered learning–and shows how their interplay drove, and can drive, academic improvement. In addition, new funding strategies that address the budget issue combine with step-by-step replication tips to provide valuable inspiration and guidelines to help every school succeed on the digital conversion path to student achievement.

Praise from U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.)

Foreword by Governor Jeb Bush and Governor Bob Wise

Prologue

Chapter 1: Digital Conversion and the Moral Imperative

Chapter 2: A Culture of Caring

Chapter 3: Digital Resources and Infrastructure

Chapter 4: Evolutional Capacity Building

Chapter 5: Instructional Transformation

Chapter 6: Infodynamo: A Daily Date with Data

Chapter 7: Resource Alignment

Chapter 8: All In: Everyone Counts

Chapter 9: Replication

Epilogue

Appendices:

A. Sample Meeting Agendas

B. Planning Documents

C. Teacher Evaluation Materials

D. Real-Time Data

E. Help Desk Procedures and Guidelines for Damages

F. Mooresville Graded School District Visitors

G. League of Innovative Schools

This is the story of how 2013 Superintendent of the Year, Mark Edwards, led the Mooresville, N.C. Graded School District in its goal of creating a vibrant new learning environment for teachers and students and achieving outstanding academic results through an innovative digital conversion initiative that provided every student and teacher with a laptop, despite a very modest resource base. Every Child, Every Day gives readers a look at the visionary success factors that worked together to produce positive results–a culture of caring, digital resources, a relentless focus on data, leadership at all levels, and student-centered learning–and shows how their interplay drove, and can drive, academic improvement in virtually any school district. New funding strategies that address the budget issue combine with step-by-step replication tips to provide valuable inspiration and guidelines to help every school succeed on the digital conversion path to student achievement.

This innovative book shows how a combination of success factors such as technology, leadership, data, collaboration, and a commitment to each child came together to improve student performance and achieve outstanding results in the Mooresville Graded School District’s (North Carolina) digital conversion.

This book tells the story of how Dr. Mark Edwards, 2013 Superintendent of the Year, led a school district in an innovative “digital conversion” initiative that provided every student and teacher with a laptop, despite a very modest resource base. The result of the initiative was a 90% graduation rate, a composite academic performance of 89%, and a vibrant new learning environment noted by hundreds of visitors.

Each chapter explains how visionary success factors including a culture of caring, digital resources, a relentless focus on data, leadership at all levels, and student-centered learning worked together to produce the outstanding results, and how their interplay drove academic improvement. New funding strategies that address the budget issue combine with step-by-step replication tips to provide valuable inspiration and guidelines to help every school succeed on the digital conversion path to student achievement.

The story of the initiative’s success has been featured in the New York Times and is the subject of a documentary on PBS and Fox News. Over 700 visitors from other districts, universities, and the media have toured the Mooresville school district to see this innovative initiative in action.

Click here to take a virtual tour and learn more!