Griffin, GA-On November 13-16, a team of eight educators from around the country and the Dominican Republic will visit Spalding County interviewing stakeholders and reviewing materials to determine future school system accreditation with SACS/AdvancED.

How we can prepare for the review team visit in November

Everyone is invited to a community meeting to learn about the 7 SACS Standards and how they ensure quality on Thursday, October 27, at Griffin High School from 4:30-6:00 pm.

Several groups will be interviewed by the review team: parents, Partners in Education, teachers, students, administrators, and board of education members for example.

Employees and external stakeholders can become familiar with the basic tenets of our school district: mission, vision, and values and how the school district meets the 7 Standards; vision and purpose; governance and leadership; teaching and learning; documenting and using results; resources and support systems; stakeholder communications and relationships; and commitment to continuous improvement.

The Executive Summary and the complete Standards Assessment Report are posted on the web site.

Accreditation is voluntary

Accreditation is a voluntary process. The Griffin-Spalding system has chosen for an external agency to audit all aspects of the organization to assure quality and continuous improvement. When a school district applies to be a member of the agency, it agrees to abide by the standards and rules of the agency.

In 2006 when last reviewed by SACS CASI, an accreditation division of AdvancED, the school system was one of the first 57 in the United States to receive district accreditation and one of the first 100 in the United States to be accredited with quality.

"It's important to our community and to our students to be accredited as a school district," said Denise Burrell, Deputy Superintendent. "When the HOPE scholarship was created in Georgia, a student's eligibility for a scholarship was tied to graduation from a high school accredited by one of the accrediting agencies listed in the state code. The Griffin Spalding County System is accredited by both SACS/AdvancED and the Georgia Accrediting Commission."

Going Wireless

I think we can all agree that wireless internet access is critical to student learning in the 21st century classroom. Right now, all schools have some sort wireless access point. Some have more than others. To meet the flood of mobile devices we're now seeing in our schools, we're rolling out (in every school) an enterprise wireless solution provided by Xirrus. This is a high-density wireless solution that can handle hundreds of devices instead of just a handful in select "hot-spots".

All GSCS schools will have this Xirrus solution by the end of this year with the exception of three schools: Beaverbrook, Jackson Road, and Orrs. These schools have been identified for the Federal E-Rate* discount allowing the school district to equip the entire school with an 80% discount. So we're holding off on that to see if we get approved. One way or the other, these schools will get Xirrus too, we're just trying to make the best fiscal decision we can. Until then, these schools will have wireless access points for some capability.

During the 2009-2010 school year Moore, Atkinson, and Anne Street were equipped with wireless capabilities as a result of the E-Rate discount that we got at that time. (Those schools were funded at 90% discounts.)

Mobile Devices
Mobile learning devices are part of the 21st century classroom. One of initial reasons the school district decided to use Federal Title money to purchase administrative iPads is that we wanted the principals and administrators to be in classrooms more and their office less. iPads give them the ability to do evaluations much more efficiently. It takes less time which gives the administrator more time to do other things. iPads have worked out much better than other solutions such as Netbooks, which have been repurposed for student use.

The iPads are very intuitive, so they are easy to learn. We had some training to those needing it when we first got the iPads. Right now, we looking forward to some "App Training". Apps are of course the applications on these devices.

It's also important to enable school administrators to become the technology leaders in their buildings. Personally, it's hard to get everybody on the "technology train" if the conductor (the principal) isn't able to lead down those tracks. (I'm sorry for the analogy, but it seems to work.)

One thing that came up recently was how the district administrators and principals have blackberry devices. There are two things I'd like to talk about here.

First, administrative mobile phones have been around for years. The initial reason for administrative mobile phones, long before texting and smart phones, was for emergencies. If the school loses power or a phone system, or if you are outside, the building leader needs a way to communicate with central office and emergency first responders / law enforcement. The blackberry then became the first practical smart phone that administrators could use.

The best part about this is that the federal government provides E-Rate service for mobile phones, too. That discount rate is about 76%. So of what we owe for services, 76% of that is handled by the federal government. It's a healthy discount. School systems all over the country use E-Rate. All we had to do was apply for the discount. We saved $583,000 last year because of E-Rate!

The 21st century classroom will use mobile devices. I'm talking about textbooks being delivered to students in a digital format - whether it's on a desktop or on a tablet. Imagine a student studying the American Civil War. With one click they might be able to watch a reenactment. You can't get that out of a traditional textbook. On a very practical point, the use of tablets eliminates heavy backpacks.

That leads us to the great digital divide of the technology have and have-nots. I never thought I'd see the divide close as quickly as it has over the last few years, and that is mainly because of Smart Phones with Wi-Fi. With those, students don't even need to use a school desktop - they can sit at their desk with a smart phone, do a Google search, and even type a paper using online documents such as Google Docs! Smart Phones aren't all that expensive compared to a computer, and the prices are only going to come down.

So, returning to the wireless solution for the district, we're trying to prepare for that now. The "Bring Your Own Technology" is going to be a huge education initiative in the future. Here in Georgia, Forsyth County is already successfully adopting this format, and we're getting ready for our day.

The internet is the future of education. Education is one day going to "Be in the Cloud". We have to ready. We have to change when technology changes, and if you have a minute, check out Moore's Law about changing technology.

* E-Rate funding works like this: There's a certain cutoff point where the Federal Government determines who's going to get that discount, who's going to get funded. Right now, the discount cut-off is at 80%. They base this off of a school's free and reduced lunch number. There is a complicated formula to determine the exact amount of discount.