Results in class, spring 2010

              Results in Class
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OKLAHOMA STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
VOLUME 39
NUMBER 3
SPRING 2010
PAGE 2 Testing Windows Expanded
PAGE 3 Workshops, Conferences and Opportunities
PAGE 4 Upcoming Events
Results 2010
Sandy Garrett
State Superintendent
Our Spring issue of Results: In Class features Kristi Lovett,
art teacher at Crescent High School in Logan County.
Kristi isn't significantly different from other teachers at
Crescent who welcomed the State Board of Education to
their classes when we toured the all-digital secondary school
in February.
Yet, we were impressed with her ability to engage a class
of students taking Art I through Art IV simultaneously, and
without relying on textbooks. Professional development and
collaboration time provided by her school are the keys to success.
High school math teacher Jan Willson explained to us that
educators at Crescent no longer struggle with the dilemma
of holding higher-achieving students back, or leaving lower-
performing students behind. Each student progresses at a pace
that is right for them and their teachers because mastery is
frequently assessed.
This is the future of education, but does not mean the end
of textbooks. Crescent is a traditional high school with books
in the library and time and budget constraints on the table.
But, at Crescent, every student has a laptop and one-to-one (1:1)
Web-based instruction utilizing digital textbooks along with
high-quality resources from the Internet. Crescent educators
and administrators prepared and trained for a couple of years to
manage instruction digitally.
Of course, our digital natives (your students) take to Web-
based instruction like ducks to water. Plus, the teachers at
Crescent are on fire, and that is truly exciting!
On March 5, Governor Henry signed legislation enacting the
agreement he made with Oklahoma House and Senate leaders
in February addressing the state budget crisis. The plan uses a
variety of funding sources to limit reductions in total public
school funding to approximately 3 percent, compared to the 7.5
percent annualized cut to most other state functions.
The agreement is expected to bring current State Aid formula
funding nearly to the level appropriated by lawmakers last
spring, which is the best budget news in six months! Oklahoma
lawmakers have opened an umbrella over public education by
See "Results 2010," page 4
On"Results"TV
Superintendent Garrett interviews Crescent Superintendent Steve
Shiever along with Lovett, Wininger and Crescent High School
students on the March edition of "Results: Oklahoma's Education
Report Card." Viewing locations are OETA (Wednesdays), other local
stations and online at <www.sde.state.ok.us>.
3 Education Es: Efficiency,
Empowerment and Energy
As a freshman college student at Oklahoma
Baptist University in Shawnee, Kristi Lovett
knew she wanted to be a teacher. The question
was, of what. History and math were appealing.
Then a friend convinced her to take her first-
ever art class—her high school had only offered
shop—and Kristi Lovett found her vocation.
Sandy Garrett and Kristi Lovett
"Art allowed me to use all of the principles
of the subjects I enjoyed most—history, algebra,
research and creative thinking," she says.
Kristi teaches in Crescent—at a digital high
school and, ironically, in her hometown. A
National Board Certified Teacher, Lovett is the
master of multitasking—she has five children
under the age of ten, and teaches Art I, II, III
and IV in the same class, at the same time.
Lovett's curriculum is a discipline-based
art education model, incorporating art history,
criticism, production and aesthetics, running
the gamut from prehistoric art and Old World
Masters to graphic design. Her classroom
contains overflowing bookshelves, a gallery of
student masterpieces, an interactive whiteboard,
quads of student desks, and a worktable. She
utilizes as many media as possible: watercolor,
acrylics, clay, glass fusing, charcoal and—laptop
computer.
Lovett admits that before Crescent adopted
digital instruction, she was "not a technology
guru by any stretch of the imagination." But the
district allows two hours weekly of professional
development and, under the tutelage of IT
Director Michael Wininger, Crescent teachers
maintain their own Web sites and collaborate
on integrating curriculum.
This, Lovett says, "blew open the door" for
her students. "Their research is richer, they have
much more information than textbooks alone
offer," she noted. "Technology has introduced
them to a plethora of images and artists, with
the opportunity to study in greater depth."
Technology has also enhanced content
delivery, improving both quality and quantity
of instructional time. Students begin learning
as soon as they click on that day's date to begin
work, rotating between class lectures and the
Web to do research and complete assignments.
Lovett says Web-based instruction has
actually increased the amount of individual
interaction she has with students in class, and via
e-mail outside the classroom. Crescent teachers
and students alike say the new technology
brings greater efficiency, empowerment, and
energy to the classroom.
"The rewards of using technology in this way
are great—for teachers, students and taxpayers,"
Superintendent Garrett concluded. "Students
are engaged and educational opportunities
maximized for all children regardless of their
school's size or location."
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