Nathaniel Wildes Community Service Learning Using Ed.

Podcasts Project focus: Supporting Technology Project Description: I will draft up a grant proposal for an Educational Podcast project, which will address the drop out rates and below average proficiency scores in the San Bernardino school district. This proposal will speak to these proficiency scores and outline the goals that the inherent program will attempt to achieve. At the core of the proposed project is a series of best practices Podcasts that will be developed using our resources at CSUSB and then be distributed to educational leaders within the region. The purpose of this project is to provide professional development tools to those that are in a disposition to utilize this type of technology as an educational tool and refine their educational approach to better support their students needs. As a result, we hope that these educators will become more confident in their roles and in turn their improved instruction will lead to an increase in their students academic achievement. The proposal will include an executive summary, a timeline, a list of goals, the means of measuring the projects effectiveness and an itemized budget. I chose this project because I work part time with the Literacy Center on campus and we know that we could have a huge impact if we could only make the type of instruction and resources that we have available accessible to those who need it most. I think that if this project were ever to materialize, we could become a primary resource center for this type of professional development within the San Bernardino school district. Nonetheless, developing a proposal like this is great practical experience and will familiarize me with the process, preparing me for potential funding opportunities in the future. Project Artifacts: Executive summary List of goals Project timeline Itemized budget Program evaluation plan Completed grant proposal

Project Timeline: Start Date- 10/4/11

Milestone 1- Draw up an outline identifying resources and all parties involved in the proposed project Milestone 2- Identify and research the tools/resources that will be necessary to complete the proposed project as well as the cost Milestone 3- Create an executive summary Milestone 4- Create a timeline describing in detail the goals and intentions of the proposed project Mile stone 4- Create a program evaluation plan Finish Date- 12/1/11

ARTIFACTS: Executive Summary

Dropping out of high school is generally the final act in a series of events that have taken place across time and that has serious economic implications for years to come. Once such factor is continued academic failure. In San Bernardino City Unified School District, 72% of the students in grades 2-10 are scoring below proficient in the area of language arts and 73% scoring below proficient in mathematics (CDE, 2008). The San Bernardino County Creative After School Programs for Success (CAPS) works with 6700 students at 32 school sites with before and after-school experiences that enhance students academic, social and emotional development. The CAPS program will soon expand to include high schools. CSUSB undergraduate students are hired as CAPS Leaders to provide homework assistance and enrichment activities at the school sites. CAPS leaders are provided little training beyond the program orientation and on-site guidance from CAPS teachers. The Ed Podcast Project will create literacy education training podcasts for the CAPS leaders. Podcasting is a powerful publishing platform that addresses different learning styles, is highly mobile, and can stimulate creative thinking. Lessons will be researched and designed by CSUSB graduate students through a series of new service learning courses in the Graduate Reading Program (ERDG). Staff at CSUSBs Watson & Associates Literacy Center will assist with the technical production, and each podcast will be evaluated for content and delivery. Content of the podcasts will be adjusted to meet the needs of elementary, middle school and high school students. Program goals include increasing the student participants reading skills by at least one proficiency level.

Goals
The major goals of the Ed Pod Program are as follows: 1) to increase the academic achievement levels of K-12 students in English Language Arts by one

proficiency level (advanced, proficient, basic, below basic & far below basic), 2) to create better prepared CAPS Leaders and other community-based educators who are confident they are providing students with high quality before and after-school literacy learning experiences, 3) to promote changes in the use of educational technology and pedagogical content knowledge in language arts, and 4) to develop high quality, research-based podcasts for distribution to a wider educational audience. To meet these goals, the Watson and Associates Literacy Center will develop and house a series of research-based educational podcasts covering relevant topics in the area of English Language Arts assessment and instruction. Additionally the content of the podcasts will be evaluated on an individual basis by the CAPS Leaders and will be modified until they receive the minimum of an above average rating on the podcast evaluation rubric. The refinement of the podcasts will be continual in order to provide the participants with an exemplary tool for ongoing professional development thus leading to an improvement in the students academic achievement in language arts. It is also our belief that by improving the quality of education and support the CAPS Leaders receive, they will be more likely to make a longer term commitment to the CAPS program, will become more confident in their use of technology as an educational tool and may even be more likely to pursue a career in education. Overall, this can be a win-win situation for all involved.

Timeline
Development and Implementation Activity
1. Purchase the technology for the development of the ed podcasts. 2. Provide training on the technology for major grant participants at CSUSB and the participating school sites. 3. Develop new service learning courses 4. Conduct a needs assessment of the instructors in the CAPS program at the elementary, middle and high school levels at the three pilot schools in SB 5. Prepare needs assessment analysis document to be used to develop the initial three podcasts for each pilot school site. 6. Develop and maintain a database to maintain all assessment results from each school site. 7. Refine the program and school site assessment systems to be implemented across the three year time period. 8. Expand Literacy Center website to enable it to host the ed podcasts for use with community partners. 9. Conduct research on best practices in the following areas of language arts to be used when developing the podcasts: a) decoding, b) comprehension, c) writing various genres, d) writing conventions, e) spelling, f) oral language development, g) English language development for ELLs, and i) literacy

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assessment across language arts. 10. Develop three research-based podcasts for all of the participating school sites that address the needs identified by the needs assessment surveys/interviews. Develop and utilize a post-podcast evaluation form for use with all participating CAPS instructors. 11. Provide professional development on the use of ed podcast technology for school-site CAPS instructors. 12. Conduct an end of the year evaluation of the effectiveness of the podcasts by CAPS instructors.

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Itemized Budget (equipment only/no salaries) Microphone for voiceovers: $300 Wireless lavalier microphones:.$450 Audio mixer station.$400 Laptop computer...$1,500 Recording software.$600 Web server/domain.$150 (for 3 years) _______________________________________________________________________ Total Equipment Cost $3,400 Program Evaluation Plan
The Ed Podcast Program Evaluation Plan will consist of a series of formative and summative assessments that take place across the 3-year grant development and implementation time period. To begin with a mixed design needs assessment will be developed to accurately assess the strengths and needs of the present CAPS instructional program. CAPS Leaders, CAPS Teachers and the Director of the CAPS Program for the SBCUSD will participate in this survey and interview process. Based on the findings, the podcasts will be developed and made accessible to the participating educators. Embedded within the podcast website will be a postviewing evaluation rubric. Participants will be asked to provide continuing feedback as they progress through the professional development program so modifications can be made immediately. At the end of each school year, all participants will be contacted and asked to provide a final evaluation of the Ed Podcast Program as well. Researchers will also be collecting demographic information on the retention rate/time CAPS Leaders remain with the CAPS program, the Leaders academic major in college and note any changes in their perceptions of their ability to provide high quality literacy instruction to the CAPS students. A second layer of the evaluation plan relates to the academic achievement of the K-12 students in the area of English language arts. Access will be gained to the

overall school and district achievement test scores as well as to the individual test scores of the participants. Researchers will review the annual Content Standards Test scores (CSTs) as well as the district benchmark scores, state high school exit exam scores (CAHSEE), and English language development scores for ELLs (CELDT). Together these assessments will provide a window into the impacts of the podcasts on the English language arts achievement levels of participating students to determine if they have increased their overall proficiency levels. Program Sustainability Plan: The sustainability of the Ed Podcast Program is based on the fact that the Literacy Center has been in place at the university for over seven years. The faculty and staff are experienced with the various technologies and have the content area expertise to develop high quality professional development podcasts. Additionally the university has a well established record of providing students with service learning courses to enhance their learning experiences. Because the CAPS program has been an integral part of the SBCUSD for 14 years, it has solid roots in the educational community thus allowing us to build on its current structure. Within the College of Education, the Dean is highly supportive of this new collaboration and will work with the Literacy Center to promote this project.

Rationale
San Bernardino City Unified School District (SBCUSD) is in the Inland Empire, 70 miles east of Los Angeles. SBCUSD is the sixth largest district in California and has a K-12 enrollment of over 42,000 students. Of its 65 schools, 68.2% are in Program Improvement. 79.5% of students qualify for free and reduced lunch through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). 20% of SBCUSDs children live below the poverty level (Annie D. Casey Foundation). Additionally over 33% of the Districts student population are classified as English Language Learners (ELL). As in many of the urban school districts in the State, SBCUSD has demonstrated an achievement gap between ELLs and their White counterparts while in total, the all subgroups of students in SBCUSD are scoring well below the state average in mathematics and language arts at the elementary level. Table 1.0 provides a comparison of district and state proficiency scores for students in grades 2-10. Table 1.0: Districts Achievement Gap as Compared to California State-Wide Data District versus State Data Percentage of students Percentage of students who are below proficient who are below proficient in language arts in mathematics SBCUSD 72% 73% State of California 54% 57% The rationale for developing a university-based professional development program that connects the San Bernardino City Schools Creative After School Programs for Success (CAPS) with the Watson and Associates Literacy Center on the

CSU, San Bernardino campus is based on a high need for high quality after school academic support for K-12 students in our local community. SBCUSD has provided before and after school assistance to its students since 1998. Many of the CAPS instructors are also undergraduate students at the university who may or may not have a background in literacy instruction. In an attempt to provide instructional support to the CAPS teachers, the university will offer a research-based professional development program that is based on needs identified by the CAPS teachers. To do so the Literacy Center will develop a series of educational podcasts that the CAPS teachers will be able to access at home, at their job sites or on campus by logging onto the centers website. Literature on professional development states that when training is made convenient for those intended to participate, participation can be increased. When planning for students who work full time, attend school full time or have full time family commitments, often choosing between those commitments and attending training becomes an issue. Using the technologies of podcasts and website access, effective training can be offered to a broader and specific audience. The Literacy Center opened its doors in the fall of 2004, providing one-on-one literacy tutoring (covering the areas of reading, writing, spelling, and oral language development) to children in grades K-12 four afternoons per week. The tutoring sessions are one hour in length and run for 8 weeks during the fall, winter and spring quarters. During the first year of service (2004-2005), the center served approximately eight children per day for a total of 32 children per week. Across time, more tutors volunteered their services to the center, which allowed us to expand our services and open 15 tutoring slots per day/ four days per week. At present, the center has doubled its tutoring capacity and now serves approximately75 students per quarter. While many of the children return to the center for a minimum of three quarters, we have successfully exited approximately 20% of our students.