With help from the federal government, the York County School Division was able to use more than $200,000 in grant funds for technology upgrades.
At its Oct. 27 meeting, the YCSD School Board approved the use of $208,536 in grant money for the purchase of iPads and charging stations for use at schools in the division.
The funds are part of a three-year $2.5 million grant the school division received in 2012 from the U.S. Department of Defense Education Activity through the Military-Connected Local Educational Agencies for Academic and Support Program, or MCASP.
The grants are awarded to school divisions nationwide that have high populations of military-affiliated students — an active military-connected student population of at least 5 percent at the district level, and at least 15 percent at the individual school level. The grants themselves are geared toward increasing learning opportunities, student achievement and professional development.
Director of Secondary Instruction Kipp Rogers said YCSD had used portions of the MCASP grant to purchase technology in the second year of the grant, but the additional units would allow more teachers to be trained to use the systems for classroom instruction and student engagement. He added that approximately 22 percent of the grant money had been used for technology upgrades over the last two years.
Rogers said the new technology would expand teachers’ methods, by allowing them to present material to students in more appealing ways, and incorporate student participation in classroom instruction by using the iPads.
Part of that pedagogy, Rogers said, comes from the school division’s partnership with Discovery Education, which has also been funded through the MCASP grant. Powered by Discovery Communications — the parent company of the Discovery Channel — Discovery Education provides instruction for teachers in developing best educational practices, improving leadership skills and incorporating the use of technology in the classroom. YCSD places a small number of teachers across the division into cohorts to go through the Discovery Education program. Those teachers then relate the lessons they learned through the program to their peers.
The school division has two cohorts of teachers active in the Discovery Education program for the 2014-2015 school year.
Rogers said both the iPads and Discovery Education program were in use across all levels of the school division.
Although the MCASP grant ends after this year, Rogers said it was possible YCSD could receive additional funds in the future.
“We’re really hoping,” Rogers said. “One of the goals of the grant is to create engaging programs that are replicable at other schools. We got a lot of good feedback from our [DODEA] evaluator. We’re hopeful, if it opens up again, that we would be able to apply again and get it.”
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