Projects:

West Virginia
The West Virginia TurnKey Solution

Project Homepage:
http://www.phase9.org

The West Virginia TurnKey Solution is a project that will impact more than 375,000 students and 50,000 teachers across West Virginia and the nation. The project focuses on statewide high-quality professional development that fosters the appropriate integration of technology, curriculum, teaching strategies, learning activities and student evaluation. The partners in this initiative include the State Board of Education, the State Department of Education, 56 Local Education Agencies, the West Virginia High Technology Consortium Foundation, ten higher education institutions and seven profit and non-profit organizations.

"Phase 9" is the model for professional development that is being proposed. Phase 9 Training will be held for current public and private teachers, administrators and pre-service teachers at the college level in West Virginia. Phase 9 training will include a two-day training for administrators and a five-day integration workshop for 560 teams of three teachers. Both will encompass hands-on training, equipment distribution and the use of a teacher created website, The Solution Site (www.thesolutionsite.com), for technology integration projects and lesson plans. The Phase 9 teachers will create this website, which will then be shared and used by teachers across the nation. Each participating team will create three units for the website during the five-day integration workshop. In addition, each team will receive a projector and each teacher will receive a laptop computer.

The need for this type of professional development has been determined collaboratively by those who will participate in and facilitate its development. Teachers have expressed a need for tools, time and strategies for integrating technology into the curriculum. This project recognizes and addresses those needs in a way that will benefit the instruction methods of teachers and the learning process of students. The need for this transformation is critical in a state where 14% of students live in severe poverty. The West Virginia Turnkey project is aligned with the policies of the West Virginia Board of Education and closely follows the West Virginia Department of Education State Technology Plan and the Mission and Principles of Professional Development. It also allows higher education to offer graduate credit to in-service teachers for completion of the Phase 9 Training, and provides a shared model for the teacher education programs throughout the state.

The partners in this initiative are committed to education and are held publicly accountable for improving education through the use of technology. The background demonstrates the effort and commitment of the consortium members to improve, expand and disseminate a successful professional development model. This will ensure sustainability beyond the period of the grant.

Year Grant Awarded:
1998

Grantee:
Marion County Schools and the WV High and the WV High Technology Consortium Foundation

Project Director:
Lydotta Taylor
Vice President of Education
Phone: : 304-366-2577
Fax: 304-366-2699
Email:
lmtaylor@wvhtf.org

Address:
WVHTC Foundation
1000 Technology Drive
Suite 1000
Fairmont, WV 26554