Key Take-Aways
Edtech systems are about tools AND the people using them. School- and system-level leaders must consider the people using edtech tools when developing and strengthening edtech systems.
Systemic change should be informed by diverse perspectives. School- and system-level edtech leaders must bring together perspectives that help break down silos and foster more cohesive outcomes.
Overview
This profile describes one school system team’s participation in The Learning Accelerator (TLA)'s EdTech Peer Learning Cohort offered in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Office of Educational Technology (MA DESE OET). This profile highlights one example of the real-world application of the EdTech Systems Guide and TLA’s Driving EdTech Systems resources that help leaders put this guidance into practice, detailing their participation and describing high-level takeaways for school and system-level edtech leaders.
Uxbridge Public Schools is a district in central Massachusetts that participated in the 2023-24 EdTech Peer Learning Cohort facilitated by TLA in partnership with MA DESE OET. This cohort brought together teams led by school- and system-level edtech leaders across Massachusetts to develop and strengthen edtech systems and practices in alignment with the EdTech Systems Guide produced by TLA and MA DESE OET in 2021. With the support of a TLA coach, teams audited their edtech systems to identify challenges, and then designed and implemented solutions to make system-level improvements. Throughout the cohort, participants reported on their progress, shared their learnings, and collaborated with other teams in monthly whole-group sessions. This profile details each of the following sections to highlight the team’s work during this time, and elevates themes, practices, and resources edtech leaders might adopt within their contexts:
Problems of Practice: This section outlines the specific problem of practice Uxbridge identified to focus on, their reasons for choosing this problem, and the progress they made in addressing it.
Leadership in Action: This section highlights key leadership decisions that contributed to Uxbridge’s success.
Conditions for Success: This section discusses the conditional factors that supported Uxbridge’s progress.
Demographics: This section provides an overview of Uxbridges student demographics during the 2023-24 EdTech Peer Learning Cohort, offering context for their work that may be helpful for other schools or systems attempting to apply similar lessons.
Problems of Practice
Participants in the EdTech Peer Learning Cohort were expected to identify a problem of practice that would strengthen the selection, implementation, or evaluation processes in their edtech systems. To identify their problems of practice, teams analyzed their needs by completing self-assessments of their edtech practices, engaging stakeholders, analyzing data, reflecting on their school or system goals, and understanding opportunities to promote equity. Ultimately, they organized their systems improvement efforts around a singular problem of practice that simplified their improvement efforts into one question (e.g., “How can I use asynchronous supports to expand my capacity?” or “What are the characteristics of effective expectations for and instructional uses of edtech tools?”). The table below describes Uxbridge’s problem of practice and their progress toward addressing it.
2023-24
| What was their problem of practice? | How can digital learning skills be incorporated into instructional practices and curriculum? |
| Why did they choose this? | At the onset of the cohort, Uxbridge shared they were experiencing difficulties with the consistent implementation of edtech tools. Through their needs-analysis process, the team identified two root causes for this challenge. The first was the wide variance in students’ proficiency in digital literacy and computer skills (e.g., staying safe on the internet, evaluating the credibility of online resources, typing). The second was the fact that this variance in student skill level was partially due to differences in how teachers were incorporating the development of these digital skills into instruction. This problem of practice also aligned with the district’s efforts to develop a portrait of a learner, which involved preparing students to thrive beyond high school. Addressing this issue provided the district with an opportunity to identify what a learner should know and be able to do regarding digital skills at each grade level, ensuring students were equitably developing these essentials. |
| What progress did they make? | The team’s leader, Uxbridge’s Director of Technology and Digital Learning, was new to her position during the 2023-24 school year. To help her explore this problem of practice, she assembled a team representing each of the district’s four schools, various grade levels, subjects, and roles, including teachers and school administrators. Together, the team reviewed MA DESE’s Digital Learning and Computer Science (DLCS) frameworks, which explore the practices and standards students are expected to learn by grade band. They then developed a series of scopes and sequences that translated these standards into their local context. With these resources developed, the team had a vision to work towards and conducted instructional walkthroughs and observations to determine where these skills were – and were not – being taught. They used grade-band specific self-assessment tools for grades K-2 and 3-5 that were adapted from existing standards alignment documents (K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12) using the MA Digital Literacy and Computer Science District Implementation Process. The team finished their work in the cohort planning to expand on this work for additional grade bands, create professional development and implementation support resources to help teachers better teach the DLCS standards, develop model unit plans that include these standards, and engage their students’ families to learn more about their goals for student digital literacy development. |
Leadership in Action
One of the many lessons covered in the EdTech Peer Learning Cohort is the importance of intentional leadership in driving edtech systems improvements. Uxbridge’s team made significant progress in addressing their problem of practice largely due to specific leadership decisions made throughout their participation. Among these, two key leadership moves significantly contributed to their success:
Dedicating Time for Long-Term Projects: School and district staff members are constantly balancing many priorities. As a result, important work that is not necessarily perceived as urgent can get postponed. Many districts consider this a barrier for integrating digital literacy skills across classrooms. To combat this, Uxbridge’s Director of Technology and Digital Learning held her team members accountable by ensuring their attendance at monthly work sessions to review the DLCS standards, provide project progress updates, and plan for next steps.
Assembling a Diverse Team: Involving different grade levels, subjects, and schools allowed the team to recommend when and by whom standards should be taught to be most effective in their district’s context. The dialogue within the team highlighted the importance of this work. For example, high school teachers shared that while some students could type quickly and fluidly, others were still pecking at the keyboard. This helped dispel the notion that students would naturally pick up these skills and built investment in intentionally incorporating them into instruction. The team shared examples of how standards were already being taught, reinforcing that teaching these skills cannot be left to a few individuals (e.g., media specialists, tech-savvy teachers) but must be incorporated into instruction by all teachers.
Conditions for Success
Systems improvement work does not happen in a vacuum but instead exists within and is influenced by several conditional factors. When considering Uxbridge’s progress, it is important to explore the conditions that supported this success. TLA’s Innovative Teaching Implementation Framework provides a framework for understanding the conditions that facilitate planning, adoption, and scaling innovative initiatives, and it can be used to identify the conditions that accelerated Uxbridge’s edtech systems improvement efforts, including:
Visioning: The district had been developing a profile of a learner to identify what students should know by the time they graduate high school. This project contributed to that effort by bringing together stakeholders to identify the digital skills students should acquire and plans for how they will develop these skills.
Change Management: Implementing digital learning standards consistently represents a significant change for school systems. Uxbridge’s Director of Technology and Digital Learning secured investment from district leadership by aligning this work with the district-wide initiative of creating a profile of a learner.
Designing for Equity: The team focused its work on digital literacy and computer science skills in part because of inequities caused by inconsistency in teaching these skills. Many teachers experienced a moment of realization when they reviewed the DLCS standards and were surprised by the level of rigor expected of students. This helped them overcome the mentality that certain digital skills were too advanced for young students.
Demographics
The following charts represent Uxbridge’s student demographics during the 2023-24 EdTech Peer Learning Cohort. This information may be helpful for other school districts understanding how they might apply similar structures, practices, or lessons in their own context. Additional information about Uxbridge’s demographics can be found in the MA DESE’s School and District Profiles.
This profile is a part of TLA's Driving EdTech Systems series, which accompanies the EdTech Systems Guide developed in partnership with MA DESE OET. Explore the full guide to find additional strategies, insights, and resources.
Strategy Resources
Uxbridge Public Schools’ Digital Learning and Computer Science (DLCS) Self-Assessment for Grades K-2
Uxbridge Public Schools developed this worksheet to help them determine the extent to which their... Learn More
Uxbridge Public Schools’ Digital Learning and Computer Science (DLCS) Self-Assessment for Grades 3-5
Uxbridge Public Schools developed this worksheet to help them determine the extent to which their... Learn More
Massachusetts Digital Learning and Computer Science (DLCS) Frameworks
This resource shares the Digital Learning and Computer Science (DLCS) frameworks developed by the Massachusetts... Learn More
Equity Focus
The problem of uneven digital skills adoption and a lack of digital equity disproportionately impacts students of color, exacerbating existing racial inequities in education. Focusing on addressing this problem through intentional digital skills adoption and digital equity initiatives can play a significant role in promoting racial equity and making sure all students have the ability to thrive in an increasingly digital world.
Uxbridge Public Schools work in partnership with parents, guardians, and the community to create environments of continuous growth and learning that ensure all students become empowered and progressive learners, innovative problem-solvers, flexible thinkers, and responsible and respectful citizens.
