K-12 Impact on Educators & Learners and how that affects the Future of the Trend or Challenge

Arizona schools are funded at the lowest rate in the nation which impacts their ability to provide technological resources for students. While the need for improving technological offerings is great at the K-12 level, there are large challenges for the schools. Because I collaborate with schools, there is an example of how this has worked locally.

Just a couple of years ago (2012), Bisbee High School received a grant from Freeport McMoran for $100,000 for technological advances, in part to create what are called COWS -- Computers On Wheels. These sets of laptop computers were for use by classroom teachers to allow for increases in educational technology. However, after only a few years of use, the hardware has become dated and lack of technological expertise on the site creates difficulty keeping enough of the computers functioning to allow for all three COWS to be in use at one time without cannibalizing one of the sets to keep the other two sets running. Currently, there is no state funding to upgrade software or repair hardware as the only way that the school was able to acquire the technology was through grant funding. Lack of state funding places pressure on schools to find grant funding, but when grants run out, there can be gaps in services and personnel that can create additional challenges for the school to maintain what has been gained from grants.

Impact on Educators --Technology teachers are classified as elective teachers who fall outside of the core subjects and often are singles--do not have another teacher in the school who also teaches that subject area. This makes professional development in that subject area problematic. In small school districts, these teachers are usually required to find their own content specific professional development outside of the site based professional development that is provided. Often rural schools have the majority of their professional development provided by the Principal. It can be unrealistic to expect a rural administrator to have content expertise in all of the elective areas to provide meaningful professional development in each of those areas. Because of this lack of expertise especially in rural districts (some districts have one or two schools and lack a district office), I see the training necessary for educators interested in flipping their classrooms as a challenge to the shift in teacher roles.

Impact on Learners--Because of poverty conditions (Bisbee's median income is is roughly $33,000 whereas Arizona's median is almost $50,000), students tend to have limited computer accessibility from home and the Hispanic population at the Bisbee High School feeds heavily from Naco (this community is on the border). Many of the Naco students have been observed crossing into Mexico as daily crossing of the border is not uncommon as many Mexican parents have children who are US citizens who attend schools in the US. Hence, sending home school technology for the purpose of a flipped classroom has different implications when students may be transporting that technology across an international border. If schools were able to provide technological hardware for home use to low income students the possibilities would be endless as to the applications for learning. Poverty tends to influence every aspect of student achievement as it affects access to books, libraries, museums, educational enrichment, exposure to cultures, and the vast resources of the internet have placed access at the fingertips of anyone with the appropriate technology. Technology could level the educational playing field for Arizona learners, but school funding issues are paramount in this state.

While it is not impossible for flipped classrooms to be used in Arizona, I believe there are large challenges in the schools that are going to take time to overcome.