| State: Maryland | Number of Students: 128,937 |
| School Type: Public School District | Free and Reduced Lunch: 63.8% |
| Grade Level: PK-12 | English Language Learners: 15.8% |
School Context
Student Achievement: All students will progress and reach high standards.
English for All: All ELL students will become proficient in the English language, and will work toward proficiency in both readingand math.
High Quality Staff: PGCPS aims to attract, hire, develop and retain high quality staff.
Positive Learning Environments: PGCPS aims for all schools to provide positive and safe learning environments for all students.
Graduation Matters: PGCPS has a goal that all students will graduate from high school.
State of Technology
iPads In The Middle: Prince George’s County has had its hands on iPads fora while. In 2012, with the help of the district’s $1.3 million American Recoveryand Stimulus grant and the backing of Title I, the district began with 3,000iPads for students across four of its Title 1 middle schools: Charles Carroll,William Wirt, Buck Lodge Middle School and Nicholas Orem Middle School.Since then, the district has further spread iPads in a 1:1 model for all studentsin these schools. Instructional practices with the devices vary across schools,but for some it has been used as a powerful creation tool. For instance,teachers at Buck Lodge Middle School have introduced iBooks to students,and have even gone so far as to create their own iBook documenting theirprocess including rollout and results. The goal of the iBooks are to share theschool’s journey with their fellow teachers in other schools.
The Chromebook Difference: The district opened up a new high school,Oxon Hill High School in 2013 with a 1:1 Chromebook to student ratio.The school can boast about more than its technology: In the last year theschool has shown some promising statistics. Discipline issues have gonedown and attendance has gone up, much of which the district attributes toits technology rich environment. The district has continued to implementChromebooks across its elementary schools as it refreshes old devices, due totheir low cost and approval for PARCC tests.
Clever Discovery: Prince George’s County has a ten-year partnership withDiscovery Education. This partnership includes professional development, aswell as science digital textbooks for the 2014-15 school year. As of January 20,2015, all student and teacher classrooms will be available in DiscoveryEd viaClever. The district hopes to continue utilizing software packages that workwith Clever in order to support easier transfer of student data.
Career Academies: Thanks to a generous grant from Youth CareerConnect,the district has support to develop its career academies at three high schools:Bladensburg High, Fairmont Heights High and Potomac High School. Theseschools will develop career-oriented curricula and integrate hands on learningexperiences into the classroom. These programs fall in line with an existingprogram, started by Chief Information Officer, Welsley Watts Jr. The program,called IT High School, allows high school students to earn IT skills certificatesso they can leave school prepared for both college and career.
Tech Needs & Requirements
Technology tools should integrate with Clever. The districts needs tools that support instructional goals and creative thinking and let students solve real world problems.