A testing ground

Deirdre Newman

Dawn Clark’s classroom at Rea Elementary School in Costa Mesa has the

usual trimmings adorning her classroom walls -- pictures her fourth-grade

students have drawn and essays they have written.

But her classroom is far from ordinary.

Thirty computers sit on the students’ desks -- a testament to the

school’s commitment to technology.

And smack in the middle of the two whiteboards is a smartboard, which

is networked to Clark’s main computer and serves as a big screen for the

entire classroom.

The Rea Technology Academy is in the fourth year of its pilot program

and serves 800 kids in grades four through six. Next year, it will be

open to the entire fourth grade.

The academy is significant because the integration of technology into

the curriculum enhances the educational experience of students who may

struggle in school because of their language barrier -- 95% of the

school is Latino and 85% are English language learners.

“Technology offers the ability for students in a compressed amount of

time to make quantum jumps,” said Steven Glyer, Director of Educational

Technology. “It’s one of the opportunities we can leverage to accelerate

their progress.”

When Rea reopened six years ago, Principal Ken Killian had a vision

for a technology-infused campus, so he equipped all the classrooms with a

few computers, printers and Internet access from the start.

He also helped write a grant that provided initial funding for the

academy and teacher technology training.

This is Clark’s first year at the school and while she said she felt

overwhelmed at first with the emphasis on technology, she quickly

acclimated to the academy.

“It’s nice to have it all at my fingertips; I feel lucky,” Clark said.

Clark recently had her students do reports on endangered species using

the computer for research and for the Powerpoint presentations. To get

them acquainted with Powerpoint, Clark first asked them to do

presentations on themselves. Eventually, they will give oral

presentations on their endangered species to the rest of the class using

the smartboard.

Clark’s students are enthusiastic about their opportunity to use

technology on a daily basis.

“It’s great doing [projects] on the computer because you can just move

the mouse and then copy and paste it,” said Marco Mendoza, who chose an

African hunting dog for his endangered specie. “It would be boring to go

back to pencil and paper.”

Glyer, whose job focuses on how technology can be used to improve

student learning, said Rea’s academy is a bellwether for the district to

see what works and what doesn’t for other schools.

* IN THE CLASSROOM is a weekly feature in which Daily Pilot education

writer Deirdre Newman visits a campus in the Newport-Mesa area and writes

about her experience.