Technology

Overview   Plan & Policies

Overview

Education reform in Massachusetts and throughout the country has placed a great challenge in the hands of schools such as the Benjamin
Franklin Classical Charter Public School (BFCCPS). Rapid changes in both the educational front, and in society at large, require technology
to be an integral part of the school curriculum and our everyday lives.

It becomes our challenge to create a vision of technological growth within our school while all the while maximizing our resources.
Perhaps of equal or greater importance is the need to inspire and encourage the professional development of our faculty without whom
technological growth within our walls will not occur. We must remain focused in our effort to transform our understanding of the use of
technology in education. The technological transformation of the Information Age is upon us and cannot be ignored. Innovations in the
ways we transfer, deliver, and interpret information are changing rapidly.
 

The Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter Public School will help students to develop technological skills, which will allow them to successfully,
and confidently, function in an evolving information centered society. This plan will provide students the opportunity to gain and apply
knowledge through technology. The Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter Public School will continue to provide high quality professional
development, which allows educators to integrate new and existing technology into the curriculum and to provide students with the most
progressive learning opportunities available.
 

Through the overarching principles of our Technology Mission, BFCCPS has established the following goals for technology:
• To aid all our students in becoming skilled, knowledgeable, independent, and self directed learners to succeed as responsible citizens, and effective workers in the 21st century.

• To provide increased opportunities for individualization, group activities, cooperative learning, thematic studies, and varied learning techniques through technology.

• Empower teachers as facilitators of an active and productive learning environment that uses technology as a tool.

• Enable teachers and administrators to more effectively share knowledge, resources, and problem solving techniques with other colleagues around the world.

• Improve administrative, classroom, and staff management efficiencies through the use of technological tools.

• Enhance communication between administration, teachers, parents, students, and the community through technology.

• Expand the learning environment beyond the ‘classroom walls’ through technology.

The Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter Public School will ensure that staff and administrators have continual opportunities to
improve their professional skill by:
• participation in the Staff Development Day Workshops, which incorporate underlying principles of active, cooperative and interdisciplinary learning.

• offering technology based courses and conferences Continuing Education Budget.
• creating technology workshops based on teacher and/or administrative requests.

• making available curriculum workshops for those interested in developing the integration of technology into their curricula.

• peer collaboration to share expertise/assistance as new technologies are introduced to the system.

• exposure to emerging new technologies as they relate to the curricula of various academic disciplines.
 

The Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter Public School will ensure that school administration continues to utilize and support technology by:
• providing human resources to support the curriculum and instructional goals.

• establishing routine methods for review, revision, upgrade and maintenance of existing practices and equipment.

• developing a school budget, which includes realistic appropriations for technology upgrade and support, and actively seeking alternative
sources of funding to supplement town funds (E-Rate, grants, donations).

• enabling efficient and effective control of operational information.
 

The Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter Public School will ensure that the parents of our students will be able to utilize the
schools technology for communication with the school’s staff and/or for the access of district information by:
• enabling parents by providing information via the Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter Public Schools Web Site: http://www.bfccps.org
They will have the opportunity to leave e-mail messages for, and ask questions of, teachers/administrators. This will offer an improved
communication system  between parents and staff.

• promoting technology based student and adult education programs to enable parents to feel more comfortable utilizing the new educational tools.

• making our computer facilities available to students and parent outside school hours
 

If we are to achieve these lofty goals we must foster an atmosphere of success through our desire to incorporate technological change in a
proactive manner. We cannot be bystanders in today’s global technological revolution.