TTEC//DC End of Year Wrap Up and Accomplishments---2009

In our start-up year, TTEC//DC grew from a corps of five Board members to a total of twenty-three global firms dedicated to helping transform K-12 education through technology innovation. The year began with the promise of opportunities to partner with OCTO and DCPS in systemic transformation. The year ended with the reality that change will be brought about one project at a time and on a school by school basis where heroic principals and teachers are prepared for and welcome the change so earnestly sought for our children. Each day confirmed the important role TTECDC has to play in partnering for change as has been recognized, for this type of effort, in other leading schools systems throughout the country, in Federal agencies and now in Stimulus legislation which requires private sector partnerships and community organizations to work along side LEA's to bring about change. This is a watershed development.

All TTECDC member companies contributed a significant amount of time and energy on a voluntary basis to the establishment of TTECDC. One member donated all design and maintenance for our award winning TTEC//DC website. Another firm donated $40,000 worth of legal assistance for incorporation documents and oversight. TTEC//DC participated twice in the DC Cares Board training program to highlight TTEC//DC work for Board volunteers. TTEC//DC also participated two Capitol Hill educational technology demonstration days and also worked, at the request of OCTO, in several meetings to assist the FIRST Robotics program to establish a Capital Regional planning organization as well as starting to support FIRST programs at DCPS schools such as Anacostia High School. TTEC//DC was also represented at the annual ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) conference held at the Washington DC Convention Center.

We held monthly Board meetings, typically in schools where we were able to meet the dedicated DCPS principals who are working hard to sincerely bring about change at their schools. We elected officers and held numerous meetings with the three different Chief Technology Officers who were leading OCTO during our first year. We also coordinated our work with five different rotating OCTO project managers! Meetings were held with School Chancellor Michelle Rhee, her COO, General Antony Tata, and representatives of OSSE, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education for Washington, DC. TTEC//DC was asked by OCTO to first focus our voluntary efforts for the High Tech Campus Schools, then Catalyst Schools, and finally at the end of the year on a group of seven Chancellor- selected schools. TTEC//DC added these to the schools already in our voluntary partnership effort. Site visits were made to each school which was assigned a specific TTEC//DC company ÒadopterÓ and, following a needs assessment, each company is becoming an advocate for change and tech assistance at each of these seven schools.

TTEC//DC participated in the Spring Technology Summit hosted by OCTO, met several times with the office of Grants and Partnerships for DC and met with the Mayor twice to discuss TTEC//DC priorities. School visits were made to about one dozen city schools in all to determine the specifics of how we might be helpfulÑand sometimes these visits resulted in specific technology assistance. We met with and offered specific assistance to the head of DCPS professional development and her staff as well as establishing a memorandum of understanding to assist Friends of Bedford in their role as turn-around managers of Dunbar and Coolidge High Schools. A charette was sponsored by TTEC//DC to help expose instructional technology options to Friends of Bedford and this resulted in a historic donation of 96 Promethean Interactive White Boards---one for each classroom at Coolidge and Dunbar High Schools. Friends of Bedford also purchased assessment software from CaseNex as a result of this charette and they were exposed to many other technology options as well. From the charette TTEC//DC proceeded to the first stage of design for ninth grade labs for radical remediation in Math, Science, and English.

One TTEC//DC member company pledged personnel and tech support to OCTO to help create a DCPS system-wide technology plan based on the best practices of other K-12 systems throughout the country. This firm also donated funds to underwrite grants and to facilitate a project specialist for three months.

Here is a partial summary of fifteen additional specific company donations to schools.

1. Three TTEC//DC firms donated over seventy hours to the planning for and creation of a model Technology Plan for both Jefferson and Whittier middle schools.
2. Forty Classmate computers were donated to Jefferson and training was provided as well as oversight for integration of these PCs with instruction.
3. A monthly inspirational/aspirational luncheon meeting for selected STEM achieving students and their parents at McKinley Tech was launched and speakers from TTEC//DC companies helped to inspire over 100 students.
4. A technology career day was planned for McKinley Tech students by a TTEC//DC company with transport to the firm for students.
5. Tuition for a bio-medical conference was paid by a TTEC//DC company for nine technology teachers and students from McKinley Tech.
6. Virtual field trips for students and training for teachers was hosted by a TTEC//DC member at Whittier, Coolidge and McKinley as well as complementary training for tech support staff at OCTO.
7. One TTEC//DC company, working with OCTO has helped to voluntarily reduce annual energy costs by DCPS significantly saving nearly $1,090,000 and reduced carbon emissions by 745 tons.
8. Five SmartTech systems, the installation and professional development were donated to McKinley Tech. This donation followed planning sessions with the school's STEM lead and it's principal. Follow-up training sessions for integration in teaching resulted in the STEM lead being assigned full time to the development of further partnerships with industry for the direct benefit of the school. As a result of his efforts together with TTEC//DC, the Cisco Technology Training Academy is being re-instituted at McKinley. CISCO Certification course were paid for by Cisco so that McKinley students can progress directly to the tech jobs available to them.
9. Plans for bio-medical and new media labs for McKinley were drawn up and a search for funding was launched.
10. Two laptop carts that sat unused were made functional by a TTEC//DC member and placed into service for students and teachers.
11. One TTEC//DC company donated sound enhancement technology to Jefferson and provides free consultation to many other schools on the relationship of hearing to achievement in the classroom.
12. Four companies donated a significant amount of time to help modernize Logan, the DCPS professional development center. Two companies donated interactive white board systems, and two other companies donated instructional software. Offers were made to work with the director to create virtual PD technology that would affect all schools and be made available to all teachers 24/7.
13. Two TTEC//DC members donated laptops to DCPS Recreation Centers so that students can complete their homework and conduct research outside of the classroom.
14. Planning was put in motion to establish a tech industry education incubator at McKinley that would benefit all DCPS schools and students through research and application of effective technologies to all classrooms and students.
15. At Coolidge and Dunbar High Schools, 96 promethean boards were donated by a member company for each classroom. Included with this donation was all installation, support and maintenance as well as on-going professional development. In addition, 47 PCs were donated for teachers at Coolidge & Dunbar that were left without any classroom PCs. OCTO also facilitated the installation of a Microsoft Surface unit at Dunbar High School and TTEC//DC provided on-going instruction and support for this.