Highline Public Schools

There are a great deal of tools available in the edtech space to contend with. Our curriculum department was flooded by requests for feedback on possible new tools, and we became aware of the breadth of tools being utilized across our district. As a result, we formed a committee in 2018, comprised of three departments: Communications, Technology, and Personalized Learning (which serves as a liaison to our Teaching, Learning, and Leadership Department), to address this concern.

We are focusing on vetting the right tools by studying the impact of each tool we have licenses to. This will help to inform resource allocation, professional training, and support for classrooms. This data analysis is ongoing and increases accountability around the use of tools across our schools. So far, 48 tools have been vetted, including those that had already been in our system.

As we continue to vet digital instructional tools across our system, it is important that we analyze the impact on student outcomes to ensure that we are maximizing our budget allocations efficiently.

The work of the committee maps up to our strategic plan and goals around digital media and literacy -- that students will graduate with the problem solving and critical thinking skills necessary to live and work responsibly in a digital world.