Harrison township software#

“So we’re ensuring that students across all grade levels have the opportunity to use them.” Flexon also lets everyone know that students and teachers can customize Chromebook settings just once, and those settings will move with students no matter which device they log into in the future.Ĭhrissy Rivera, a 3rd grade teacher at Harrison Township School, discovered that features such as the Read&Write Chrome extension from Texthelp, available on the district’s Chromebooks, help all students including those with disabilities. “Today, those features are built into Chrome and Google Workspace,” Flexon says.

Harrison township software#

“We saw that some students who had been reluctant writers were more apt to explore features Google Docs,” Flexon says.īuilt-in accessibility tools for everyoneīefore students began using Chromebooks, accessibility tools were typically single-purpose features-like speech-recognition software -that had to be installed on specific devices earmarked for students with disabilities.

“Everything can be done in the moment,” Flexon says.Īs Flexon and other teachers tested Chromebooks, they also realized students seemed eager to discover features that helped improve learning and comprehension-even before teachers pointed them out. Instead of passing around lessons on paper or by email and waiting for input from colleagues, the special education teachers could now add lessons to Classroom with just a few clicks, and invite other teachers to adapt the lessons as needed. He and other teachers quickly realized that Google Classroom could solve the problem of coordinating lesson plans with special education teachers across inclusive classrooms. The program included Google Certified Educator Level 1 training for all teachers to help them adopt best practices for using technology in lessons.įlexon took part in the first Chromebook and Google Workspace rollouts for 3rd and 4th grade classes. The 3rd and 4th grade classes received Chromebooks first, to allow learners to grow with the devices 5th and 6th graders received Chromebooks the following year, followed by 2nd graders. In 2013, the school district began rollout of a 1:1 Chromebook program, along with Google Workspace for Education and Google Classroom-one grade level at a time over a three-year period.

Teachers had to schedule access to the labs they also had to ensure that students with disabilities could access devices with speech-recognition software or magnified screens. Harrison Township schools had desktop computer labs and a small number of netbooks for students to use in class. The lack of classroom technology also complicated the task of outfitting students with tools for enhancing learning.

To adapt lessons to students’ needs, each special education teacher had to exchange paper-based lesson plans with the inclusive classroom teachers-a slow process.

“It took a lot of work to manage inclusive classrooms, and it was time-consuming,” says Chad Flexon, Harrison Township’s Supervisor of Instruction, who taught math and language arts in an inclusive classroom for two years. Even students with more pronounced physical or communication disabilities who typically work in much smaller classes of their own share some classes with non-disabled students.įor teachers working with students with disabilities across multiple classrooms, coordinating lesson plans and equipping students with the right learning tools wasn’t easy. Each grade from kindergarten through 6th has two inclusive classrooms where students with disabilities work alongside their non-disabled peers. In Harrison Township’s two schools, inclusivity is the standard.