Lauren Hyers

FRIT 7739
Technology Program Administrator
Part A: Program Evaluation
Executive Summary
Pierce County Middle School is a school well on its way to making every
classroom a 21st Century classroom thanks to all the support shown from the
county. The Media Center at Pierce County Middle School is both a literary
and technology resource center. The Media Center provides services to all
students, faculty, staff, and administration. The center is located at the front
of the building. It is the first room visitors see when leaving the front foyer.
The center is home for the instructional lead teacher, technology specialist, a
media assistant, and the media specialist who acts as the technology
coordinator in the building. This is a limited staff, but they work hard to
ensure every teacher and student has endless resources at their fingertips.
The media specialist offers informational tutorials on all technology being
implemented into the system for teachers and students. While keeping up to
date with the ever changing world of technology, the media specialist also
makes sure digital citizenship is being enforced throughout the school.
Students and teachers have been taught how to practice good digital
citizenship. Posters are placed around the building and on the school website
referring to plagiarism and copyright laws. An interview and several
observations prove the media center does support its mission and goals
including both literary and technology services and materials for all persons
in the school. As with all things, there is room for improvement. Increasing
memory space on the laptops, providing more staff developments for
teachers in need, and increasing the inventory.
Organizational Chart

Methods
This evaluation report was constructed using a variety of methods. The data
was obtained through interview questions and answers from the media
specialist (Appendix A), checklist observations of the media center (Appendix
B), and the schools website (Appendix C).
Center Context and Goals
The Pierce County Middle School Media Center is transitioning to a 21st
century technology center. For the last twenty years, as long as the school
has existed, the media center has served as a resource center for books.
Within the last five years, the center has begun to evolve into a technology
center. Books are still available to be checked out by students and teachers,
but technology has become the main focus of the center. Mrs. Murray, the
media specialist, accepted the position during the time of transitioning. She
believes technology is now the way to better prepare students for the future.
Although she is an advocate of the 21st century learning, she does think
students should have the opportunity to read books. When Mrs. Murray took

over the media center, in 2010, there were no laptop carts, IPads,
Chromebook, promethean boards, or computer labs other than the media
center. Today, Pierce County Middle School has four IPad carts, three laptop
carts, and several sets of Chromebooks. Every teacher in the building now
has a Promethean Board in their classroom along with an IPad. Mrs. Murray
has helped technology grow at PCMS in the last five years. In order to keep
the center running as smoothly as possible she has to keep up with her day
to day duties of promoting literacy and technology, along with digital
citizenship and copyright laws by maintaining the school webpage,
researching and learning how to use new software, co-teaching, volume
purchasing, and buying apps at the teachers request. The media center
houses thirty computers. This lab can be reserved for teachers to bring in
classes for educational uses. Along with the media center lab, we have two
computer labs. Each lab has twenty-eight computers. The labs are located at
the back of the school building, but Mrs. Murray is responsible for making
sure the labs are up and running.
Other important personnel in the media center include the media assistant,
Mrs. Spell, the technology specialist, Mr. Clark, and an Instructional Lead
Teacher, Mrs. Turner. Mrs. Spell is the face all students see when entering the
center. She is responsible for checking in and out books,
scheduling/reserving IPad carts, laptop carts, and computer labs for teachers,
checking out videos, and maintaining the copiers. Mr. Clark is the technician
for any technical difficulty teachers, students, or the administration may
have. Mr. Clark is part time at PCMS, so Mrs. Murray has learned how to
manage half the week without him. The Instructional Coach, Mrs. Turner, is
not the technology person per say, but she is very helpful for find new
online activities to use in class. The media centers objective is to provide
service for all persons in the school with updated technical support. Updated
technical support provides students and teachers with a digital learning
environment the increases literacy skills while promoting technology and
increasing student engagement. The goals for the media center include:
Promote literacy and technology.
Providing staff developments that meet the needs of our school.
Promote digital citizenship.
Provide current and relevant information for all stakeholders.
Center Activities
The Media Center offers several services and activities for teachers and
students. All activities are located in the media center or a computer lab.
SRI Testing for all students in the building. SRI testing is done
several times throughout the school year. This provides teachers
with data on each student.

Google Classroom trainings for students and teachers.

Book fairs for students and teachers.
Co-teaching groups of student how to research information,
reference material, and how to avoid plagiarizing.
Teaching students how to use GALILEO.
Providing staff developments for teachers to learn to use new
software and equipment.

Evaluation
After reviewing the data Ive collected, it is apparent the Media Center can
successfully be called a technology center. All staff housed in the media
center uphold the mission and goals of the media center. Through
observations it is evident the media specialist, Mrs. Murray, is the leader of
the technology world at Pierce County Middle School. The activities and
services provided by the media specialist and all associated staff support
literacy and technology for all persons in the building. The media specialist is
great at keeping technology and equipment up to date. Although the center
does a wonderful job, I think there is room for improvement. Mrs. Murray, nor
her supporting staff, does not have a specific job title of Instructional
Technology Coach (ITC). I, along with many others in the school, feel the
center needs a full time ITC. Mrs. Murray and her staff have enough duties.
She has stated many times the need for an ITC. Today, Mrs. Murray serves as
the ITC along with being the media specialist and technology coordinator for
the school. Having an ITC would allow Mrs. Murray to focus more on the
center. I observed Mrs. Murray being asked to find content specific websites
for teachers to use. She was unable to conduct the search at that moment
and told the teacher she would get back to her. The same teacher
approached Mrs. Murray a few weeks later about the same thing. Mrs. Murray
was so busy keeping up with other things going on she did not have time to
research any websites. The teachers would benefit from have an ITC because
they would then have someone to research, explore, and decide with Web
tools would work best for them. Along with adding an ITC to the staff, it is
suggested to increase the memory space on the laptops. This will allow
students to work faster and more on the computers. Again, the center is an
exceptional center given they resources they have available.
Appendices
Appendix A: Interview Questions and Answers

Interview Questions for the

Media Specialist/Technology Coordinator

1.
2.

What is the history of the media center at Pierce County Middle

School?
What are the daily responsibilities of the center?

3.

What is the goals and mission of the center?

4.

What is your budget?

5.

What equipment does the center have and use?

6.

What activities or programs does the center oversee?

7.

What other positions or stakeholders are invested in the center?

8.

What does the center do well?

9.

What could the center use to enhance the success of the school?

10 What digital rules and procedures do you promote?

.
11 In your opinion, does the media center effectively serve as the
. technology center?

Appendix B: Observation Checklist

Media Center Checklist

Technology Resources
Items to be Observed
1.

Evidence of Literacy and Technology Promotion

2.

Evidence of Digital Citizenship and Copy Right Laws Promotion

3.

Evidence of Students Using Technology

4.

Evidence of Monitoring the School Website

5.

Evidence of Equipment Monitoring and Usage

6.

Evidence of Updating and Repairing Technology

7.

Evidence of Staff Developments for Teachers

Appendix C: Website