Computers seen as boon to K-5 pupils

By: Dick Brinster
   The addition of computer labs in its four elementary schools will put East Windsor Regional on par with virtually every district in New Jersey, according to Mike Dzwonar.
   "It’s the state standard," said the assistant superintendent of curriculum, technology and grants. "I hate to say it, but this is almost an embarrassing story, coming into a district to find out there was no computer laboratory for the K-5 curriculum."
   Mr. Dzwonar, who arrived shortly after Superintendent Ron Bolandi came aboard in 2004 and found failure among district students running rampant in state aptitude tests, is now busy setting up labs. He hopes the success of the last two years, when the failure rates fell from 40 percent to 10 percent, will be further augmented by the computer technology that will be a boon to students from the first-grade level on.
   "That should help the kids," he said. "The bottom line is we didn’t have any labs in our elementary buildings, and now we will."
   Part of the problem has been fighting the trend of the last two years, when voters defeated school budgets. But a federal grant helped East Windsor purchase 160 desktop computers last month for the elementary schools, allowed establishment of a third lab at the Melvin H. Kreps Middle School, and added 20 laptops at Hightstown High School.
   "We hope to have all this installed before the end of this year and usable by some students in January," Mr. Dzwonar said.
   The district, which hopes to hire two additional teachers for the curriculum next fall, will spend most the remainder of this school year with a staff developer instructing the educators on the technological components they will be using.
   The elementary school curriculum is expected to be up and running for the start of classes next September. Teachers will take their students to the lab on a rotating basis, expected to be once a week for grades three through five and less often for the lower grades.
   "They will do work in subject areas such as social studies, math and science, and language arts and that will add to what already is being taught," Mr. Dzwonar said. "It will be an integrated program, mixing the traditional curriculum with word processing, keyboarding, PowerPoint and maybe a little Excel spreadsheet."
   The program won’t be quite as extensive for those in the lower two grades, he explained, adding that grades one and two probably will be rotated in during different marking periods.
   "In the first grade, they will basically learn how to use software, a mouse and keyboard," Mr. Dzwonar said. "There also will be phonics. What we’re talking about is primary reading."
   He’s excited about the prospect of establishing a level playing field for the young children of the district.
   "Some kids come in with no skills, others are very advanced," Mr. Dzwonar said. "We’re trying to develop a minimum proficiency so when they get to the sixth grade, 95 percent of our kids will have mastered a certain core set of knowledge."
   That’s the kind of talk Kreps computer instructor Jeff Keston likes to hear. It should cut down on the percentage of students needing to learn basics in the sixth grade.
   "This has to help because they’ll have more experience when they come to Kreps," he said.
   "It allows students to concentrate on subject matter while enhancing their technological skills. I would say probably the two main area kids use computers for are research and writing papers."
   Practical use of the technology is important to Mr. Keston, who says most students have some computer savvy by the time they reach middle school. Much of it is gained through social e-mails and games.
   "But a growing number of children have become very good at finding information on the Internet," Mr. Keston added.
   The core curriculum is the most vital area, he said.
   "If their sixth-grade teacher asks them to write a paper, they should have better writing skills and better research skills," he said. "And that’s very important to middle-school-level kids."
   Mr. Dzwonar said the federal grant covered half of the nearly $185,000 cost for the computers, with the balance a budgeted expenditure. But he said the true cost to the district will not approach $90,000.
   "Last year, every teacher in each room had a computer and an ink jet printer, and they cost 10 cents a copy," he explained. "When laser jet printers came way down, we got a real good deal with Dell and now copies cost us 1 cent apiece.
   "We saved $40,000, and that paid for 1½ of these labs. We’re working smarter with what we have."
   That also could apply to the young recipients who benefited from the deal.