In coding classes, Boston schools aim to provide 21st century skills
| Boston
On the projector screen, in front of an animated house, several figures are constantly in motion. A cat and a bear pop in and out of the frame, as a dancing Batman and a cartoon representation of the rapper Snoop Dogg glide forward, stopping momentarily before darting backward.
Sitting at tables around the screen, the 9th grade students at Dearborn STEM Academy in Boston watch the dancing figures closely.
At first, it looks like an animated movie. But then the class鈥檚 teacher, Jonathan LoPorto, opens a new tab, revealing rows of multicolored blocks in Scratch, the computer programming software that controls the figures, known as sprites. 听
鈥淲hat does this script make the sprite do?鈥� he asks, pointing to a series of numbers and statements on the screen. 鈥滺ow鈥檚 it going to dance, and exactly what is it going to do?鈥�
Around the room, students鈥� hands shoot up excitedly. 鈥淚t was gonna, like, go to a certain spot, back and forth,鈥� one student says.
鈥淗ow do you know what spot?鈥� the teacher asks.
鈥淏ecause it says go to ... 16 on the x-axis and negative 2 on the y-axis, in a way it鈥檚 going to keep going back to that spot, and then keep going back and forth,鈥� she replies.
At Dearborn, a Boston public school long centered in the city鈥檚 Roxbury neighborhood, programming classes such as this one are a requirement, offered at several levels for students in grades 6 through 12.
The computer science courses are part of a broader effort among school officials to introduce technology into classrooms in order to provide Boston鈥檚 students with technical skills for a rapidly changing job market.
"An incredible treat"
The effort to introduce technical curricula has spread across the country. In New York City, for example, Mayor Bill De Blasio last month to have all public schools in the city offer computer science courses by 2025, promising $81 million to achieve that goal.
鈥淚鈥檝e never been in a school where technology鈥檚 even been offered, so this is such an incredible treat,鈥� says Lisa Gilbert-Smith, Dearborn鈥檚 new principal, who has been working in the district for 20 years. 鈥淥ur goal is definitely that we鈥檒l be able to get folks jobs before they leave high school. That鈥檚 definitely our vision that we鈥檒l start with our sixth graders. We want to make sure that our kids ... have marketable skills, that they actually can get work in the technology field, and that they鈥檙e exposed to technology to utilize in whatever careers they eventually choose in their lives.鈥�
The impact of the classes is particularly striking at Dearborn STEM, district officials say. The school, which had 258 students last year from Roxbury and Dorchester 鈥� including many Cape Verdean students, for whom English is a second language 鈥� was to be a candidate for state takeover or conversion to a charter school.
But after parents and community members fought a to keep the school open, local education nonprofit BPE听(formerly the Boston Plan for Excellence) the school in July as part of a negotiation with the district. BPE, a three-decade-old organization that trains teachers through its Boston Teacher Residency Program, began its first classes at Dearborn this fall.
鈥淎s far as the students go, it鈥檚 unlike everything you鈥檝e ever seen because the students are actually learning a lesson that is applicable to what they do on their personal time,鈥� says Mark Racine, the district鈥檚 chief information officer. 鈥淚 taught fifth grade and I can鈥檛 tell you how painful it is to teach these subjects when [students] don鈥檛 see how they are related to their personal lives.鈥�
The school is currently housed at the Jeremiah Burke High School building in Dorchester while a new $72 million with expanded classroom space and lab听facilities is being built on Greenville Street in Roxbury.
In addition to offering a wide range of technical classes, the school also plans to introduce an 11th grade internship program aimed at providing students with work experience at local technology firms.
Boston鈥檚 efforts come as a national debate continues to rage over technology鈥檚 role in the classroom, particularly due to a growing $8 billion educational technology sector, which some has pushed technology into classrooms too quickly.
鈥淥ne thing we have found is that it can be more challenging to integrate technology into classrooms in low income communities,鈥� says Mark Warschauer, a professor of education at the University of California, Irvine, whose research has focused on the impact of One Laptop Per Child, a 10-year-old initiative to provide low-cost, low-powered laptops to countries in the developing world and the US.
鈥淎 lot of these communities have higher teacher turnover, administrator turnover, fewer technology-savvy parents, more kids with weaker English language skills,鈥� he says. 鈥淚f you just throw technology into schools without the proper social support, technology can amplify inequality.鈥�
At other schools that are embracing new models of teaching students 鈥� such as more intensive small-group or one-on-tutoring 鈥� figuring out how to best make use of newer technologies is still an ongoing challenge.
"We'll turn out the lights if it isn't working for kids"
One day in September, a 6th grade classroom in Boston鈥檚 Jamaica Plain neighborhood bustles with activity. Students sit in small groups working on a series of math worksheets, guided by tutors who looked carefully over the packets, occasionally working with students using a laptop.
MATCH Next, a new 5th and 6th grade campus that is part of the MATCH charter school network that began with a high school in 2000, revolves around close interaction between students and tutors, both inside and outside of the classroom.
鈥淓veryone works on a packet in the morning, then tutors stop and see how everyone鈥檚 doing,鈥� says Ray Schleck, the school鈥檚 principal. Tutors serve particularly as a contact for parents, calling to check in on students once a week.
While the school has focused particularly on changing the traditional lecture-driven mode of classroom instruction, it has been cautious about introducing technology, focusing first on ensuring students are learning basic skills.
鈥淲e鈥檙e an ed-innovation platform, but never, ever at the expense of student learning,鈥� says Orlando Watkins, MATCH鈥檚 executive vice president, who focuses on the charter school's development and communications. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if it鈥檚 the case at every charter, but certainly at MATCH, it鈥檚 the right type of environment to phase in innovation."
But, he adds, 鈥淲e鈥檒l turn off the lights if it isn鈥檛 working for kids.鈥�
The school uses software such as Google Classroom 鈥� a suite of education apps aimed at students and teachers. However, MATCH uses it primarily for teachers to schedule and exchange lesson plans. 鈥淒isproportionately, we鈥檙e skeptical people,鈥� says Mr. Schleck. Technology like Google Classroom 鈥渟aves us a lot of time and energy on organizing materials. We鈥檝e had buckets with more success than others," he says. But software that focuses on teaching hasn鈥檛 been as successful.
The school developed by education software provider Khan Academy to teach math, but has found that a series of videos created by the company has been less helpful than traditional lessons created by each teacher.
But that may change over time for the school 鈥� which nearly tripled its enrollment this year to serve 146 students in 5th and 6th grades.
鈥淚f a school has a baseline culture of being productive, technology is very helpful,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 think we鈥檙e trying to learn what the right place of technology is.鈥�
The impact of ed-tech
At times, the debate over whether classroom technology can truly reduce inequality has boiled over into the mainstream. This fall, the Los Angeles Unified School District a $1.3 billion effort to provide an iPad for every student, teacher, and administrator after reports that teachers barely used software provided by industry giant Pearson.
In September, the OECD put out a that found that computers in education could have a mixed impact. 鈥淧erhaps the most disappointing finding of the report is that technology is of little help in bridging the skills divide between advantaged and disadvantaged students,鈥� its executive summary noted.
But Professor Warschauer at UC Irvine says that computers are often helpful in particular contexts that encourage analytical thinking, such as allowing students to write and revise their work, share it with teachers and classmates, and conduct online research. But integrating technology into educators鈥� own curricula so they can use it in the classroom is still an ongoing challenge.
鈥淚 think teachers need to really think about and learn about and have chances to practice about the role of technology in instruction,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not so much that tech needs to be a separate thing, it really needs to be integrated in, we don鈥檛 have separate courses on how to use pencils and pens, these things have been integrated into the curriculum.鈥�
As the Dearborn students split off to begin their own individual dance party projects using Scratch, Mr. LoPorto, the class鈥� teacher, pauses to reflect on the program.
In a recent computer science survey course, he says, a classroom discussion about Google鈥檚 introduction of self-driving cars led to a conversation about the future of related industries. What if there were no taxi drivers, students asked? What if the cars caused fewer accidents, meaning less work for body shops? By providing computer science training early, the school aims to provide exposure to alternative career paths.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a really hard reality, and so rather than switching gears on them senior year of high school, I鈥檇 like to switch gears on them in 6th grade, and prep 'em the best that we possibly can for what is coming,鈥� LoPorto says. An ongoing challenge, he adds, is engaging students who come in with differing amounts of experience with computers.
Ms. Gilbert-Smith, the school鈥檚 principal, says that for an increasingly tech-savvy generation, there is a broader goal: ensuring they learn more about how computer programming works, and hopefully increasing their confidence to use technological tools.
鈥淭hose are the classes that it seems like everybody wants more of,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e had a group of students that went on a field trip, and they鈥檙e not supposed to be back until after school, and they鈥檙e like 鈥榃e might get back early 鈥� can we still go to technology class?鈥� 鈥� she adds, laughing. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e super excited about going to technology classes.鈥�
