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Chapter 8
COMPUTERS AND TECHNOLOGY

This chapter examines the computer and technology services provided by the Cedar Hill Independent School District (CHISD) in the following areas:

A. Organization
B. Technology Policies, Procedures and Planning
C. Instructional Technology
D. Infrastructure, Hardware and Software

D. INFRASTRUCTURE, HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE

Network infrastructure is the underlying system of cabling, phone lines, hubs, switches, routers and other devices that connects the various parts of an organization through a WAN. If a sound infrastructure is in place, most users can have access to people and information throughout their organization and beyond, helping them better perform their job.

Typically, a WAN allows users to communicate with personnel within the organization through tools such as electronic mail systems. It also provides a bridge to the Internet that allows anyone connected to the WAN to have access to information and people outside the organization. WANs are usually "closed," which mean that they include security measures to prevent unauthorized users outside the organization from gaining access to information or people inside the organization.

CHISD distributes personal computers to each school for classroom and computer laboratory use (Exhibit 8-8). Each year the district purchases additional computers to increase the number available for student, teacher and administrative use. In 2001-02, CHISD budgeted for the purchase of 450 additional personal computers.

Exhibit 8-8
Inventory of CHISD Computer Equipment
March 2002
School Number of
Students		 Total
Computers		 Computers
Needed for 3:1		 Difference
(Less)/More		 Student-to-
Computer Ratio
Cedar Hill High School 1,952 490 651 (161) 4.0:1
W.S. Permenter Middle School 1,113 238 371 (133) 4.7:1
Belt Line Intermediate School 581 129 194 (65) 4.5:1
West Intermediate School 488 135 163 (28) 3.6:1
Bray Elementary School 303 107 101 6 2.8:1
Highlands Elementary School 414 129 138 (9) 3.2:1
High Pointe Elementary School 539 125 180 (55) 4.3:1
Plummer Elementary School 538 100 179 (79) 5.4:1
Waterford Oaks Elementary School 548 137 183 46 4.0:1
Total 6,476* 1,590 2,160 (478) 4.1:1
Source: CHISD director, Information Systems.
*Total does not include pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students.

FINDING

CHISD's infrastructure includes a WAN for the entire district and a LAN for each campus. The WAN was upgraded during summer 2001 to include fiber optic connections to the high school, Permenter Middle School, Bray Elementary, Highlands Elementary, Belt Line Intermediate School and the Administration building. In addition, the wireless links to the other campuses were upgraded. During summer 2002, the other campuses will be connected by fiber optics to increase their technological capabilities. The district WAN allows the district staff and students to share applications and data, access to electronic mail, access to the Internet and to update grade data online.

CHISD and the City of Cedar Hill have a joint local agreement in which the city pays CHISD for Information Systems services for network infrastructure and technical support of 150 computers. Since the city and CHISD share many network infrastructure components, some of the information in the following exhibits includes references to city sites.

Exhibit 8-9 describes the components of the current system infrastructure.

Exhibit 8-9
Current System Infrastructure
2001-02
Item Description
Servers 20 servers running Windows 2000 operating system.
Clients Each client's operating system is Windows 98 2nd edition.
Network Infrastructure CHISD currently has a mix of Cisco/Bay Network switches and concentrators.
  Approximately 40 percent of client connections are operating at switched 100MB; the remainder are operating at shared 10MB.
  The high school, AEP, Administration, Permenter Middle School, Bray Elementary, Beltline Intermediate and Highlands Elementary are connected by underground fiber owned by CHISD/City and operating at 1 GB.
  Cisco wireless bridges using 802.11b operating at 11MB connect High Pointe Elementary, West Intermediate, Waterford Oaks Elementary and Plummer Elementary.
  CHISD connects to the Internet through 2 T1s via Region 10, 1 DS3 via Dallas County and 1 T1 via Internet America.
  Waterford Oaks Elementary, Bray Elementary, Highlands Elementary and High Pointe Elementary have campus wide wireless communication installed using 802.11b Cisco switches for roaming laptop use.
  Beltline Intermediate has a Cisco VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) phone system using Cisco Inline power option switches. Every classroom/office has a phone with voice mail that integrates into the email system.
Source: CHISD director, Information Systems, April 2002.

CHISD and the City of Cedar Hill are installing underground fiber to all remaining school sites and most city sites. When completed, CHISD will be able to reduce the number of servers needed since bandwidth to remote sites will not be an issue. In addition, this additional system capacity will enable the implementation of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) telephone system on a districtwide basis. When the new VOIP telephone systems are installed, the total monthly Southwestern Bell telephone charges will be reduced from $8,000 to $3,000.

Exhibit 8-10 describes the components of the future system infrastructure, which will be completed during the fall of 2002.

Exhibit 8-10
Future System Infrastructure
2001-02
Item Description
Servers Thirteen servers running the Windows 2000 operating system.
Clients Each client's operating system will be Windows XP after reconfiguration.
Network Infrastructure CHISD will have a Cisco-only environment of Cisco 65XX, 35XX and 4XXX switches.
  100 percent of CHISD client connections will be switched 100MB.
  All school sites will be connected by underground fiber operating at a gigabyte.
  Cisco wireless bridges using 802.11b operating at 11MB connect High Pointe Elementary, West Intermediate, Waterford Oaks Elementary and Plummer Elementary.
  CHISD connects to the Internet will be through 2 T1s via Region 10, 1 DS3 via Dallas County and 1 T1 via Internet America.
  All school sites will have campus wide wireless communication installed using 802.11b or 802.11a Cisco switches for roaming laptop use.
  Beltline Intermediate has a Cisco VoIP phone system using Cisco Inline power option switches. Every classroom/office has a phone with voice mail that integrates into the email system.
  The high school and administrative offices will have a Cisco VoIP phone system using Cisco Inline power option switches; every classroom/office has a phone with voice mail that integrates into the email system.
Source: CHISD director, Information Systems, April 2002.

The district has taken a proactive approach with its technology. It continuously upgrades its equipment, both hardware and software, so that children, teachers and the community can more effectively access the Internet and become more technologically advanced.

COMMENDATION

CHISD developed a data infrastructure consisting of fiber optic connections to all district school campuses that supports advanced computer functions including high-speed wireless and Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) telephone systems.

FINDING

CHISD includes students and key representatives from each campus in the instructional software acquisition process. One of the important objectives of the process is to correlate TEKS, TAAS/TAKS and technology objectives with the contents of the software. Exhibit 8-11 outlines the CHISD instructional software acquisition process.

Exhibit 8-11
CHISD Instructional Software Acquisition Process
2001-02
Software Review Committees Purpose Software Evaluation
  • Grade K-2 committee will consist of one teacher per grade level per campus plus one Special Education teacher, one English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher and one lab manager (total of 18 members);
  • Grade 3-4 committee will consist of one teacher per grade level per campus plus one Special Education teacher, one ESL teacher and one lab manager (total of 13 members);
  • Grade 5-6 committee will consist of one teacher per subject per campus plus one Special Education teacher and one ESL teacher; the number of committee members will vary depending on which subject areas will be involved in the evaluation;
  • There will be no formal software committee for middle school or high school; the majority of software purchases will be done by the individual department organization; the department will be required to fill out an evaluation form (See Appendix) for any district purchases.
  • Evaluate/recommend purchases of district software;
  • Correlate TEKS, TAAS/TAKS, and Technology objectives with the contents of the software;
  • Demonstrate and/or train other staff members to use the software;
  • Develop ideas for integrating the software into the curriculum.
  • The district's committee members will use a formal evaluation form;
  • The director, Instructional Technology will meet with each software committee to demonstrate how to use the form;
  • Evaluations will be done during the teacher's conference period or after school; if possible, the teacher should use the software with students to observe their interaction with the program and get their input;
  • Evaluations will be returned to the director, Instructional Technology with recommendations for which programs to purchase-preferably a prioritized list;
  • If required, the committee will meet to discuss the list.
Source: CHISD Technology Plan.

CHISD's instructional software acquisition process includes a formal software committee for elementary schools and a formal software evaluation form for the middle school and high school.

COMMENDATION

CHISD developed an effective software acquisition process for the elementary schools including evaluation by students and the director, Instructional Technology.

FINDING

The district has continuously updated its administrative software since the initial installation in 1984. Beginning in January 2003, all administrative software modules or programs will be Windows-based. This software change will have a positive effect in the Personnel Department, which currently has manual procedures. The new system will eliminate the time consuming procedures currently in place in the Personnel Department.

During the 1999-2000 school year, the district implemented an online grade book system. All teachers, except those teaching kindergarten, submit their grades online. The program allows the teachers to set up a variety of subjects with various assignments, then the teacher inputs the grades of each assignment and the program automatically calculates the students' averages. The cumulative grade is then electronically recorded on each student's report card each six weeks. Secondary campuses and intermediate campuses have the same capabilities as the primary schools; however, grades are submitted every three weeks for progress reports as well as every six weeks for report cards.

For the 2000-01 school year, all libraries were upgraded with new circulation/catalog software. All books are checked out through this new computerized circulation program. The program tracks library inventory in real time and also makes checking out a book much easier, as it has up-to-date student information listed in its records. The school librarians no longer have to keep a paper list of students that have holds on their records preventing them from checking out books. During summer 2000, each elementary library was upgraded to include four student computers with access to the Internet.

Exhibit 8-12 lists the administrative software modules used at CHISD.

Exhibit 8-12
Inventory of CHISD System/Administrative Computer Software
2001-02
Administrative Software Application
EDP Enterprises Software Budget, Payroll, Personnel, Accounts Payable, Fixed Assets, Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) data, Student Demographics, Student Attendance, Student Scheduling, Grade Reporting, Student Discipline, Health and Immunization, Special Education, Online Gradebook, Online Attendance.
Hayes Textbook Inventory.
Cricket Food Service Checkout/Tracking.
Microsoft Exchange E-mail.
Microsoft ISA Internet Content Cashing/Proxy.
Microsoft IIS Web Services.
N2H2 Bess Internet Filter.
Cisco AVVID Telephone System.
SEAS Special Education.
CLASS Special Education.
Source: Interview with director, Information Systems.

COMMENDATION

CHISD provides up-to-date, fully functional software for administrators.