There are over 57 thousand people in Yukon Oklahoma. Although the town houses African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, Alaska Natives, American Natives, Asians, Indian, and Pacific Islanders, only 16% of the total population is non-caucasian. Over 93% graduated high school, but only 29% hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. The median household income is $70,000 with largest group of only 22% earning $50,000 to $74,000 and only 7% live below poverty level (American Fact Finder). YPS serves over 8,800 students which includes 7 elementary schools, 2 intermediate schools, the middle school campus, and the high school campus. Yukon is the 14th largest district (out of 525 school districts) in Oklahoma and Yukon High School is currently the 7th largest high school in Oklahoma (Yukon Public Schools). Enrollment is 50/50 male to female with only 27% of the total student enrollment being non-caucasian (Niche). Free or reduced lunch is 43% (Niche), but I believe it to be much higher. (Niche) Enrollment (As of 8/1/2018) Total Enrollment 8,852 Ethnic Distribution: White 68.2% Hispanic 14.3% Two or More Races 6.7% Native American 4.7% Black 3.6% Asian 2.3% Pacific Islander 0.1% Other / Not provided 0.1% Personnel: Certified Staff 601 Support Staff (full & part-time) 780 Administrators 49 Dividing factors include both teacher and student use of technology. If the teacher is not comfortable using technology or has limited knowledge of use, it stifles students use and ability which also impacts the “cans” and “cannots”. Mostly I see opportunity gaps. Older teacher still use over heads and whiteboards. Many teachers are not aware of the access they have to technology or what to do with it once they acquire it. Each grade level classroom has a 1:1 Chromebook cart, the building has 6 iPad carts (100 iPads) (including Sped and ELL classes), multiple computer labs, projectors, SMARTboards, Apple TV’s, teacher MacBooks, and classroom desktops that are for daily use for classroom instruction. The schools bandwidth and WiFi were just updated, but will be increased to accommodate existing and new technology as needed by the Office of Technology & Information Services (OTIS) who routinely updates, manages, and replace technology as needed or per teacher request. My call of action is still uncertain, but it seems to be teacher ability and use of technology.
2 Comments
Christy Murray
3/30/2019 01:05:10 pm
Yes, yes, and yes! At my previous school district, I saw a distinct difference in the way teacher who were comfortable with technology taught and the teachers who were comfortable with technology. I really like that you are considering focusing on professional development for teachers. There are many teachers who have been teaching for 25 years and any technology skills they have learned since that time has been through colleagues or trial and error. Not all fall into that category but there are some.
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Christy Kramp
3/31/2019 07:03:28 pm
I completely agree with you on the teacher comfort level dictating technology use. I see this everyday at my school site. I feel that professional development is the only way to overcome this divide.
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