Background

The Common Knowledge: Pittsburgh (CK:P) project has the following goals:

1. Teaching Environment - The network shall enhance the teaching environment for all teachers in the Pittsburgh Public Schools by expanding the personal contacts and information resources available to these teachers.

2. Curriculum Development - The network shall be available to serve the development of curricular activities of the Pittsburgh Public Schools in all subject areas and at all grade levels.

3. Access to Information - The network shall provide information services not currently available to the Pittsburgh school system.

4. School Restructuring - The network shall serve as a tool in the restructuring efforts of the Pittsburgh Public Schools.

5. A National Model - The network and its associated curricular activities shall serve as a national model for the implementation of wide area networks in the K12 environment.

The National Science Foundation funded the project in two stages. The first stage was an initial two year grant to research the viability of the Internet in K12 education. The second was a three year grant to research the Pittsburgh Public Schools' ability to institutionalize the lessons learned through CK:P.

We are in the last year of the project. And although it is premature to suggest that the project has been an outright success, there are strong indicators that it did achieve many of its goals.

• The Pittsburgh Public Schools just passed a Technology Plan that builds on the lessons learned from Common Knowledge: Pittsburgh.

• Access in the school district is growing. Any staff member can have an email account and access the Internet from home or school. Out of a total of 90 schools, 5,000 staff and 40,000 students there are:
  • 3,000 staff email accounts
    
  • 1,800 student email accounts
    
  • 29 schools with LAN and ISDN access obtained through CK:P
    
  • 10 schools with LAN and ISDN access obtained through their own efforts and
    
  • 40 schools with dialup access.

• There are many powerful examples of network applications in curriculum, instruction and assessment.

Our experience suggests that Instructional Technology (and the Internet) can be a powerful catalyst for school reform. Access to the Internet, with adequate support, can democratize education. It reduces teacher and student isolation by breaching the classroom walls making Internet resources available to all students and teachers no matter what their income, status, or expertise. As such, it flattens the bureaucratic pyramid, making learners of us all.

Our experience also suggests that implementing instructional technology causes anger, insight, creativity, political struggles, frustration, and empowerment (i.e.pathology).

The Players

Elements of District Pathology

• Change - implementing instructional technology - occurs through a complex interaction initiated by a catalyst , played out in the context of an organization and addressing the needs of the individuals.

• The behaviors which result during any change effort are dependent upon two key elements - the initial conditions that staff and organization find themselves in at the moment the catalyst is introduced and the alignment of the catalyst with the needs of the organization and its individuals.

• Educators who initiate a change process must be sensitive to individual and cultural issues. They must understand the local culture and see the process of change from a variety of perspectives.

• Those who initiate a change process must either have an advocate on the policy level or be willing to enter the political process and promote the change from within.

• There must be a set of guiding principals that will steer the reform effort.

The Variables

Personal Variables

These variables correspond to personal needs. Since each individual perceives change efforts in their own way, and each has different experiences and abilities, it is a challenge to predict the effects of a catalyst on the many individuals that make up the organization. Personal variables include:

• ownership
• ego
• flexibility/needs
• experience

Cultural Variables

Cultural variables, in a school district, pertain to the rules or mores the organization and its members create and use. These provide the context within which change can occur.

• language
• peer group
• hierarchy
• stereotypes

Catalysts

These are change agents which are introduced into the system.

• leadership
• money
• time
• professional development
• support
• incentives
• accountability

¹ For a theoretical discussion pertaining to district pathology, see: Attending to the Noise: Applying Chaos Theory to School Reform. Presented at the 1997 annual conference of the American Educational Research Association.

Common Knowledge: Pittsburgh

515 North Highland Avenue
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15206-2598
Voice (412) 665-2230
Fax (412) 665-2235

email - info@pps.pgh.pa.us