Dr. Anthony Jackson, superintendent of Vance County Schools, announced at the Vance County Board of Education meeting January 18, that the school system has been awarded a $200,000 grant from the Golden Leaf Foundation for its “We Inspire” technology project.

The three-year grant will be used to fund training for educators throughout the school system. It also will be used to support teachers working with students to ensure effective use of latop computers and other technology as an enhancement tool for educational instruction at school and at home.

The “We Inspire” project involves an approximately 50-member team of local educators who are already receiving training on effective strategies to use in the classroom to better utilize technology in their daily instruction. The team is made up of school administrators, department directors, school media specialists, school system technology technicians, curriculum specialists, teachers and counselors. Training for the team began last summer and has been ongoing during this school year. The “We Inspire” cohort members also are facilitating training sessions for other educators in their schools.

The “We Inspire” project includes a close partnership with the Friday Institute at N.C. State University. Representatives of the Friday Institute have already led several training sessions with the “We Inspire” team and more trainings are planned.

Educators throughout the school system received new laptop computers at the beginning of this school year. The new laptops are being used as a focal point of the technology project. For effective use of the technology, ongoing training for all teachers and other educators in local schools is essential. The Golden Leaf Foundation grant funding will cover costs of the training over the next three years. To train all 500 teachers in the district, the school system will need to offer support to cohorts ranging in size from 75 to 100 teachers, each year. Those educators who have completed the training will lead sessions to offer refreshers to others not in an active cohort.

Students in the Vance County Early College High School and the STEM Early High School received new laptop computers this school year. The student laptops were obtained through a lease program. Students in additional schools are set to receive new laptop computers at the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year.

The “We Inspire” project is the catalyst for use of technology in Vance County Schools for years to come. The Golden Leaf Foundation grant to cover costs of training educators over the next three years is crucial to the success of teachers and students using technology as an educational enhancement tool.