Portage Township Schools has been selected by the Indiana Department of Education to receive the 2019 Digital Learning Grant. Portage was one of 48 school districts in Indiana to receive this highly competitive grant.
The grant, which totals $50,000, will provide programs and educator professional development throughout the district to enhance our students’ science, technology, engineering, and math skills across all subjects. In particular, Portage Township Schools’ goal for the project is to incorporate computer science skills into the curriculum.
Teachers throughout the district will receive professional development in computer science skills and be provided with the tools they need to incorporate these skills into their curriculum.
The grant allows for the purchase of two new programs to enhance our students’ science skills and assist teachers with integrating computer science into the various areas across the curriculum. Portage teachers will utilize an educational technology program that students in all grades will use enhance their knowledge of the standards-based science skills at each level.
Students will work their way through series of lessons that create an immersive learning experience. Portage Township Schools will also use the grant funds to purchase a one-year license of a web-based program that supports computer science standards to include coding, programming, app development, and python. The STEM and STEAM activities included in the program integrate with Portage Township Schools’ math, science and English/language arts curriculum.
This is the second time Portage Township Schools has received the Digital Learning Grant. In 2017, Portage used the grant to host professional development for teachers in blended learning practices, begin a summer learning series that provided a variety of workshops on technology and STEM activities, and hire an elementary-level instructional coach to supplement the work done by our secondary coaches in providing strong educational technology support to our teachers.
Portage Township Schools would like to thank Director of Title I and Special Student Programs Linda Williams, Director of Innovative Learning Michael DePasquale, and Director of Instructional Technology and Data Services David Lesich for their leadership in developing and writing this grant. Their dedication to our district will benefit our students as Portage Township Schools continues to implement best practices that support 21st Century Skills.