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Sun Associates works with schools, districts, state departments of education, and other educational organizations nationwide. All of our work is grounded in a thorough understanding of technology's role as a tool for improving teaching and learning. In addition, we understand that appropriate use of technology usually involves managing a complex process of organizational change. Our staff have expertise in educational practice at both the K-12 and higher education levels. We also partner with other educational organizations to bring the best mix of resources to our clients.
The following examples represent a few highlights of Sun Associates' recent project work...
NCLB Title IID External Evaluation Support to Massachusetts School Districts
Sun Associates serves as external evaluator to 18 multi-year NCLB Title IID projects for Massachusetts districts.
Support to State Departments of Education
Sun Associates is working with the Alabama State Department of Education to update the state's technology plan and to provide training support to local districts in the evaluation of district technology plans.
Teaching American History Program Evaluation
External evaluation services are provided to six U.S. Department of Education-funded Teaching American History (TAH) grants.
- American Promises - Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association and Frontier Regional School District
- The Story of America - Fitchburg (MA) Public Schools and Fitchburg State College
- Emerging America - Hampshire Educational Collaborative
- Pursuing Justice - Public Schools of Brookline (MA)
- American Promises - Westfield (MA) Public Schools and Westfield State College
- Encounters and Exchanges in US History – Reading (MA) Public Sc
NEIRTEC Evaluation
Sun Associates serves as the program evaluator for the Northeast and Islands Regional Technology in Education Consortium (NEIRTEC). NEIRTEC is one of 10 U.S. Department of Education technology technical assistance projects.
Westwood (MA) Public Schools retained Sun Associates to create a district-wide evaluation "audit" of its instructional technology effort. The product report for this project has been used to support the district's annual budget process as well as capital improvement initiatives. Our work for this seven-school district is typical of our district-wide evaluation projects.
Working with the second-largest school district in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Sun Associates designed a comprehensive evaluation of technology's impact on student learning and teacher behavior. This evaluation has been continued for three years subsequent to our initial involvement and has served to guide many aspects of the district's technology implementation.
NH Preparing New Teachers 2 Evaluation
Sun Associates is the program evaluator for this $1.2 million/year US Department of Education "PT3" grant. The grant is administered by the NH Department of Education and serves all Institutions of Higher Education in NH. The overarching goal of the project is to improve pre-service education faculty’s capacity to integrate technology as a tool for learning.
St. Louis, Michigan and Lexington, Massachusetts Technology Evaluations
During Fall 2001, Sun Associates has been contracted to develop a district-wide evaluation of technology integration in a rural school district in northern Michigan and will continue its work with Lexington (MA) Public Schools to evaluate the district’s efforts to design and deploy effective technology professional development. While most of our evaluation work is confidential to the client district, we can share a sample of a district proposal and have written broadly about our work in professional journals.
This intensive, three-day, summer professional development Institute was designed to jump-start a team of technology-using teachers in a rural Mississippi school district. Participants were oriented toward "best practice" strategies in technology integration and learned a variety of skills in curriculum mapping and planning. Then, small teams of participants created technology-infused curriculum units that they would actually deploy during the coming school year. The Institute website was maintained as a "work in progress" for the teacher participants.
Sun Associates has developed professional development for Lynn Public Schools' in-building technology facilitators. Over the course of the 2002-2003 school year, we have offered a session on developing project-based learning units and another on WebQuests.
USVI Intensive Teacher Mentoring Program
Working in two USVI Independent schools, Sun Associates staff mentored elementary and middle-grade teachers in the development of technology-enriched curriculum units. Our staff worked with these teachers over the course of six months to plan and set up projects which incorporated basic technology tools within core curriculum units. This work culminated with two staff spending two weeks in September, 2001 working with the n teachers and their students to implement these learning activities.
Integrating Technology Within The Curriculum Institute (Mercer County WV Public Schools)
As part of a state TLCF grant, Sun Associates designed and implemented a district-wide professional development Institute for this rural West Virginia school district. Our staff worked with teams of teachers from all 23 schools in the district. The Institute was designed to provide hands-on, experiential, learning of basic technology tools and the educational context within which these tools can be integrated. More than a set of "workshops," this Institute involved over 140 teachers and administrators in educational experiences which modeled the effective use of technology as a tool for teaching and learning. Within this context, participants then planned and designed their own curriculum units. Follow-up to this Summer institute occurred in October, 2001 when a team of Sun Associates staff visited the district to observe and support Mercer County teachers.
Sun Associates staff consult to the Southeast and Islands Regional Technology in Education Consortium (SEIRTEC) in several capacities. Most work relates to facilitation in a long-running series of professional development academies.
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Information on this site that has been produced by Sun Associates is Copyright 1997 - 2006 Sun Associates and is available for individual, one-time, use by educators. Duplication is prohibited without permission. All other material is the property of its authors and Sun Associates makes no warranty for its use or accuracy.
Last updated,October 6, 2006