Harford County’s military-connected schools to increase access to technology
Harford County Public Schools (HCPS) was recently awarded a five-year, $1.5 million grant from the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) Partnership Grant Program for a Digital Conversion Initiative in five Aberdeen schools. The initiative will increase access to technology and the opportunity for improved learning in the HCPS schools serving the most military-connected students in Harford County.
“As curriculum transitions to an online platform, there is a pressing need for increasing the ratio of devices to students in our schools,” said Superintendent of Schools Barbara P. Canavan. “We are grateful to be chosen for this grant opportunity and believe it will significantly increase students’ academic success in reading, English, and language arts through access to much-needed technology.”
The public schools in closest proximity to Aberdeen Proving Ground – the premier research and development army base in the county – currently have limited access to technology. This grant will provide the funding needed for a digital conversion in the reading and English/language arts classrooms of Aberdeen High, Aberdeen Middle, Roye-Williams Elementary, Meadowvale Elementary, and Churchville Elementary schools.
The Digital Conversion Initiative will include securing the equipment and devices necessary to offer a blended learning model, as well as providing professional development for teachers on the use of the new technology, web tools, computer programs and learning management systems.
Blended learning combines traditional classroom learning with online learning, in which students can, in part, control the time, pace, and place of their learning while teachers determine the combination that’s right for them and their students.
“As the Office of Reading, English, and Language Arts continues to move forward with their digital conversion, the technology and professional development afforded through the DoDEA grant provides a unique opportunity to support college and career readiness for students in the aforementioned schools,” said Susan Brown, Ed.D., executive director of curriculum, instruction, and assessment for HCPS.
The goal of the initiative is to improve student academic achievement and ensure college and career readiness for K-12 military/federal-affiliated students in HCPS.
This is the fifth grant HCPS has received from the DoDEA Partnership Grant Program.