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District Executive Summary

Vision
The East Side Union High School District’s vision is to create an educational environment where access to technology is universal and used as an integral tool for teaching, learning, conducting business, and serving the community. Achieving that, all students and staff will succeed, reaching their highest potential.

District Goals
Strategic Goal 1:
ß All students will demonstrate the ability to use information sources and technology effectively in their lives.

Strategic Goal 2:
ß All students will demonstrate measurable progress toward state academic content standards in core subjects with particular attention to literacy, mathematics, science, and information literacy skills.

The district provides leadership, coordination and evaluation that promote the integration of technology into all educational settings and facilitate effective communication to parents and the community at large. These goals are further supported through other district plans: Digital High School Plans (12), Immediate Intervention/Under performing Schools Program (IIUSPs), Single School Plans for Student Achievement, and ESUHSD Strategic Plans.

Introduction
The East Side Union High School District (ESUHSD) Technology Plan 2003-2006 is a three-year plan, with reviews to be held annually during May of each year. The plan is focused on Technology as a tool for teaching and learning. Thus, the priorities of this district technology plan are the Curriculum and Professional Development Components as ESUHSD works toward the effective integration of technology into the classroom to support increased student achievement.

The Plan provides documented research that supports strategies used in teaching and learning that meet and promote standards-based instruction. ESUHSD promotes the desire for technology to be an integral tool for all staff, students, parents and community members.

ESUHSD has many stake holders who participated in the development of this Technology Plan and their efforts are most appreciated. This plan could not have been written without input from teachers, administrators, staff, parents and community. This plan should guide the ESUHSD in the use of technology in teaching, learning and all district operations.

ESUHSD must prepare our students to be successful in the society of the future – an information-rich, dynamic and swiftly emerging future. Technology plays an important role as a tool to enhance student learning. Technology can assist students to gain necessary skills for the constantly changing world in which they will live and work. The integration of appropriate technology, its use, and impact on students is of vital interest to our school community.

ESUHSD is located in the eastern foothills of San Jose, California. San Jose is the eleventh largest city in the nation and in the heart of Silicon Valley, the birthplace for technology in the United States. More than one-third of the economy in the Valley is directly tied to the innovation, development and production of technology-related products and services. The technology industry has generated new forms of businesses, is a major source of the nation’s exports, and demands (and rewards) a highly skilled work force.

ESUHSD is the largest high school district in San Jose and one of the largest in California. With an enrollment of almost 24,000 students in grades 9-12, ESUHSD encompasses a 180 square mile area – including some of the lowest income neighborhoods of the City. Over 434,000 people live within its attendance borders.
There is a minimum of 56 languages spoken throughout the student population. The ethnic distribution of the student population includes: 40.9% Hispanic, 27.4% Asian, 10.0% Filipino, 15.5% European American, 4.7% African American, 1.0% Pacific Islander, and 0.4% American Indian. English Language Learners number approximately 5,000 or 20% of the student population. ESUHSD students on the Free and Reduced Lunch Plan (FRLP) are 47% of the student population as of October 2002.

ESUHSD has eleven comprehensive high schools, five alternative school sites that provide access to technology for all students and two permanent adult education campuses. Independence Adult Center campus buildings were designed with a fiber optic backbone, complete Science Lab, assessment center, book store and Teacher/Technology Resource Center. Overfelt Adult Center has several state of the art computer labs and primarily services the English as a Second Language department.

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