Lewisville Independent School District

Lewisville Independent School District (LISD) is located 15 miles north of the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area in Texas, and includes the city of Lewisville as well as several of its surrounding cities and towns. The district is home to over 52,000 students, a total that has steadied since the district's rapid growth from 2000 to 2010. 

In 2011, recognizing that there was inequity in terms of access to devices, the district began considering a one-device-per-student investment. To meet the needs of its diverse community, the district landed on a "1:X" implementation, where "1" represents one student and "X" represents a variable corresponding to the most appropriate type of device given the situation.

In 2016, as part of a formal device evaluation effort, the district began developing a plan to roll out digital citizenship across its schools.

 Statistics:

• No. of students: 52,000+
• No. of schools: 76
• Ethnicity of student body:
  • African American: 11%
  • Asian American/Pacific Islander, Multiracial, or Native American: 19%
  • Latino: 30%
  • White: 41%
• Economically disadvantaged students: 32%
• English-language learners: 17%

Plan

Assess needs 

In 2016, after continued reflection on the large-scale technology investment that began five years prior, LISD reconsidered some of their assumptions about what teachers and students knew about device management and digital learning. Based on close observation and feedback, the district identified the need for a more explicit rollout of digital citizenship, for both teachers and students. To address this, a group of teachers and community members worked with the digital learning team to create a technology plan for both digital learning -- including digital citizenship -- and infrastructure development.

Align to initiatives

In making the decision to implement digital citizenship, LISD identified ways that the implementation could align with existing initiatives. First, as a Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) school, they looked at how they could align their implementation to the middle school technology strand of the standards. Since this alignment was already a priority, there were structures in place to do this.

Get buy-in from key stakeholders

To get schools' buy-in on digital citizenship, the district had campus administrators attend a digital citizenship professional learning session that summer. They also had assistant chiefs go through Common Sense Educator recognition, of which a key component is professional learning about digital citizenship. 

LISD then scheduled a full day of professional learning for instructional technology facilitators at the beginning of the school year, led by the district's digital learning team. Later in the year, they hosted a follow-up training on how to achieve Common Sense recognition, as well as providing a regional training for surrounding districts.  

Implement

Teach students

LISD's instructional plan was developed by the digital learning team, which reviewed Common Sense's Digital Citizenship Curriculum and created a matrix for schools to use in rolling out instruction. The team decided to require digital citizenship instruction in grades K-7. The matrix they created included which topics to cover, possible lessons to teach, corresponding TEKS standards, and essential questions to address. 

In grades K-3, LISD uses a Core Subject Embedded model, in which students receive three lessons in the first nine weeks of school. Lessons are taught by classroom teachers during science instruction.

In grades 4-7, LISD uses a combination of Core Subject Embedded, Library or Media Lab, and Advisory Implementation models. Students in these grades receive between four and six lessons. Lessons are taught by classroom teachers, homeroom teachers, or library media specialists.

The digital learning team also used requirements for Common Sense School recognition in creating this plan, and shared it with each school site so they could achieve recognition as they were doing this work.

Train educators

Instructional technology facilitators, who had been centrally trained, were tasked with training teachers, library media specialists, and counselors at individual school sites. Campus librarians then took the lead at each site to ensure digital citizenship was implemented. 

School sites were also given access to a dedicated digital citizenship site, including shared curriculum and content resources, supporting documents from middle school technology TEKS, and links to resources on Common Sense Education, including online courses on digital citizenship and student privacy.

Engage families

LISD has engaged their parent community by establishing multiple channels of communication. Through events, social media, and the district website, they've been able to identify the most concerning issues: student safety, inappropriate content, technology overuse, and making sure children are getting the best out of technology.

The district's digital learning team has also hosted parent sessions and created a website for parents focused on digital citizenship. They've used Twitter and Facebook to share tips and articles with their connected community, and sent home parent letters through classrooms. Elementary school teachers are required to send home family resources that accompany the lessons as extensions after the lessons have been taught.

Evaluate

Define and measure impact

LISD is analyzing and reflecting on their implementation of digital citizenship using a variety of data points. Their first goal is to have all schools earn Common Sense recognition and to collect artifacts demonstrating both teachers and students modeling digital citizenship. Their goal is to have all elementary and middle schools become Common Sense Schools by 2021, and all high schools by 2022.

The district also conducts campus walks that look for digital citizenship artifacts, including posters, student discussion, teacher letters, and recognition banners. 

In fifth and seventh grades, students complete a digital citizenship e-portfolio, which is shared with their school community during their year-end campus showcase.

Over the next two to three years, LISD will also measure their implementation using student e-portfolios, eighth-grade TEKS technology assessment, and reflections and evaluations from their curriculum writing teams.

Celebrate achievements

LISD celebrates their digital citizenship wins, both big and small. Each teacher who becomes a Common Sense Educator, the number of which increases every year, receives a letter and a sign for their classroom from the district. Each Common Sense School receives a large banner. 

The superintendent regularly gives kudos to schools that have completed their recognition at the district's quarterly administrator meetings. The district communications team also regularly spotlights teachers and campuses through multimedia on the district page and on social media.

Reflect on progress

In summer 2019, LISD brought in librarians from their elementary and middle schools to revise their use of Common Sense's digital citizenship lessons. These revisions included a specific outlining of what every student needs to know for taking a device home at the beginning of the year.