Novi Schools to Get SMART Boards in Media Centers

SMART Boards will soon be purchased and placed in the media centers of , and all the elementary buildings.

A SMART Board is an interactive whiteboard that acts as a large touch screen. A video projector displays a computer's output onto the board, on which you can use digital ink.

The boards will be purchased and installed for $42,226.50 and will be funded by the 2007 Capital Projects Fund. The Novi Board of Education voted to approve the purchase at its regular meeting Thursday night.

SMART Boards are already in each of the K-8 classrooms, but they are being put in the media centers to benefit media classes.

"Those media specialists need a resource because they work with every classroom in the building multiple times throughout the month, and for them to have access to this technology will improve their delivery of the curriculum in those media centers," said Superintendent Dr. Steve Matthews at the board's Nov. 17 meeting.

Having the boards in media centers will also provide teachers with a large space to get together for training and develop lessons that use the boards.

District adds new administrative position to work on student data

The Board of Education also voted Thursday night to hire Nick Kalakailo to fill the district's new position of the director of student growth and accountability.

The position is being created to help the district achieve , including ensuring that all students achieve at a high level and make no less than one year's growth in one year's time.

"In order to do this we need to have a good stream of data that comes to us so we can evaluate whether or not that occurs," Matthews said. "We also now have increased requirements by the state for teacher evaluation, and as we move through the next few years ... the student growth piece increases over time to become a more critical piece of that evaluation."

By the 2013-14 school year, 25 percent of a teacher's evaluation must be based on student data.

The director of student growth and accountability will focus on student data and creating data streams to help administrators evaluate teachers and address student needs in the classroom.

The district chose Kalakailo from 76 applicants for the job.

Kalakailo has served as an instructional coach in the district since 2000. He has a bachelor's degree in education from Eastern Michigan University and a master's in reading and literacy from Western Michigan University.

Matthews said Kalakailo already knows the district's data system and has worked with many of the teachers.

"More importantly, I think Nick has a real passion for using data in meaningful ways with teachers and administrators," Matthews said. "So I think he has the skill set that we need both intellectually to understand how data can be used but also a real desire to help us use that data to improve students' lives in the district."

The district will be looking to hire someone to fill the position of instructional coach after Kalakailo starts his new position in January.

"I think together we'll all wrestle with that and make it the best that it can be in Novi so we continue on the road to increased excellence," Kalakailo said.