Barrington Dist. 220 inches toward more online learning

In the not-so-distant future, Barrington Area Unit School District 220 students might use their district-issued laptops and iPads to study at home instead of in classrooms for part of the traditional school day.

According to district research, this use of laptops and iPads could provide a way to set the start time at Barrington High School later than the current 7:20 a.m., in the wake of studies showing teenagers do better academically if they get more sleep.

District 220 studied some blended models where students start classes later in the day and complete the online portion of their studies when it works for them, instead of having the school dictate the time and place.

Matt Fuller, the assistant superintendent for technology and innovation, said District 220 might slowly begin implementing the concept in the next school year. Changes would not happen all at once.

"Innovating is a process, not an event," Fuller said. "It is an iterative process, where we're adding more each year."

But Superintendent Brian Harris said the district will not implement new technology just to implement it.

"We know the No. 1 driver of student achievement is the quality of instruction," Harris said. "The instruction, whether it be virtual or face-to-face, has to be that high quality."

Linda Klobucher, the district's assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, said that applies to younger students as well.

"We really want to have creators of knowledge, not just consumers of knowledge," Klobucher said. "I think we've focused on that really, really well since we've started the conversation about what's it going to look like when we have computers in the hands of our children."

No action was taken at Tuesday's meeting, but school board members indicated they support further study into how the district could use blended learning.

"I think it is the right thing to do for this country and for the kids in this district," board member Sandra Bradford said.

Board member Wendy Farley said she thinks most parents who have students in the school would support an expanded use of technology in the district, but she acknowledged she doesn't anticipate every district resident being in support.

"Neighbors of a different genre may not appreciate this, but those are the same who would ask, 'Why in the world would you buy an iPad for every student in the middle school and a computer for every student in the high school?'" Farley said. "I don't know if we'll ever win over some of those opponents."

The three-hour discussion took place at the board's first committee of the whole meeting, a new board device that is different from regular meetings because no official votes are cast and members devote the meeting to discussing long-term subjects. Video of the meeting is available at www.barrington220.org.

Next month's committee of the whole topic is the district's long-term facility plan, including what to do with a 32-acre tract adjacent to Barrington High School the district acquired over the last two years.