{"id":29804,"date":"2023-08-29T18:01:41","date_gmt":"2023-08-29T18:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookcreator.com\/?p=29804"},"modified":"2025-04-14T16:04:58","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T16:04:58","slug":"standards-driven-success-with-book-creator-in-cusd-300","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookcreator.com\/2023\/08\/standards-driven-success-with-book-creator-in-cusd-300\/","title":{"rendered":"Standards-driven success with Book Creator in CUSD 300"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Partner<\/span>

In this Partner Spotlight, we focus on our friends at Community Unit School District 300, based in Algonquin, Illinois.<\/p>\n

\"District<\/p>\n<\/div>

T<\/span><\/p>\n

his district is made up of 27 schools, including 3 large high schools, making it somewhat bigger than most school districts in the state of Illinois. This large and diverse population of students has led the leadership to think outside of the box when it comes to aligning technology with instruction.<\/p>\n

According to their mission statement (from the d300.org website), \u201cDistrict 300 will provide engaging and inclusive educational experiences that empower and equip all students to discover, innovate, and succeed now and in the future.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

This future-ready thinking meant that they were already 1:1 with Chromebooks back in 2019 when they first approached Book Creator to purchase licenses for their district. District 300 were looking for a content-creation tool with a focus on pedagogy which aligns with their vision to support creativity, innovation, literacy and digital learning driven by the ISTE Standards.<\/p>\n

They evaluated Book Creator and found that our vision is aligned with theirs. Book Creator ticks all of the boxes when it comes to building future-ready skills and extra-curricular competencies.<\/p>\n

\"D300<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>

Standards-aligned success<\/h2>\n

The district\u2019s approach to supporting curriculum with technology and instruction has driven this vision. At leadership level, their team consists of an Executive Director of Innovation and Science (Ami Engel<\/strong>) who works in partnership with a Director of Instructional Technology (Nancy Battaglia<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

This means that Ami can focus on instructional practices - for example blended and competency-based learning, whilst supported by tools and software that complements her vision. She works with digital learning and instructional coaches across the district to bring innovative practices to the front-line teachers.<\/p>\n

Nancy is responsible for the technical rollout and support of these tools and acts as the bridge between their technology department and academics department.<\/p>\n

Underpinning all of this is a standards-driven approach. They use the ISTE standards<\/a> as a basis for assessment and follow other content standards for each subject area. There is also a focus on wider frameworks such as the 4Cs and SAMR across their curriculum.<\/p>\n

Anne Pasco<\/strong>, the previous Director of Innovation and Digital Learning (who originally purchased Book Creator for the district) said:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard for teachers, especially at elementary level, to focus on the ISTE standards if it doesn\u2019t tie into the curriculum.<\/p>\n

\u201cBook Creator is a platform that gains interest easily by a student, but allows the teacher to evidence the curricular standards. It helps students learn in a safe space where they\u2019re having fun, so the student is intrinsically motivated to participate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey also learn adaptive digital skills at the same time - mouse control, placement on the page, recording audio and video. This also really helps us with students who have language barriers or vision challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can all utilize the same platform and collaborate with each other, but also customize it to whatever their need is.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>

Example 1 - ABC books<\/h3>\n

District 300 sees this standards-driven practice across the grade levels - with interactive science notebooks at elementary level, middle schoolers creating anim\u00e9 comics to express their learning, and at kindergarten level with these ABC books.<\/p>\n

They have been using these differentiated books to teach letter sounds in kindergarten. Kids will listen to the letter sounds, see both uppercase and lowercase examples, and practice tracing with their fingers. As students progress, they get actively involved in their learning by creating letter books together, recording their reading onto the page.<\/p>\n

Without knowing it, this practice is equipping them for the multiple choice assessments they have to do later in the year. It also offers the teachers a means of formative assessment by which they can evidence achievement of ISTE standards.<\/p>\n<\/div>