Read how LAEP's Humanitas program is helping infuse technology into the study of the arts LAEP will use a $300,000 Parsons Foundation Grant to provide advanced technology training to teachers

LAEP Helps Bring Classrooms, Schools, Communities to Forefront of Technology SINCE 1993, THE LOS ANGELES EDUCATIONAL PARTNERSHIP (LAEP) has been leading the effort to bring technology into the classrooms, schools and communities of Los Angeles. The backbone of LAEP's Technology Initiative is LALCNet, an Internet service established by LAEP in 1994 to provide low-cost (currently $6 a month), dial-up access to the Internet for teachers, parents and other learning community members. Sixteen routers located in Los Angeles and Orange counties provide connectivity to more than 2,500 members. In the spring of 1997, LALCNet members as well as the rest of the education community got their first look at the Learning Exchange award-winning Web site (www.laep.org). Since then, this interactive Web site has been bringing visitors the best of K-12 education. It features an online news format designed to promote ongoing conversation about policy and practice in public education. The site also includes frequently updated and extensive databases of professional development opportunities, curriculum and Web-based resources. The centerpiece of these resources can be found at the Curriculum Corner (www.laep.org/dept/corner.html). Current Web-based curriculum projects include "Our Place Called Home," developed as part of the Los Angeles Community Library Information Collaborative; "ARTS Online," an art centered curriculum project developed for use in secondary schools; "Science in the City," developed to support constructivist learning in science classrooms; and the California Department of Education funded K-12 bilingual curriculum titled "Sunrise/Sunset." Each curriculum project has a training and dissemination program to engage teachers in using and further developing the curriculum for application in their classrooms. A Department of Commerce grant helped LAEP create models for schools to provide after-school and adult school programs that provide low-income parents training and access to the Internet. As part of this grant, the first adult school curriculum teaching basic computing and Internet skills for English as a Second Language (ESL) students was approved by the Los Angeles Unified School District and the State of California. Databases are available on the Learning Exchange to directly support teacher professional development. These include the SMART Catalog for Teachers, which lists training opportunities and resources for math, science and technology teachers; and the Museum Educators of Southern California Calendar, a listing of professional development opportunities provided by area museums for teachers. Throughout the years, LAEP has provided Internet training to more than 1,000 teachers in Los Angeles. These standards-based technology trainings feature use of training modules developed by teachers for teachers. Specifically, modules provide guided instruction in the use of applications such as Netscape, Eudora, HyperStudio and PowerPoint. One of LAEP's most successful projects is FASTNet, a Web-based electronic resource and referral system. Using a unique database, trained school staff and agencies match the varied needs of students and others in the learning community with available social services. The Client Tracking System (CTS) is a method for tracking and reporting the outcome of referrals and other programmatic information. One of LAEP's most ambitious projects is its establishment of campus wide networks and Internet connectivity at two K-12 Urban Learning Center (ULC) schools, each with more than 3,000 students. As one of eight designs participating in the New American Schools project, these learning centers currently serve as models for other school sites creating similar networks. LAEP provides ongoing consulting to schools establishing local and/or wide area networks. Currently, ULC is facilitating design and implementation of local and wide area networking at seven South Central schools and in Temple City.