Connecticut Schools
Whether Bridgeport, Stanford, or another Connecticut community or district, CTS puts a layer of resilience into the school’s evolving technical framework.
Growing with technology is preferable to growing in spite of it.
Connecticut schools face challenges that aren’t unique. Effective device distribution, utilizing technology to inspire student attendance and facilitate enhanced student engagement, and securing school IT infrastructure from intrusion and malware are essential elements of any education-focused IT management. Technology should enhance and invigorate learning, not constitute a recurring hurdle, thwarting its very purpose.
The ideal managed IT partner flexes with a school’s changing requirements.
Equipping schools for accelerating technical requirements requires a partner in technical strategy, the ability to fortify the technical infrastructure by offloading some of the functions of in-house IT support to a firm with end-to-end capability, and maintaining a continual focus on the mission of the school, where generic solutions cannot meet its particular challenges. A school consists not merely of device and connection ‘users’ but of teachers, learners, and administrators of an educational context.
Full capability, laser-focused on your school’s specific objective:
Schools need the ability to flex, expand, plan, implement and support technology end-to-end—even if the school’s initial needs are modest. But a generic approach is unsuitable for a learning environment. Too often, managed IT services partners do not grasp the fundamentals of a school’s mission, the specific requirements of its instructional paradigm, or the extent of challenges faced by its learner population. Every school shares something in common, and types of schools from Law Schools to Community Colleges to Charter or Montessori have a specific focus inherent to their model. But one size never fits all. A deeper understanding of each is required, on top of a solid grasp of the range of technical opportunities and requirements appropriate to everything from school administration to classroom instruction and learning rubrics. CTS offers the entire array of technical services focused entirely on education. These include:
Full range of services:
Now is the time to have the conversation:
Whether the need is immediate or in the early planning stages, highly specific or end-to-end, we want to have the conversation. In fact, the earlier you plug us into looking at the requirements or planning the overall improvements, the more effective we can be on your behalf. Don’t hesitate to reach out now.
I’m Sachin Gujral, founder of CTS—Technology for Education. My firm helps schools, school founders, and educational organizations make and implement effective technology and IT decisions. I’d love to have a brief conversation to see how CTS and your school might collaborate. Use the form below or feel free to call 866-399-3230.
Connecticut schools face IT challenges similar to those faced by other schools across the country.
When the COVID-19 pandemic first began impacting Connecticut schools, district and school leaders alike scrambled to launch remote learning programs and procure enough technology for distribution to students. Without access to reliable internet service or a computer, after all, leaders’ efforts to scale distance learning programming would have little impact and threaten to undermine instruction for thousands of students.
But even after school leaders launched remote learning programs and secured enough laptops for their students, issues remained. For one, many students didn’t engage with instructional content to the same degree as they had during traditional, in-person instruction. Sitting in front of a screen for hours and hours each day, students began to “check out” and disengage from the day’s lesson. Even more troubling, many students began to forego class entirely, losing contact with their teachers and school leadership at the height of the pandemic.
Compounding a lack of engagement, schools often encountered software or other technology glitches that halted remote learning for days at a time. Teachers were forced to alter their lesson plans or forego certain units entirely without a “quick fix” to these and other common technology issues.
Below, we outline these and other IT challenges facing Connecticut schools and outline how managed IT firms like CTS can support school and district leaders in tackling their most complex IT challenges. Now more than ever, as remote and hybrid learning programs persist in many parts of the country, schools need an effective IT thought partner to help them maintain high-quality, reliable distance learning programming.
For students attending class remotely, disengagement and absenteeism have been particular challenges.
As students and teachers were forced to sit in front of their computers for hours at a time, day after day, student engagement plummeted. Where some students would gladly volunteer to answer questions in class, show up on time each day, and meet assignment deadlines during traditional, in-person instruction, these same students slowly began to disengage from instructional content during remote learning.
What’s more, as teachers opened their Zoom classrooms each day and took attendance, they began to note high rates of absenteeism among certain students, especially those who were already behind academically before the pandemic. In some rare cases, once remote learning began, certain students were never heard from again, “going dark” as teachers and leaders scrambled to reach them. In response, the state government devoted significant federal dollars to addressing student absenteeism and disengagement, both of which threatened to undermine students’ academic progress.
Software glitches have also threatened to undermine remote learning.
Likewise, even when students showed up to class each day and completed their assignments in a timely manner, software glitches and other issues with student technology frustrated teachers’ and school leaders’ remote learning efforts. For example, if a student couldn’t log in to an online instructional platform, they would need to contact either a central office or a designated IT helpline for assistance. As they waited for a resolution, students missed out on precious instructional minutes that, over time, could accumulate to hours of lost instructional time. In some cases, entire platforms like PowerSchool or Microsoft Teams were rendered inoperable for days at a time, halting remote instruction across the state.
A managed IT provider can support Connecticut schools in scaling and maintaining technology programming.
Schools in Connecticut and across the country can benefit from the support of a managed IT provider. With a limited number of staff and a high volume of IT issues, many schools can understandably struggle to manage day-to-day troubleshooting and long-term technology planning. With a dedicated help desk staffed by educational technology experts and on-site technicians familiar with a broad range of educational technology products, managed IT providers can walk and chew gum at the same time, meeting teachers’ and students’ immediate needs while also thinking ahead to the next week, semester, and academic year. A managed IT provider can also recommend several popular educational technology products that have been shown to engage students and combat absenteeism, supporting schools’ broader efforts to ensure students show up on time each day ready to learn.
At CTS, we help Connecticut schools solve their most pressing IT challenges.
Our team has partnered with more than 60 schools across the U.S. to navigate the challenges of remote learning. Armed with decades of experience in the educational technology space, our team understands the unique constraints of the school and non-profit environments and can recommend programming changes that are both effective and fiscally responsible. From brand new schools to established networks, our team is ready to craft technology solutions that align with a range of instructional models. Contact us today to learn more about our managed IT services and how we can help your school accomplish its unique mission.