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Environmental Scan

 Environmental Scan

Understanding Our Community:

East Central ISD is a public school district that serves one of the largest covered areas. It is located in southeastern Bexar County, Texas, and spans over 250 square miles, serving over 11,000 students. In this area, there are charter schools, private schools, and ECISD public schools.  77.8% reside in and attend ECISD, 11.6 % attend charter schools, and 1.1% attend private schools. TEA does not provide data regarding homeschooling. There are 11,167 students enrolled at the time of the reporting. 9.9% were African American, 73.4% were Hispanic, 13.2% were white, 0.2% were American Indian, 0.5% were Asian, 0.2% were Pacific Islander, and 2.6% were two or more races. All campuses are Title I, because 67.2% of the population falls into that category. 


ECISD covers many rural areas, but it covers smaller areas closer to the city. There is a wide range of communities, including farming, ranches, small businesses in homes, food trucks, and stores, military members, and more. ECISD offers several programs for homeless or mobile families. They also offer English classes for adults, GED classes/support, and so much more. 


There are school choice programs, such as full-day Pre-K, STEM academies, Leadership Academy, and dual language programs (The EC Way- East Central Independent School District, 2023). Bringing these programs to certain campuses was part of the movement to help with overcrowding and to change perceptions of campuses. Even with the programs, a large majority of students attended their zoned home campuses.


This area experiences hot and humid weather for most of the year. Our sandy soil contributes to the feeling of higher temperatures. New housing developments are causing the loss of many large trees in the area. This area is currently under stage 3 water restrictions because of a severe drought caused by the lack of rainfall. 


Access to Broadband and Devices:

Even though COVID happened almost 5 years ago, ECISD is still becoming a one-to-one district. At the elementary school I was at, we became a one-to-one last year (2024-2025), and they were slowly working towards other elementary schools. The high school allows students to bring their devices, but there is a strict no-cellphone policy. During COVID, the district struggled with getting students to log on because of the lack of devices at home. The district has put up and has kept up internet access in parking lots at every location (Internet Access-Parking Lots- East Central Independent School District, 2023), but because of the rural locations of the school, consistent internet access is very difficult. When I worked at one of the rural schools, we had the internet down weekly for hours at a time. This is common for students at home, too. 


Instructional Technology Usage:

East Central has a digital learning philosophy that has three core components. They believe at the heart of good teaching with technology, the three core components are content, pedagogy, and technology. Content is the “what” will be taught, pedagogy is the “how” the content will be delivered, and technology is the partner to both and is used to enrich the “what” and “how”. When we were not one-to-one, having students use technology was difficult when we had 4 iPads for a classroom of 26. Students showed a lack of skill in using the computer because they would only get to use computers during special rotations once every 6 days. The para in charge of the computer class was not using class time to teach skills. Students mostly went and watched videos for 40 minutes. The switch to digital STAAR testing quickly frustrated students due to typing difficulties. When we became one-on-one, our instruction focused on the educational, not entertainment, purposes of technology. We were having to retrain students that technology enhances what we learn in the classroom.  


Professional Development and Support in the District:

During the school year, teachers were trained on the sites that were important to keep track of data, new curriculum, and important resources like Eduphoria or our year-at-a-glance. There was nothing that was geared towards our grade levels specifically. Getting technology support was very difficult. When my computer stopped working, I was put on a wait list, and I remember being number 226, which was estimated to be 12 weeks. I had to beg for another computer, but because of the lack of technology the district had, it was very difficult. The speakers in my classroom to be fixed took me putting in a referral 8 times and 2 years for it to finally to be done. It became very hard to enhance my lessons with technology when I was constantly getting no support. 


Digital Citizenship:

Digital Citizenship is campus-based on how it was presented. The district provides resources for students, parents, and teachers for this. Staff had to take a course by Google that teaches educators about digital citizenship and the importance of teaching it to our students. There is also a link to the Federal Trade Commission that gives resources, but I never used it (Digital Citizenship for Staff- Oak Crest Elementary, 2023). We had to make sure in our lessons, we covered digital citizenship, online safety, and cyberbullying. This topic was also covered in the computer lab in the first few weeks. 


Teachers and Librarians Partnership:

Being a teacher, you need to know who you work with and the kids you are trying to teach. One of the best people to get to know your campus is going to be the school librarian. The school librarian is going to be the person who is actively involved with teachers AND students. As the librarian, they are constantly looking for ways to support their campus to achieve the greatest outcome. Teachers can learn so much from the librarian, and all they have to do is ask. This is a huge role to take on as a librarian because they need to be approachable and show their campus their willingness to help. The librarian is the heart of the school, and the teachers are the blood that is pumping through. It takes both to engage and grow each child on that campus. 







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Comments

  1. Sophia's Story SpotlightJune 11, 2025 at 9:38 PM

    I agree with the section in your blog post about the partnership between teachers and librarians. It is important to establish that relationship with the teachers to share information not only about the collection but with technology based applications. In your section about professional development and support I found it surprising and not surprising the lack of technology support. Which can be difficult considering most districts want teacher to implement technology. Something that a librarian can possibly do is helping in any technology based learning (ex. conducting a PD) to help deliver knowledge of new applications.

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