Environmental Scan

 As a school librarian it is important to know the community’s demographics to help support their needs and wants. For my school’s community I have been a part of since I was in third grade to now teaching at the same school. So I feel that I really understand my community having been a part of it my whole life. Taking data from The Texas Tribune my school is the third highest enrollment out of 11 elementary schools in my district. When furthering into the data for my school we have 531 students enrolled with 94% being Hispanic, 3.4 White, 2.1 African American, 0.2 American Indian, 0.2 Asian, and 0.4 two or more races. My school is a Title 1 school which means it receives funding to help support low-income students. More into the data my school according to the Texas Tribune 92.7% are marked as economically disadvantaged with 6.2% of students being Bilingual. Compiling all the data that was found is very informative for a librarian because it informs the librarian about how access could possibly be a hindrance to their full educational potential. When considering technology access within my community I would say that there is adequate access to technology at school and for students at home. When reading the article “Environmental Scan of Educational Technology in U.S Public Schools” I found some points interesting. Such as percentages to how many students have access to different technology devices and the ownership of devices. Since the research was done in 2015 I do think that the percentages have changed through the years. For example, with the chart comparing the data of students who have phones the percentages follow 35% for elementary, 61% middle school, and 81% for high school students. In my three years of teaching I’ve noticed that many of the elementary school students have phones and tablets or one of each. For my school’s use of technology there are at least 20 student iPads as well as a teacher iPad for use during the school year. Students are not allowed to take iPads home but do have access during school hours. Students use the iPads frequently throughout the school day for either assessments or small group activities. Another point from the article that was made was the section about professional development for teachers and how that affects not only the students but the teachers as well. Specifically the point “Teachers lack the necessary skills and confidence to effectively integrate technology” which I believe is true in some cases. As a teacher sometimes district wide initiatives are pushed onto educators with not enough time for preparation. Technology does have its benefits such as assessing students progress or using different applications to help support reading and math skills. 

References:

The Texas Tribune. (2015, December 8). Palo Alto Elementary School. Texas Public Schools. https://schools.texastribune.org/districts/south-san-antonio-isd/palo-alto-elementary-school/

U.S.News. (2025). Best Elementary Schools in South San Antonio Independent School District District. Usnews.com. https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/elementary-schools/texas/south-san-antonio-independent-school-district-100578