DENVER, CO - Two school districts that have implemented QTL were nationally recognized and represented at this year’s National School Board Association T+L2 Conference in Denver, Colorado. Thousands of educators from across the country attended the conference in late October.

Williford Elementary, a Title I IMPACT grant school in North Carolina's Nash-Rocky Mount school district, demonstrated “How Technology Helps Teachers Reach Every Student, Every Day”. Technology Coordinator Nathaniel Moses and third grade teacher Jerry Lasley praised the state of North Carolina for the IMPACT grant that funded both their QTL training and the ability to purchase technology for the classroom.

“QTL has given us, as teachers, the ability to reach every student, every day," Lasley told an audience of more than 70 people. "Our children have responded to these new uses of technology by being more interested in learning, and our test scores show it."

Lasley told the group that since QTL was introduced in the school, not only are kids learning more in school, their parents have become more involved.

Williford Elementary opens its computer lab Monday-Thursday from 7am to 4pm for students to come with their parents to do homework together, for kids to work on research and projects for school. A GED course is offered to parents after school.

“Some parents didn’t have a positive educational experience when they were students," says Moses. "Now, they are seeing how technology is changing how learning happens and they see it as interesting. Their own children’s use of technology has sparked an interest in their own education. It’s a win-win for everyone."

Principal Sandra Farmer is celebrating the successes as well. Williford Elementary met AYP last year.

NCDPI’s Frances Bradburn was also on hand at the conference to answer questions from the audience about how North Carolina is able to offer these kinds of grants to schools.

"North Carolina uses part of the Enhancing Education Through Technology (E2T2) money to fund these grants," says Bradburn. "Eleven school districts received the grants that total more than a million dollars a year to each school and already evaluations show they are making an IMPACT."

At Thomasville Schools, every teacher in the district is allowed to go through the Quality Teaching and Learning program. Already, teachers are asking for more.

“They keep asking about what is coming next, they are looking forward to the second level of QTL”, says Thomasville QTL instructor Jennifer Buck.

For years, Thomasville Schools looked at the 'at risk' label for some of its students in the district. This past year, they decided to do something about reaching all learning groups, including the 'at risk' population. Thomasville opened its very own QTL center this past January and so far, nearly half the teacher population has been through the seven-day program.

At the NSBA Conference in Denver, Jennifer and a third grade teacher showed a crowded audience that it’s not JUST the technology that gets kids to learn, it’s the use of instructional strategies that gets them hooked.

“We love all the bells and whistles that have come as a result of the QTL program being in our system," Buck says. "But, more than that, we love the fact that our school superintendent thought enough of our teachers that he brought us a program that not only shows us how to use the technology, but how to use the technology instructionally. There is a big difference in all our teachers and their students performance as a result.”