Located in Los Angeles County of California, Duarte District serves the educational needs of 3,400 scholars at the elementary, K-8, and high school levels. The districtwide vision is to produce 21st Century Scholars by providing students with the knowledge, skills, and inspiration to be successful in college, career, and life. Keeping this evolved success model in mind, Duarte adapted to further support distanced learning.
3400 Students Protected
CIPA Compliant Protection
Safe Remote Learning Environments
"Given the complexity of the situation, our goal was to make sure all of our students had access not only to devices, but also connectivity to teachers, and access to online curriculum – not only for academics, but also to support social and emotional connections."
Eric Ramos, Chief Technology Officer
Duarte USD
THE STORY
Taking education online
When the COVID-19 outbreak hit, it forced a new and unexpected learn-from-home environment. Like all school systems, Duarte Unified School District had to make quick decisions about what constitutes effective and efficient web usage.
As Duarte students and teachers transitioned to distance learning, Duarte’s IT team were busy figuring out which applications would be needed, and in what priority, amongst the seemingly countless options. For insight into overall device usage, which applications were being used, how often, and for how long, Duarte USD turned to Absolute.
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Request a DemoTHE SOLUTIONS
How they did it
Challenges of a Distance Learning program for all grade levels and families
Duarte’s Chief Technology Officer, Eric Ramos, and his small IT team worked to get devices into the hands of K-5 scholars quickly to further support their distance learning program. Fortunately, their 1-to-1 program meant that 6-12 scholars already had Chromebook™ devices, and IT could track and manage them remotely using Absolute.
Yet, Ramos’s team still had to create Wi-Fi hotspots for families who lacked connectivity and train teachers on how to use remote learning tools effectively.
Solutions to navigate best use of web applications and students’ safety online
With Web Usage in place, Duarte’s IT leadership can measure how engaged their scholars are with the online curriculum. The reporting also provides detailed insight for Duarte to navigate better learning outcomes by identifying valuable or underused learning resources to build future budgetary plans. Additionally, the tool highlights risky websites with potential Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) compliance violations, ensuring Duarte school administrators can protect their students’ safety online.
Results of informed technology investments.
Duarte can now see what apps and web content scholars are focused on through weekly usage reports. Ramos team can share usage data with administrators and teachers to inform decisions on technology investments and optimize the overall technology program by addressing underutilized applications. In addition, usage reports give IT insight into the details of what’s being viewed to address potential issues from the start and - for compliance purposes - demonstrate proof of compliance.
"Absolute Web Usage has provided us with much needed insight into how our district utilizes both paid and free applications within our system. The weekly snapshots allow me to dive deeper and investigate websites that have high traffic as well as those websites that seem to have bypassed our web filter. With the addition of multiple fields pulled from the G Suite admin, we can really drill down to the highest priorities at any given time, saving my team valuable time when investigating."
Eric Ramos, Chief Technology Officer
Duarte USD
THE RESULTS
Taking education online
With Absolute in place, the district has gained a clearer picture of device security and application ROI and saves the IT team time without having to sift through tedious web filter data. Absolute and Duarte District have worked together to support scholars, teachers, and administrators to transition to distanced learning.
Duarte USD relies on Absolute for:
Absolute Analytics
Access fleetwide device usage to assess adoption and monitor traffic to inappropriate or unsecure web sites.
Absolute Visibility
Maintain connection to see devices, on or off the network, to effectively provision, remotely manage and secure.
Absolute Recover
Flag missing devices, take protective actions, and track recovery to protect investment.
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