Robertson Private School in Puerto Rico had no technology strategy. Five years with Tech Plan Genie changed what the school is, and who is paying attention.
The headline results
Robertson Private School in Puerto Rico had no technology strategy. Like most schools, it bought tools on hearsay and hoped for the best. Five years into working with Tech Plan Genie, it runs on data: reading scores have quadrupled, every teacher tracks their own impact, and the school’s work has been singled out at national level. Here’s how.
Robertson had no direction on 21st century learning, no view on what technology it actually needed, and no data on whether anything it bought made a difference. That isn’t unusual. It’s the norm. Most schools can tell you which tools they own. Very few can tell you why they bought them, or what those tools changed.
“When you have a system based on hope, that’s not a plan. It’s just hope. So schools end up wasting too much money, or having no direction at all.”
The cost of carrying on was the cost every school carries. Budget spent with nothing to show for it, students prepared poorly for the world they’re entering, and no plan to point to when something goes wrong.
Tech Plan Genie started with an Individualized Tech Analysis: an audit across three areas, the school’s educational systems, the capacity of its staff, and the experience of its students.
The audit ran with a task force, not a single decision-maker: the director, the finance team, the principal and three teachers chosen for their range of views, one keen on technology, one neutral, one sceptical. Using a 170-point checklist, a SWOT and rubrics that show what good actually looks like on paper, the group built an Individualized Tech Plan for the school.
The plan set a professional learning schedule, a staff growth plan, and a prioritised list of what to acquire and when. It sat on a four-stage roadmap, starting with the core systems. Every year the school returned to the data, retrained staff, produced an end-of-year report, and moved to the next stage.
That follow-through is the part most schools miss. They get the strategic plan right, then it dies in a hard drive somewhere. Tracking usage month to month and holding the school to its own plan is what turns a document into a change. Adoption usually takes real hold in year two, once staff see it isn’t going away.
Five years on, Robertson is a different school.
At the Tech My School Spring Educator Conference, Dr. Eliezer Ramos Parés, Secretary of Education for Puerto Rico toured the Tech Disruptors showcase, where teachers present work they are proud of. Out of all the finalists in the room, he singled out two projects and asked to showcase them to the rest of Puerto Rico. Both teachers were from Robertson. A panel of visiting educators then named both of them winners in their categories.
“Honestly, nothing. We grew together. I’m proud of the work we’ve done. We’re still growing together now.”