District Administration - February 2008 - (Page 52)

How Well Does This Web Site LEARN WHAT OUR WEB ANALYST SAYS IS RIGHT AND WRONG WITH THIS DISTRICT SITE Virginia Beach City (Va.) Public Schools www.vbschools.com By Kurt O. Dyrli VIRGINIA BEACH CITY PUBLIC Schools enrolls 70,535 students and employs 5,900 teachers in 87 schools and specialty centers. Its Web site earned an Award of Excellence from the National Schools Public Relations Association in 2006. Design The home page is welcoming and well structured, with clearly deﬁned sections, and recent news headlines and the district address are displayed prominently in the middle of the page. Each school page has a unique design while still maintaining a similar layout to the home page, balancing individual character with consistency. Navigation The navigation menu is organized into clear, concise categories without unnecessary redundancy. It utilizes rollover popup menus that appear only when needed, conserving space. While the eﬀective navigation menu is maintained through most of the site, several key pages have drastically diﬀerent layouts and lack any menu at all. Navigation could be improved if the same menu remained consistent from page to page. The Search function is intuitively placed above the navigation menu at the top of the home page, and functions well. For example, users can easily narrow their search parameters from the entire site, to Policies and Regulations, or to School Board Minutes. Interaction with the User The Press Room page gathers content for anyone seeking to ﬁnd out more about the district, with news releases, school board 52 February 2008 “The home page is welcoming and well structured, with clearly deﬁned sections, and recent news headlines and the district address are displayed prominently in the middle of the page.” “The navigation menu is organized into clear, concise categories without unnecessary redundancy. It utilizes rollover popup menus that appear only when needed, conserving space.” proﬁles, and contact information. The prominent column on the home page titled “Your Favorite Pages” conveniently lists the most commonly sought links, and remains as a rollover popup heading at the top of most pages. The Oﬃce of the Superintendent page oﬀers photographs and contact information for the administrators, but it would be enhanced with biographical content instead of simply listing descriptions of the responsibilities of each position. Extensive resources are available on the VBCPS Employees page, including upcoming staﬀ development opportunities, forms, employee newsletters, and calendars. There are no access provisions for disabled users. School to Home Interaction The No Child Left Behind link, rather than simply connecting to the federal Department of Education Web page, as is commonly true for other district sites, links instead to a page that explains the law and presents its speciﬁc impacts on Virginia Beach schools. District Administration http://www.vbschools.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - February 2008

District Administration - February 2008
Contents
Editor’s Letter
Letters
News Update
Technology Update
Security Update
Virtual Schools Update
Curriculum Update
Inside the Law
District Profile
The “Other” Advanced Program
State of the Superintendency
Landing the Chief
Purchasing Security Products and Services
How Well Does This Web Site Work?
Speaking Out
Professional Opinion
Supervisor’s Opinion
Overheard on the Pulse
New Products
Problem Solution
Computer Literature
Research Corner
Calendar of Events
Products Showcase
Understanding the Times

District Administration - February 2008