One-to-One Laptops for Students Endorsed by School Board
October 31, 2008
Pelham-Windham News
Members of the Windham School Board are standing behind the concept of providing laptops to each student attending the new high school when it begins operations next year.
Following a presentation by Assistant School Superintendent Roxanne Wilson and Information Technology Director Terry Bullard, school board members voted unanimously (5 to 0) to approve the one-to-one initiative being proposed, with the stipulation being made that the cost for the first year of the program is to be covered by money remaining in the furniture, fixture and equipment budget set aside for the construction of Windham High School.
“This initiative will enhance the education of all students who attend Windham High School, not only next year, but into the future,” School Superintendent Frank Bass said. “We are seeking to make our high school more rigorous, meaningful and relevant,” Wilson said, citing how much the world has changed in the last 30 years, moving from a largely industrial society to one which is much more service-oriented. “We need to prepare our students for this future,” Wilson said. “This is our mission.”
The “challenge,” Wilson continued, is to determine how best to assure that Windham High School becomes “that exemplary community,” producing students who can compete not only in a regional workplace, but in the global marketplace in which we now exist. “All instruction must be meaningful,” she said.
Wilson cited a quote by John Dewey, made in 1930, during the Great Depression: “If we teach today, as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow.” Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer.
If the one-to-one laptop initiative becomes reality, Wilson said, Windham will be the first public high school in New Hampshire to provide such a program to its entire student body. There are only two private schools in the state which currently provide laptops for every student.
Wilson said the goals which staff and administrators will be striving to achieve at Windham High School include the development of life and career skills, creativity and innovative thought, literacy in both information and technology, and skillfulness in all core subjects, including English, mathematics, history, geography, global awareness and financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial endeavors.
A Twenty-First Century classroom must provide both abundant and readily accessible information to students, Wilson said. It must also be ensured that students are actively engaged in the learning process and that individual course material needs to be integrated with other subjects being taught. “This new generation of students needs to be multi-lingual, cross-culturally competent, technologically fluent, economically engaged, artistically expressive, academic life-long learners and democratic citizens,” Wilson said.
IT Director Bullard reiterated much of what Wilson said. “Students need to have 24-7 access to global information,” Bullard said, and instituting a one-to-one laptop initiative is an excellent way of achieving this goal. In researching other school districts nationwide that have used this idea, it has been shown that students who participate, show greater independence, are more engaged in learning, and are more highly motivated. They also earn higher test scores in all core subjects, Bullard said. “The one-to-one laptop initiative is making a difference in student learning,” she told school board members. “In the next five years, this will be the norm in most schools.”
As for the brand of laptop computer being considered, Bullard said several companies were investigated, but she found that the best system is offered by Apple Computers, specifically the MacBook, which can also use Microsoft Windows programs. “Apple is the leader and innovator in educational technology,” Bullard said. “I feel Apple will meet the one-to-one initiative of Windham High School the best.”
Bullard also said that the high quality hardware produced by Apple is designed for student use and if the Windham School District decides to make that purchase, “it will be an investment that will last long-term.” “It’s a one-stop-shop,” she said, where you can buy all equipment and services from just one vendor.
Bullard said a total of 506 laptops will be required for the first year of the program (teachers and students) for a cost of $642,157. Only freshmen and sophomores will be attending Windham High for the 2009-2010 school year. In years two and three, as more students enter the high school, an additional 455 laptops will be needed to implement the one-to-one program. The total cost of the initiative for the first three years of its operation will be $1,142,556.
The first year, the money for the initiative will come from the high school construction budget (furniture, fixtures and equipment). In subsequent years, the money will either need to be included in the annual operating budget or a lease-purchase agreement will need to be enacted.
School board member Beverly Donovan, who said she is currently working on her own Master’s Degree, remarked on how necessary it is now for students to have adequate technological equipment. School board member Bruce Anderson said it’s been demonstrated that most students tend to take very good care of laptops. “This is their life,” he said. “In today’s world, information can be obtained in a matter of minutes. Students must be able to process this information and evaluate it,” Anderson said.
Bullard said she will continue investigating the best methods by which to achieve the one-to-one laptop initiative endorsed by school board members, and will be providing them with regular updates on the progress being made.