The Chelsea Standard
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
School board ponders laptops for other grades
By Edward Freundl, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: April 24, 2008
Nothing succeeds like success, and the success of the sixth-grade laptop computer program has Chelsea school officials talking about expanding it to the seventh and even eighth grade.
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South Meadows Elementary School Principal Lisa Nickel and Joe Tinsley, Technology Integration Consultant for the school district, presented the idea to the Chelsea Board of Education at its April 14 meeting.
"(Laptops) have a huge impact on learning," Nickel told the board.
"Students said they use them for language arts, science, social studies; and that it's hard to imagine doing projects and homework without them."
Nickel and Tinsley walked the board through a video and slide presentation featuring teachers telling the story about the laptop program, accompanied by students giving their own personal perspective.
Science teachers told the board that although lab work and hands-on experience is vital, the laptops can be interactive and can enhance what students are doing in class through a growing number of sophisticated online tools.
Language Arts teachers said the quality and quantity of the students' writing since using the laptops "is hands-down so much better."
Math teacher Dave Brinklow told the board that while his classes may not use the laptops as extensively Global Studies or Language Arts, he can track student progress, both individually and collectively, through software called Discourse.
"I can communicate with them as a group or as individuals, and I can see if a student is struggling without the whole class knowing about it," Brinklow said.
He also noted he can follow the progress of accelerated kids, and they can work on individual projects.
Part of the slide show was a series of charts showing the results of a survey taken by students and parents about the use of the laptops.
In a nutshell, the sixth-graders and their parents were asked if they found the laptops helpful; the seventh-graders, if they thought laptops would be helpful if they had them.
In all cases the responses were overwhelmingly positive, giving school board members some strong data on which to base their decision.
"We surveyed 150 sixth-grade students and 40 parents, and 203 seventh-grade students," Tinsley said.
"Fifty-one percent of parents 'agreed strongly' that they would like to see the program extended to seventh and eighth grades."
Nickel said other school districts have asked to come to South Meadows to see the laptop program in action.
"It's 21st-century learning; it's very exciting for us," she said.
"Technology enhances, enables and excites," she added, quoting from the slide presentation.
Assistant Superintendent Iva Corbett said the expertise of the district's technology staff was key to the program's success.
"None of this would be possible in the classroom without the infrastructure that we've worked so hard to put in place to make it happen," she said.
Asked if individual students would keep the laptops they were issued or they would stay in the school buildings, Director of Technology Scott Wooster said, "The laptops would stay within the grade levels; the software is configured for that."
"The new laptops are designed specifically for schools," he added. "They are more lightweight, they have spill protection on the keyboards, and they are more rugged."
Superintendent David Killips assured the board that there was sufficient funding remaining from a voter-approved technology bond to cover the anticipated cost of several hundred new computers if the program is extended to the middle school.
"It will be close to 400 laptops together," Killips said.
"The cost hasn't been determined, but it will probably be around $240,000.
"It will all be from technology bond funds, not the general fund."
Killips said board members should see a proposal soon on which to vote.
"Beach is due for a technology upgrade next year, and we hope to bring something to the board soon on this," Killips said.
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