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Rosa Parks Middle Adds Chromebooks

• By Leila Meyer
• 09/15/14

Rosa Parks Middle School is part of the first wave of Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) to implement Chromebooks through the district's classroom technology integration initiative.

This year, Rosa Parks Middle has placed Chromebooks in all sixth grade reading, English, science, social studies and math classes. The devices are intended "to help students achieve the three core competencies of academic excellence, creative problem solving and social emotional learning," according to information on the school's site. Students will also use the Chromebooks to take the PARCC assessments in March and May.

The district worked with Google to create a closed, secure environment in compliance with the MCPS privacy standards and federal regulations. Each student will have their own secure MCPS account in Google Apps for Education. While they will be able to use the Chromebooks only in the classroom, their work will be saved in the cloud so they can access it from anywhere on virtually any device.

In preparation for the rollout, teachers received training on Chromebooks and Google Apps for Education over the summer, and students participated in an orientation session when they returned to school for the fall.  

This year, MCPS is implementing 30,000 Chromebooks to students in grades 3, 5 and 6, and another 10,000 for high school social studies. Rosa Parks Middle School is one of 67 schools in phase one of the district's rollout. The remaining schools will receive devices later this year in phases two and three. The district will add more devices for other grades and subjects in subsequent years. When the implementation is complete, students in grades 3 through 12 will primarily use Chromebooks, while students in K-2 will use Android tablets.

Rosa Parks Middle School is located in Olney, MD and serves nearly 900 students in grades 6 through 8.