Alabama District Nears Complete Rollout of 1-to-1 Program
Alexander
City Schools is nearing the
end of a two-year rollout of a 1-to-1 program that will eventually see
a
computer in the hands of each of its 3,400 students.
After
the Alexander City Education Foundation
agreed in 2013 to help fund the project, students in grades 10-12 received iPads in January 2014. The following fall, students in grade 9 were
added.
This
year, the program was expanded to give
students in grades 3-8 Chromebooks and the program will wrap up
next
fall when preK through grade 2 students will receive their
devices.
In
most cases, they will be devices that students
can take home with them. District Superintendent Darrell Cooper said
that, even
in the cases where some families may not have Internet access, students
will be
able to download the materials they need from school to do their
homework at
home using their Chromebooks and iPads.
Cooper
said the 1-to-1 program was one of the
pledges he made to the community when he was hired a few years ago.
"There
was not much technology when I was in
school," Cooper said in a report in the Alex City Outlook. "These kids will see changes before they leave
school —
they have already seen big changes in technology. We hope we are giving
students more options through technology."
He
also reiterated that technology will only
enhance students' absorption in their core academic subjects such as
math,
science, language and social studies.
"They
are still going to learn the same things
their parents did," Cooper said. "Technology is a tool that allows them
to
learn in a different way than their parents did."
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.