Guilford County Looks To Restart 1-to-1 Tablet Initiative
Guilford County Schools (GSC) in
Greensboro, NC has reached a tentative agreement to restart its middle school
tablet initiative next fall.
GSC originally entered a four-year agreement with
Amplify, a developer of tablets designed
for K-12 education, in May of 2013. The district paid the company nearly $3.2
million to provide Amplify tablets to the district's middle school students,
beginning with 18 middle schools in the fall of 2013 and expanding to the six
remaining middle schools the following year.
However, in October 2013, the district announced that it was suspending its
use of the Amplify tablets because 10 percent of Guilford's 15,000 tablets had
broken screens and 2,000 of the Amplify-supplied cases had problems.
Under the terms of this new agreement, "Amplify will provide GCS with new
tablets from a different manufacturer, instructional and and classroom
management software and consultant time and expertise for 19,240 students,
teachers, administrators and parents involved in the program throughout the
district's 24 middle schools," according to information released by GCS.
The new agreement also extends the partnership through the 2017-2018 school
year to make up for the suspension of the program's first year. The money the
district originally paid Amplify will be used to cover the additional year. To
assist the district with the relaunch of the 1-to-1 initiative, Amplify will pay
the district $856,750 to help cover "staff time, training and other items
stemming from the suspension of the program in the 2013-14 school year,"
according to information from the district. The company will also provide each
school with a technology consultant for the first 90 days of their tablet
relaunch.
The new contract between GCS and Amplify should be finalized by March 17, and
the district will announce which devices will replace the Amplify tablets later
that month. GSC will implement the new tablets in a pilot program this spring
and provide staff and teacher training this summer before beginning a staggered
roll-out this fall.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].