New York District Goes 1:1 with Chromebooks
Batavia City School District in New York will provide every student in the high school with a
Chromebook beginning in fall 2016. Middle school students will get
Chromebooks in the winter, and elementary school students will receive
touchscreen devices in the following school year.
The district
has conducted pilot programs at every grade level, according to a report in the Daily News. The district also surveyed parents, students
and staff, and all three groups rated technology as "important" or
"very important" to education.
In preparation for the rollout,
the district will upgrade the Internet connectivity in each building
and purchase interactive whiteboards for classrooms. The Chromebooks
will connect to the whiteboards for collaborative work. The district
will also invest in professional development for teachers to ensure
they have the knowledge and skills to use the devices effectively in
the classroom.
Each Chromebook will be assigned to an individual
student for use at school and at home, and students will be responsible
for bringing their device with them every day, fully charged. The
district will even encourage students to personalize their devices with
stickers or other accessories, Jeff McKinney, assistant principal of
Batavia High School told the Daily News. By feeling a sense of
ownership of their Chromebook, the thinking goes, students will
exercise more responsibility in their use and care of the devices.
However, students will not have full control of the devices, which will
be subject to content filtering.
Funding for the Chromebooks
will come out of "existing technology allotments in the school's
general budget," stated a report in the Daily News, and the district
expects to replace them every two to three years. The district also
plans to purchase covers to protect the devices and is still
investigating insurance options.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].