From the Rutland Herald
Article published Apr 16, 2007

MONTPELIER — Most educators would agree that in the public school of the future, laptop stations will replace desks and keyboards and mice will replace the traditional pencils and paper.

Vermont took another step — albeit a tiny one — toward that future on Friday.

The Senate Education Committee heard testimony from educators in Maine and Massachusetts on expansive pilot programs in those two New England states that gives laptops to students to use at school and, in some districts, at home.

Sen. Don Collins, D-Franklin, said a major expansion of Vermont's own minor exploration into school laptops — three schools in two Vermont school districts have such pilot programs — is not on the agenda in this session.

"This is something we are interested in later on," Collins said between telephone testimony on the issue Friday afternoon. "We might even go and see how schools in Massachusetts and Maine have been successful with the program."

Massachusetts implanted a laptop pilot program — often called the "One-to-One" program, a reference to the ratio of computers to students — two years ago in schools in Pittsfield and North Adams, according to Rep. Daniel Bosley, D-North Adams, and the chair of the state's Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies.

The state gave $2 million toward the program and the local schools appropriated $1.4 million — which would be used to maintain and upgrade the computers in the following years — while an additional $1.5 million from the business community was also raised, Bosley explained.

The expectation is that giving students the technology now that they will likely need in the job field will result in higher test scores, better understanding of subjects and concepts, a lower drop-out rate and even reductions in text book and school laboratory costs.

He said some education professionals also believe the technology can help special education students.

"We're giving kids context and visuals instead of just pencils and paper," Bosley said.

Vermont has experimented with the laptop initiative for the past three years, according to Bill Romond, the educational technology coordinator for the Vermont Department of Education.

The state has helped fund the purchase of laptops for students in grades 3 to 6 at Brattleboro's Oak Grove School in Windham County and grades 6 to 8 at Irasburg and Glover Middle Schools in Orleans County.

The students use the computers to access certain Internet sites that are approved by the teacher and to type up reports or essays, Romond explained. Some of the schools also use programs for math or science classes, he added.

A similar laptop effort has been under way in select school districts in Maine for five years, according to Bette Manchester, the director of that state's Learning Technology Initiative.

Today, the state has placed laptops in about one-third of its high schools, she said, in an effort to increase the students' educational experience and prepare them for the technology many may be using when they complete their schooling.

To pay for the effort, Maine signed a $10 million contract with Apple Inc. for the equipment, software and wireless Internet. After several years, the state often sells the older laptops back to the school districts for $40, meaning the system is becoming flush with the technology.

"The schools have started buying them back and introducing them into the sixth grades," she said.

The state did find reluctance from many teachers when introducing the laptops five years ago, she said. Many were not computer-literate and threatened to quit. And others thought students were too young to have their own computers, Manchester said.

"Parents had a hard time believing middle school students could care for a laptop," said Manchester, who added, over time, skeptics became believers, "when many of them had a hard enough time keeping track of their shoes and their coats."

That experience highlights one roadblock to introducing laptops — or whatever the latest technology might be in the future — into classrooms, according to Romond. Teachers in the classroom often need professional development to become proficient and there are few opportunities now for the mass education that would be necessary.

"Many times, the students are digital natives of the technology," Romond said. "They understand how it works. But the teachers and adults are digital immigrants. So there is a cultural shift there."

There are also no strong estimates on how much it would cost to put laptops in schools across Vermont. Romond said the prices are declining from just several years ago and it is also hard to peg the additional costs, such as teacher development, purchasing software and hardware upkeep.