Joho the Blog
An Entry from the Archives

At the Irving Independent School District Symposium, 200 educators are meeting to talk about their craft and their charge.

Dr. Marie Morris, Assistant Superintendent, welcomes us by giving some of the demographics of the school: almost 50% Latino, 17% white, 13% African-American... The school has 450 kids from New Orleans. "We celebrate that diversity," she says, and teachers who do not believe that all students can learn are not welcome.

Robbin Wall, the school's principal, welcomes us. The school is 5 years old. Every student has a laptop. (Among the speakers today — via video — is Angus King who was governor when Maine gave each student a laptop.) Principal Wall says that this school is focused on training professionals; it offers no extra-curricular activities.

Anita Givens of the Texas Education Agency talks about the state's technology immersion pilot project. The project intends to provide complete technology infrastructures, rather than counting on schools implementing technology one bit at a time. It's paid with some fed money and some local.

As a result, attendance went up, parents were more involved, there was increased collaboration, and fewer discipline problems. She goes through the results of a study comparing control schools and schools implementing the project, but she's cycling through the slides faster than I can type. She points to a Web site that has the data: www.etxtip.info.

Darrell Lynn of Apple, a sponsor of the event, introduces Angus King, former two-term, independent governor of Maine. King appears via his $129 iSite. He talks about the insights that guided him to the laptop policy.

First, he has no idea what the economy of the US and of Maine will be in ten years. But, he says he does know that whatever happens will require more education and a higher level of comfort with technology.

Second, every governor chases quality jobs for their state. "You don't get ahead by keeping up."

Third, everything governments do is incremental. Baby steps, not real change. In 1999, Maine had a surplus. So, King thought about how it could be used to bring change.

In 1996, he had lunch with Seymour Papert who told him that reducing the ratio of students to computers wouldn't matter until the ratio is 1:1.

So, Maine started by giving laptops to every kid in grades 7-8. King thought this would be well received, but it wasn't. He blurted out, in response to a question, that the computers would belong to the students, not the school. He says, "I got the living shit kicked out of me." [Shit Barrier transgressed at 9:15am...and by a former governor!] The emails to his officce were 10:1 against. He persevered. (PS: The schools own the laptops.)

Lesson learned: Make sure the local school leadership is on board.

Why do this? Because students need intimate familiarity with tech if they want good jobs. And because the tech levels the playing field. [This is also an argument for muni wifi.]

"The results have been pretty amazing" although not (yet) in standardized test scores, although writing seems to have been improved. The key word is engagement. "If you watch a tape of Maine laptop classroom, you'll see the kids focused on that screen, and they're focused on the work they're supposed to be doing." Decline in disciplinary problems and an increase in attendance, signs of engagement. "The results are beyond my expectation."

The project is only in 20-30 out of the 150 Maine high schools because the money ran out. "We need a cheaper device. We're paying $300/student/year, including all costs including networking." that's 0.5% of the education budget.

The breakage rate is 3%. (The laptops are iBooks. Later King mentions that the Gates Foundation gave the program $1 million for professional development for teachers.) Some schools don't let the kids take the laptops home after school. King thinks that's a mistake.

Q: The school superintendent says that Irving is in its 5th year of 1:1 technology. But money is tight. How can vendors be brought to the table?

A: Negroponte is working on a $100 laptop. A prototype is being unveiled at the WSIS meeting in Tunisia.