District to expand pilot laptop program

Sept. 27, 2017 | G. Michael Dobbs
news@thereminder.com



SPRINGFIELD  – The School Committee was told at its Sept. 19 meeting the pilot program that put laptops in the hands of students has been successful enough that 10 other city schools wish to participate in an expanded pilot program.

Paul Foster, chief information officer of the school’s Information Technology & Accountability department, said 109 students in the fifth grade at Boland School, fifth grade at Glenwood School and third through fifth grades at Walsh schools made up the test group. Participating families paid a $10 ”technology take home fee” for a half-year that covered the cost of insurance against theft or loss.

Of those 109 students, none were lost, none were stolen and two were damaged but covered under warranty, Foster reported. A survey of the students showed that 97 percent enjoyed taking the computer hone and 77 percent said they used the computer at hone at least two or three times a week. Of the 109 students, 43.2 percent used the computer to complete homework assignments at least once a week. Fifty-seven percent said they would like more of their homework based on the computer and 73 percent said taking home a computer helped them learn more.  

A survey of participating teachers ranked classroom instruction, student engagement, classroom behavior and homework completion very high with the impact made by the pilot program. Half of the teachers assigned homework that required the use of the laptop and all said the students had positive reactions to the program.

One teacher commented in the survey, “Students were more interested to behave during the school day because they knew if they didn’t they wouldn’t be taking the computer home, Students were also more responsible with computers in school since they knew they had to show us they could do the right thing so we could trust them to bring them home.”

Among the criticisms of the program, teacher noted students would sometimes forgot to charge the laptop before returning to class and that some students did not have Internet access at home.

“Not all students in my class were eligible to take one home, so I could not assign homework for the whole class. I assigned separate items or tasks for students who got to take one home. Those who didn’t take one home felt left out. We also struggled with computers that returned in the morning with no battery, but class work required students to use their computers,” another teacher commented.

Foster told the committee Boland, Brookings, Brunton, Chestnut TAG, Commerce Honors Academy, Gerena, Glenwood, Pottenger, Renaissance and Walsh all wish to be included in an expansion of the pilot program – which he estimated would serve about 1,500 students.

School Committee member Denise Hurst asked about students who could not afford the $20 fee to cover the insurance. Foster said the School Committee should discuss policy about a waiver system.

Mellisa Shea, chief of Human Resources for the School Department, presented a report about the trends in the retention of teachers from the school year in 2014-2015 to the present one.  The number of teacher vacancies went from 111 at the beginning of the school year in 2014-2015 to 17.5 this year.

Resignations have dropped from 275 in 2014-2015 to 189 this year and retirements have remained fairly consistent between 93 and 76 over the same period.

She told the School Committee, “I don’t think we can attribute it to one thing in particular.” She explained the factors, in her opinion, were “great principal leaders,” a more competitive contract for teachers and partnerships with education entities and businesses with the schools.

School Superintendent Dan Warwick presented a detailed list of physical plant improvements made over the summer at the district’s schools. This summer he  spent $3.5 million in a number of projects ranging from lighting upgrade at Central High School to fire alarms at the Dorman School.

During the same time there was $13.7 million worth of projects that were underwritten by funding from the Massachusetts School Building Authority, Warwick added.

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