WILMINGTON, MA – Wilmington School Superintendent Mary DeLai published her weekly blog post on Sunday, providing additional information on the district’s upcoming 1:1 Chromebook initiative and placing it in a larger context, discussing the district’s overall digital learning plan. Read DeLai’s blog post HERE or below. Read the Digital Learning Plan, referenced in the post, HERE.
This past week, Wilmington School Committee members expressed their strong support for a new plan that includes enabling every student in Grades 6 through 12 to have a technology device within the next four years. This plan addresses the strong desire for a stronger focus on digital learning and technology education expressed by constituents during the entry plan process. It also supports one of our district’s strategic priorities, namely, to offer a more personalized learning environment for our students and to prepare them for college, career, and life in our 21st century technologically immersed world. It’s important to note that the so-called “One-to-One Initiative” is only one element of the larger Digital Learning Plan that guides our work in this area.
Our Digital Learning Plan addresses seven major goals including: personalizing learning, differentiating instruction, teaching digital literacy, promoting digital citizenship, creating digital access and equity, supporting educator effectiveness, and enhancing family engagement.
- Personalizing Learning: With a prevalence of one-to-one devices comes an opportunity for teachers to personalize learning and leverage blended learning opportunities for students.
- Differentiating Instruction: One-to-one computing initiatives support more effective differentiation at all grade levels.
- Teaching Digital Literacy: Digital learning includes the development of technology skills, as well as the effective and efficient use of online and digital tools necessary for secondary and post-secondary success.
- Promoting Digital Citizenship: Digital learning teaches the ethical use of technology, building toward better digital citizens. In an era where it is too easy to harass, bully, tease, insult and discount humanity on the internet, this is a priority.
- Creating Digital Access and Equity: Through a one-to-one initiative, we can do away with the, “haves and have-nots” and establish equitable technology access across all families in the district.
- Supporting Educator Effectiveness: This plan will only be successful if we provide the professional development necessary to support educators. Devices for devices sake do nothing to improve education. Teachers who know how to leverage the devices in student’s hands can enhance effectiveness and efficiency of instruction.
- Enhancing Family Engagement: Families are critical to the success of digital learning so we need to empower parents in order to best communicate and collaborate with them as partners in educating students.
In perusing social media in the days following the presentation to the School Committee, it was clear that the focus of conversation is currently device selection, purchase, and deployment so let me take some time to address those concerns in this blog post. Allow me to preface my comments by stating that, in developing our plans, including the one-to-one initiative, we established several criteria for evaluating options including feasibility, affordability, and sustainability.
Some have asked why the expectation is that parents will pay for the device as opposed to Wilmington Public Schools providing the device to all students at the district’s expense. Unfortunately, this would not have been a sustainable plan. Providing every student with a device over the four year roll-out period would have required an investment of approximately $75,000 next year and $150,000 in each of the three following years. Every year thereafter we would need to invest approximately $75,000 per year, depending on the size of the incoming sixth grade class. While that may not seem like a significant amount to some, our FY’17 Budget proposal with a 4% increase necessitated a reduction in staffing to accomplish the stated funding priorities. Any increase above that 4% would have required further staffing reductions resulting in the elimination of programs, a further reduction in the number of electives, or increases in class size.
Some have pointed to a program in a neighboring community that offers district-purchased devices to students. That program receives its funding from a very generous and large corporate benefactor. Presently, nearly all districts in the region use the “Bring Your Own Device” model to ensure a one-to-one computing environment. Some districts allow students to bring any device that conforms to district technology specifications while others specify very costly devices (for example, the MacBook Air at a cost of $1,200). Neither of these options align with our feasibility, sustainability, or affordability criteria. Standardizing on one type of device allows for greater ease of support from educators and technology staff, as well as from students themselves. The Chromebook was selected as the best device due to its affordability (less than $300 per device), its reliability, and its ease of use and deployment.
There was some concern expressed about financial hardship. We feel that we have addressed this issue in a number of ways. Students who receive free or reduced lunch under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) will be eligible to receive a device at no charge. Those whose income level exceeds the NSLP threshold but still fall within our hardship classification will receive a 50% discount on the device. In addition, any family will have the ability to lease the device over multiple years or to apply for a scholarship to help partially offset the cost of the device. Our ability to provide financial assistance comes from the generosity of some of our local businesses who have pledged to assist us in securing the necessary funds.
Another concern raised relates to the need for students to bring the device to and from school. This is not something that is required. If students have a device at home, they can certainly leave the device locked up at school. As an aside, survey data indicates that computer availability in the home is not as pervasive as people think and, by no means, are Apple products the device of choice for families. The beauty of the Chromebook is that storage is cloud-based. A student can log on to their Google account from anywhere on any device and access the files and tools they need. Those who are interested in transporting the device will be pleased to know that the device we are specifying has a number of features that make it far more resistant to damage than other devices. We also encourage families to purchase insurance on the device at a small additional cost.
Some have inquired why we did not go with a tablet as opposed to a Chromebook. One of the primary reasons is the integrated keyboard. Many districts who launched tablet-based one-to-one initiatives have since revised their plans in recognition of the importance of the integrated keyboard. Also, given Google’s integration tools, we will be able to administer future state assessments on these devices through login to our district domain. The device also has a number of other advantages including its fast boot up time and automatic updating feature.
One last question that we should address is the issue of textbooks. The Chromebook will not necessarily replace textbooks although, once all secondary students have devices, it opens up the opportunity to utilize digital textbooks. In the short term, it will allow ready access to a huge and growing library of free educational tools and content. In the long term, the shift to digital learning will not be without its costs. Digital textbooks are not free; nor are digital learning platforms. These are all costs that our district will continue to bear. This is not a disguised effort to shift costs to parents and families. In some ways, digital textbooks and digital learning platforms may add cost to our district but the value of digital learning tools in improved teaching and learning far outweighs any incremental cost.
Over the weeks and months ahead, we will be providing staff, students, and parents a number of different opportunities to learn more about our district’s digital learning initiatives, including our one-to-one computing program. This will include presentations at staff meetings, parent education nights, and continued information posted to this weekly blog. We encourage you to continue to pose your thoughtful and respectful questions as these will be invaluable to our development of a comprehensive Frequently Asked Questions guide. Please send your questions to info@wpsk12.com. In the meantime, a copy of the WPS Digital Learning Plan will be made available on our district website [HERE] and we hope this information helps all to understand the importance of supporting digital learning in Wilmington Public Schools.
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