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Commissioners interested in laptop project: Edgecombe County Public Schools ?getting a lot of recognition'Mar 02, 2010 (The Daily Southerner - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- One of the updates Edgecombe County Public Schools staff gave during the annual joint meeting between the Board of Commissioners and the Board of Education was on the success rate of the l:1 Laptop project. Last spring, all of the traditional high schools including North Edgecombe, SouthWest Edgecombe and Tarboro High schools were given the opportunity to receive a laptop through grant funding from the Golden LEAF Foundation, the state General Assembly, SAS Institute and the state Department of Public Instruction. Edgecombe Early College High School received laptops in spring 2008. During the presentation delivered by Barbara Hardison, director of federal programs, questions sprouted from commissioners on the use of textbooks, training and the overall success of the program. All of the questions were replied with positive feedback on effectiveness of the program. "Edgecombe is getting a lot of recognition," Hardison said. After showing a video of student and teacher testimonies and a news report from WRAL-TV, Hardison outlined some of the recognition the school district has earned. "We got to continue to move forward. We were chosen as a North Carolina Virtual Public Schools (NCVPS) pilot site because of this," Hardison said. NCVPS allows students to take credit recovery or advanced placement courses for free online. The online courses are not only being offered to the high school students, but to the middle school students, as well. Tarboro High School has earned national recognition for using a program called Curriculum Pathways that gives students online activities, lessons and Web resources in core subjects such as English, science, social studies and math and Spanish. "Tarboro High School is second in the country for using curriculum pathways," Hardison said. Commissioner Jon Felton asked if every school was doing as well as THS and if there was a sense of autonomy. "Each of the three high schools has their own area (they're best at). Every teacher has their own thing," Hardison said. To continue to develop strategies for learning with the laptops, Hardison said the teachers are required to complete two hours of training each month with technology facilitators. Most of the student testimonies presented in the video recorded students saying they enjoy technology because they can work at their own pace, and don't have to depend on their teacher and textbooks as much. Commissioner Viola Harris questioned how much textbooks are being used in the classroom now. "They still read books, but they may read a passage online as well," Hardison said. During the finance report by school Finance Officer Laurie Leary, the boards learned that there will be no additional funding added into the budget for textbooks next year. "Any textbooks we buy will be replacement books," Leary said. To see more of The Daily Southerner or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://dailysoutherner.com/. Copyright (c) 2010, The Daily Southerner, Tarboro, N.C. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |