Editor's Note

Are you wondering if you can afford a one-to-one initiative, with budgets as tight as they are? Do you worry that you won't be able to sustain an existing program once your initial source of support runs out? Our brand new eBook and this month's Quick Poll both focus on the crucial topic of funding.

We're also hoping you'll use this month's Quick Poll to share your own experiences with budgets and funding for your technology initiatives. If you are involved in a one-to-one program, please let us know how you are funding it. Are you part of a statewide initiative? Have you been awarded a private grant? Is your community rallying around and helping to raise the funds? Have you figured out ways to conserve and "cost avoid" in order to keep the costs down? Use the poll to tell others how you're doing it.

Happy New Year and best wishes for making your visions for 21st century learning a reality.

Judy Salpeter, Editor

One-to-One in Auburn, Alabama: a Case Study

This month we offer the first of several planned looks at Auburn Alabama's 21st Century Learning Initiative. Check out the White Paper focusing on planning, policy-setting and funding for the program. Or view the video featuring students, teachers, a principal, the dean of Auburn University’s Department of Education, and the Auburn City Schools' superintendent talking about the impact of one-to-one on the way teachers teach and students learn.

Is Yours a School of Distinction?

Does your school excel at math and science? Enter the 2008 Intel Schools of Distinction Awards and your school could win $10,000 and more than $100,000 in products and services. Apply before Feb. 14, 2008.

Read about the 2007 winners at the K-12 Blueprint web site.

Headlines

Louisiana Begins Laptop Pilots
As part of the launch of a new statewide one-to-one initiative, 3,530 Louisiana sixth-graders recently received laptop computers.

Palm Springs Adds More Training
District leaders in Palm Springs, California, recognize the need for increased professional development.

IB Charter School Plans Include Laptops
A South Carolina charter school, still in the planning stages, aims to help at risk, low-income students excel with help from laptop computers.

Maine Newsletter Valuable to All
MLTI's quarterly publication offers tips, resources and profiles of interesting projects.

Existing Tech Funds Buy Thin Clients
Here's a look at how one district put computers in the hands of individual students without raising per-pupil costs.

New Ohio Elementary School Gets Thin Client Laptops
Students at Heritage Hill Elementary, a new public school in a low-income community outside Cincinnati, will participate in an at-school, one-to-one program with thin-client laptops.

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