Valley Preparatory School in Redlands, CA, used this year's back-to-school night to launch a school-wide laptop program. The school will pilot their laptop program with their second to fifth graders this year. Next school year all students will be working with a MacBook laptop.

The school's technology director, Carrie Willis, explained that the computer will be integrated into all aspects of school. And the student's parents will own the computers through a special lease arrangement so the students may use the computers at home and at school.

The school has been working with parents to prepare for the laptop program by visiting other one-to-one schools in the area. "We saw firsthand what was possible," said Kurt Collins, an Associate Professor of Art at Cal State San Bernardino, who is a board member and a parent. The parents felt that the computers engaged the students. They looked at research that said that students who used laptops had better test scores. The parents are also glad that their students won't have to carry heavy books back and forth to school.

The laptops come with educational software, subscriptions and content filters tailored to the school's curriculum. Working with computers will become second nature for students who start using them in the second grade.

Source: School starts laptop program: Valley Prep piloting 'one-to-one' program with second- to fifth graders, Redlands Daily Facts.