From the article:

In a step to gauge the effectiveness of the laptop computers given out to students this summer, the Kansas City, Kan., Board of Education listened to testimonials from students and administrators involved in the summer pilot program.

Last spring, the district unveiled a plan to place an Apple laptop in the hands of all high school students. Before making a decision to provide district-wide laptops, the district began a pilot laptop program last month.

Comments, which were mostly positive, were offered to the board at its meeting Tuesday evening.

Sascha Johnson, a student tutor from F.L. Schlagle High School, said the laptop helped keep him fresh on his math lessons.

“To me, I think it was absolutely great because it helped me with some stuff I forgot,” Johnson said. “This laptop helped me refresh my memory. We had to do book, paper and pencil in the past.”

Paul Donovan, an instructor from F.L. Schlagle High School, told the board the laptops helped increase learning in the district’s summer school program.

Mary Stewart, who helped coordinate the pilot program at the instructional level, said a lot of learning occurred after some initial concerns.

“We learned a lot,” she said. “We were surprised by a number of things. We realized we had our own beliefs tested. The words ‘nuisance’ and ‘distraction’ came up in a lot of discussions. We even had a number of tutors who held out until the very end.”

…The overall plan would cost the district approximately $2 million annually to fund 6,000 Macintosh laptops. Students would be allowed to take the computers home. District officials are optimistic the plan will work and will increase learning opportunities.

SOURCE: Kansas City Kansan, Mostly positive response heard from students using laptops in pilot program .