Ninth-grade students at six South Carolina High Schools are receiving laptops through $5 million in state funding for the iAm Laptop Pilot Program. If successful, the pilot will be expanded throughout the state.

Schools applied for the grants and were selected based on School Report Card ratings, the percentage of students on free or reduced lunch, and the technological capacity to implement the program. An evaluation period of retention rates and student achievement will run through June 30, though the laptop program is funded through 2011. Project evaluation reports from each school are due September 2008, and they will be submitted to the State General Assembly in December.

Announcing Creek Bridge High School’s award, the local news station reported:

The S.C. K-12 School Technology Initiative is a collaboration between the state Department of Education, the state Budget and Control Board’s Division of the Chief Information Officer, S.C. State Library and the S.C. Educational Television Commission.

The goal of the program is to not only enhance learning, but also to increase work force competitiveness, and engage ninth-grade students to take ownership and responsibility for their future and the future of the state, according to the initiative’s Web site, www.sck12techinit.org .

The money will be used to lease or purchase laptops for freshmen, additional equipment and infrastructure to support the implementation of the program, professional staff and faculty training, and service and maintenance for the program.

Senator James H. “Jim” Ritchie, Jr., Majority Whip, introduced the legislation. When awarding the grants, he explained the program’s name:

No longer will our students be limited to traditional school hours and teaching methods. Instead, this program will provide our young people with the educational resources necessary to say ‘I am in charge of my future. I am the future of South Carolina.’

Sources : SCNow, Creek Bridge chosen for 'iAm' Laptop program , and LibraryTrax, iAm Laptop Pilot Program announced for six SC schools