A laptop for every student.

Byline: Anne Williams The Register-Guard

Judging by the furrowed brows, puzzled smiles and admiring exclamations, many Howard Elementary School parents came away from a Thursday night open house convinced of this: Their children are already more computer literate than they'll ever be.

And that knowledge will only deepen and grow through this year and beyond, Principal Kim Finch said, thanks to an ongoing initiative to immerse Howard in technology with the aim of transforming the way education is delivered and raising achievement among all students.

After nearly two years of planning and staff training, Howard this year joined a handful of schools in Oregon - among them Springfield Middle School - that provide laptop computers to individual students. The district hopes to expand the program to nearby Kelly Middle School and North Eugene High School, providing a seamless transition as Howard students move through the system.

Through a partnership with California-based Apple Computer, every Howard student in grades 3 through 5 received an Apple iBook this fall; for students in lower grades, the ratio is 2 to 1. Unlike Springfield Middle School, Howard doesn't allow students to take the machines home with them, although Finch said that could happen later in the year, depending on how things go.

But the technology doesn't stop with laptops. In the past couple of years, the school also has invested in wireless infrastructure, laptops for teachers, iPod shuffles, digital projectors, digital cameras and SMART boards - interactive white boards that provide classrooms with an engaging venue for a multitude of lessons.

"It really is truly everywhere," Finch told a crowd of about 200 gathered in the school gymnasium Thursday. "We have infused technology across what we are doing."

After her welcome, parents visited classrooms to see for themselves. In Jenny Groshong's third-grade classroom, beaming 8-year-olds showed parents their "widgets" (mini-applications such as a calendar, a clock and a calculator) and slide shows they had created using iPhoto.

"All you have to do is open iPhoto and make a new folder," Destiny Morgan explained to her parents while deftly clicking on icons.

Her mother, Cherish Vinson, is taking a computer class at Lane Community College but said Destiny is leagues ahead of her - partly because she got to attend some of the staff training sessions over the summer with another teacher who was baby-sitting her.

Vinson and her husband, Robert Vinson, said they want their daughter to learn the kind of sophisticated skills she'll need to compete and succeed in a global society.

"This is the way we're going," Cherish said.

Groshong said the comfort level among Howard staff members has run the gamut, but that they share a commitment to learning the technology and adapting it to their teaching. Extensive professional development has made all the difference for many of them, she said.

"(Students) are so enthusiastic - classroom management is so much easier," she said. "They recognize that this is a privilege, and that is such a motivator for them."

Kindergarten teacher Carol Pitetti, in her 33rd year of teaching, was also quick to embrace the new technology. Through her "Reading Buddies" program, students who show early warning signs for reading problems take home lessons - designed by her - on iPod Shuffles. The program, which she began last year, has been wildly popular and successful, she said, with students making strong gains in early reading skills. This year, her classroom also has laptops and a SMART board.

"This child that's coming into our building today is wired differently," she said. "They're just coming in with more technology in their lives. ... They do bigger thinking with their learning with these tech- nologies."

Howard's investment has not come cheaply. Over a four-year period, the school expects to spend about $350,000 for the laptops, training, software and repair, as well as the salary for a technology coach. Money for those items has come from a variety of sources, including federal Title I funds, district literacy funds and a one-time $200,000 allocation given to Howard and four other "academy" schools - schools with comparatively high poverty rates - to boost academics.

Springfield Middle School blazed the trail in Oregon when it launched its $1.2 million "1-to-1" initiative with Apple in February 2005. The results are promising so far, Principal Jeff Mather said. For the second year in a row, the school earned a "strong" rating on its state report card, based largely on improvement in reading and math scores, and student engagement has soared, he said.

Nationally, the number of schools using 1-to-1 technology is growing quickly, although some critics have questioned the benefits, pointing to some early research suggesting little correlation between laptops and improved test scores. They've also raised concerns about cost.

But proponents, including Kim Ketterer, the Eugene district's technology and learning specialist, believe that there's abundant evidence that laptop technology can have a profound and positive effect on learning.

"We have been so cautious in making sure that our teachers are very well-prepared for 1-to-1," she said. "Some places have wanted to be first on the map, first on the draw, and they buy all this technology without preparing their staff."