Needy students get home computers: Texas: Plano Independent School District.

A major collaborative undertaking to get computers into the homes of students who needed them has helped put economically disadvantaged children on a more equal footing with other students in the Plano Independent School District in Texas. The program has also resulted in Plano ISD being honored as the 2005 Civic Star Award recipient for Texas.

Superintendent Doug Otto had challenged his leadership staff since 1996 to come up with ways to extend the learning day for students and to minimize gaps that existed among them in areas such as academic achievement and access to technology. Opening school sites for longer periods provided only a partial solution to providing access to technology. Students needed computers at home and training on how to use them.

To that end, Otto and the Plano Independent School District board of trustees worked with state legislators and community leaders to win passage of legislation in 2001 that eventually allowed school districts to donate computer equipment designated as surplus directly to economically disadvantaged students.

At the time, the district was replacing technology equipment in its 65 schools as part of a community-funded program, and so surplus computers were becoming available as they were replaced. A proposal to provide the computers under the guidelines set forth in the legislation received formal approval from the superintendent and the board of trustees in the fall of 2002.

Jim Hirsch, the associate superintendent for technology, worked with the school district's technology steering committee to determine how the program would be administered. The committee, which included parents, school staff and community members, named the program Computers@Home.

Key elements included:

* Giving each school the ability to design the logistics of identifying eligible students.

* Providing evening opportunities for students and their families to attend training sessions and to obtain equipment.

* Having a support plan to track the academic and social progress of students who received equipment and to provide ongoing computer and software training opportunities for families.

The district technology division provided assistance to each school for the initial delivery and training event, delivered and set up the computer equipment at each event and provided licensed software for each computer. Businesses throughout the community donated related equipment, such as printers and provided mentors for students and families.

Local service organizations, such as PTAs and the League of United Latin American Citizens, provided language translators, meals and child care for the school-based evening sessions. High school students, staff and parents served as mentors during the sessions.

The Plano ISD Education Foundation, through community fund raising, provides Internet service for over 30 families in the program. By May 2004, more than 1,250 students and their families had received computer systems through the Computers@Home program.

The program's impact has been far-reaching. The students who received computers have been able to do homework with technology tools similar to those used by other students, and many have shown an increase in achievement on statewide tests. More broadly, the students have gained more experience and confidence in the use of technology and have increased their classroom participation.

Families have improved their skills by using CD-based training materials from their workplaces, completing job applications in a more professional looking manner and becoming more proficient in the use of technology.

For more information, contact Superintendent Doug Otto at Plano Independent School District, 2700 W. 15th St., Plano, Texas 75075, or call [phone]. Otto's e-mail address is [e-mail].