Before Adopting a Laptop Initiative

The School Administrator

Millions of dollars have been spent in recent years on one-to-one laptop initiatives in schools across the country—but the effects on student achievement have been mixed and depend largely on the amount of planning by the participating school or district. This article by McREL Principal Consultant Elizabeth Hubbell explains one of the best ways to get the most from a laptop initiative: Conduct a technology audit first. A good audit will gather data through various means—surveys, focus groups, classroom walkthroughs, and interviews—to see how comfortable staff is with current technologies and how easily a new tool could be integrated into the current culture. It will save a school or district time, money and, potentially, a lot of headaches.

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