Chromebooks and More

Springs School fifth graders will have access to laptop computers, tablets, and interactive whiteboards this year, thanks to a state grant.

The grant, totaling $136,874, comes from the SMART Bonds Act, which helps schools to expand student access to technology. It will allow Springs to grow its one-to-one technology program, which put a Chromebook laptop into the hands of fourth graders during the 2014-15 school year. This year, the fifth graders will have them too.

SMART required school districts to hold public hearings to detail their plans for how the grant money would be used. At Springs’s hearing, on Aug. 24, Liz Mendelman, the school board president, said the one-to-one program had been extremely successful. She said the Chromebooks allowed teachers to adjust activities and lessons to the needs of their students, and encouraged students to spend more time working on homework and projects.

Ms. Mendelman also said the children took very good care of their laptops. “You’re always concerned about what’s going to happen to the computers. Are the kids going to break them? I was so pleased with the ownership that those kids took for their technology and how they used it.”

According to a description of its technology plan on the school’s website, “The staff will continue to integrate these technologies into every aspect of school life and model the appropriate use of technology so that the students develop exceptional levels of proficiency.”