Mooresville’s Shining Example (It’s Not Just About the Laptops)

[groovedaddy]

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Sixty educators from across the nation roamed the halls and ringed the rooms of East Mooresville Intermediate School, searching for the secret formula. They found it in Erin Holsinger’s fifth-grade math class.

There, a boy peering into his school-issued MacBook blitzed through fractions by himself, determined to reach sixth-grade work by winter. Three desks away, a girl was struggling with basic multiplication — only 29 percent right, her screen said — and Ms. Holsinger knelt beside her to assist. Curiosity was fed and embarrassment avoided, as teacher connected with student through emotion far more than Wi-Fi.

“This is not about the technology,” Mark Edwards, superintendent of Mooresville Graded School District, would tell the visitors later over lunch. “It’s not about the box. It’s about changing the culture of instruction — preparing students for their future, not our past.”

As debate continues over whether schools invest wisely in technology — and whether it measurably improves student achievement — Mooresville, a modest community about 20 miles north of Charlotte best known as home to several Nascar teams and drivers, has quietly emerged as the de facto national model of the digital school.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/13/education/mooresville-school-district-a-laptop-success-story.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha23

[msongs]

1. coulda bought PC laptops and saved 50% on their budget w/same quality. Poor math lol nt

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. My district has both

And the PC ones fall apart while the Macs keep on running.

[smaug]

3. Actually, no. PCs more expensive than Apples, especially over their lifetimes.

Last edited Mon Feb 13, 2012, 04:43 PM - Edit history (1)

We use both commodity level PCs and Apple based systems in our setting (rural public schools). As the network administrator, I can tell you bluntly that Windows based PCs cost, on average, nearly 40 percent more in "hidden" repair/renovation costs over a 5-6 year lifespan than do Apple Macs. Antivirus, malware, and the 'wonders' of the Windows registry make constant tending of the systems (unless you do the wipe & restore regular bit, which isn't exactly free in terms of time of professional tech staff) mandatory.

Since we recycle machines with Linux (I'm using 3rd hand IBMs with my custom Debian/LXDE on them which are 8 years old - the windoze license sticker is for Windows 2000, not XP), we don't just chuck them when they become 'obsolete' on a certain corporation's artificial timeline of obsolescence. Apple does that too, but I'm still able to use OSX 10.3 machines safely in a lot of our schools.

I once specified out a comparable Dell Inspirion alongside a Mac Powerbook for an actual initial cost contrast. (BTW, these were both done on education discounted pricelists). After I configured the Dell to equal specifications (including comparable included user software which is part of our Apple education standard configuration), the price of the Dell was exactly $200 less. When you consider free shipping from Dell at that time for our schools (which Apple does not offer us), the difference was just over $100.