Tweets This: Roanoke County Public Schools @RkeCoSchools Transform High School Learning Experience with Dell #DoMoreEDU

  • Roanoke County Public Schools (RCPS) partners with Dell to provide Dell Latitude laptops to all 6,000 high school students
  • One-to-One laptop initiative gives students innovative tools to personalize and direct learning
  • Providing financing, expertise, and infrastructure, Dell has advised Roanoke County Public School District for the past 11 years
What began in 2002 as a pilot for 9th grade students at one high school has grown into a district-wide initiative to provide Dell Latitude Laptops to every high school student in the Roanoke County Public School District. The district was recently named by the Center for Digital Education and National School Boards Association as one of the "top digital school districts" in the country for 2013. Today, in recognition of Roanoke County's early vision to innovate learning, Dell and the Roanoke County Public Schools (RCPS) host national leaders in education for the "Innovation in Teaching and Learning Think Tank," to discuss best practices and new ways to empower students with access to digital tools and resources.

For the past 11 years, Roanoke County Public Schools in Virginia has partnered with Dell to grow its 1:1 laptop initiative, now reaching 6,000 high school students across five schools, and providing laptops to 1,600 instructional staff members. "We've had a long relationship with Dell since the beginning of our laptop initiative more than ten years ago," said RCPS superintendent Dr. Lorraine Lange. "We are committed to empowering our students through technology and the 21st century skills of collaboration, communication, creativity and critical thinking."

"Transforming education requires strong leadership from a broad range of stakeholders," said Jon Phillips, director of Global Education at Dell. "Roanoke County Public Schools is a great example of how administration, parents, teachers, students and the community can work together to create a vision, plan and process for investing in and implementing new technologies. Roanoke County's approach shows us that creating the learning environments of the future will require more than just new materials or technologies, but a fundamental shift in the way we think about and approach educating students."

In 2002, Hidden Valley High School became the first school in Western Virginia to provide laptops to its students. After a successful pilot providing Dell Latitude laptops to incoming freshman, RCPS worked closely with Dell to strategically scale the program - identifying appropriate laptops, IT infrastructure, and additional services and accessories to support end-to-end implementation of a technologically-enabled learning environment and the long-term sustainability of a district-wide 1:1 laptop initiative.

"Our students need to be problem solvers and innovative thinkers in today's ever-changing world," Dr. Lange said. "Dell technology has helped us create the conditions for all students to gain these skills."

Roanoke County Public Schools is creating a technology-enriched learning environment centered on the educator and student experience. Each incoming freshman student receives their own new Dell™ Latitude laptop with Windows 7, which is pre-loaded with Microsoft® Office 2010, curriculum software including titles for math and science, and learning tools like Blackboard Learn™ and Blackboard Collaborate.

For Roanoke County, learning experiences were at the heart of the 1:1 expansion. The technology and associated tools allow students to pursue their unique academic interests and support learning inside and outside of the classroom. These tools allow students to access more than 90% of their textbooks on their laptops. Each Latitude laptop has also been optimized to facilitate collaborative learning. Using education applications like Blackboard Learn, students can engage with content and take learning beyond the classroom. This creates an immersive, two-way learning experience and empowers students to be better prepared for college and career readiness.

In large part due to the flexibility and functionality of the Dell Latitude laptops, instruction is customizable and tailored to various learning styles and curricula. Students at the district's Center for Engineering work together to program LEGO® robotics, while others at the Governor's STEM Academy at the Burton Center for Arts and Technology use their laptops to design computer games and online virtual environments. Some science teachers have students use their laptops to tap into and analyze data from national sources as part of virtual science projects in coordination with regional institutions of higher education. Teachers are also benefitting from using their laptops to quickly analyze students' online test scores and tailor individual interventions before students fall too far behind.

To support this thriving digital ecosystem, RCPS employs a team of 17 IT professionals and 14 instructional technology resource teachers who are responsible for implementing the entire technology program, across the district's 27 schools. Also, an instructional resources manager guides the digital textbook conversion process. With Dell's help, the district has built infrastructure to support technology in and out of the classroom, while managing operational expenditures and staff time.

By streamlining laptop management and implementing an end-to-end IT strategy, Dell gives the district's IT staff the ability to focus on what's most important - student learning. This dedication to personalized learning has garnered impressive results, the district's high school students graduate at an on-time rate of 93.8%, with 90% of students going on to pursue some form of post-secondary education.

To Dr. Lorraine Lange, the laptop initiative's impact has deeper implications for Roanoke County. Since 200 4, the school district has experienced a significant inc r ease in the pe r centage o f disadvantaged students. Lange believes th a t all students, r ega r dless o f socioeconomic ci r cumstances, deserve the level playing field th a t access to technology can p r ovide. " The k ey factor in how the laptop initi a tive has helped close the socioeconomic gap is th a t all this comes a t little cost to the student," she r eports. " S tudents pay only a nominal insurance f ee, and even th a t is significantly r educed f or students with demonstr a ted need."

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