Burrowes Elementary School students, from right, Joseph Pacheco, Derick Carrigan and Albert Gonzalez share a laptop computer as they work on a lesson in their fourth-grade classroom.
Travis Jones' fourth-graders have been using an electronic whiteboard and laptop computers every day in class for just five months now, but Jones couldn't imagine teaching without them.
Each week, his Burrowes Elementary School students work in groups to solve math problems and create PowerPoint presentations to explain their solutions to their classmates.
They compete for a chance to tap on the giant computerized whiteboard at the front of the class to identify parts of speech or fill in missing words in a story.
And they log onto laptops to learn about the history and terrain of Europe and Africa during social studies Web quests.
The technology-heavy lessons require more preparation than traditional "textbook and blackboard" instruction, Jones said, but the rewards are worth the extra effort.
Students are more engaged, and pupils who would have been reluctant to raise their hands in a traditional classroom can't wait to participate, he said.
Achievement also has improved, especially in reading, and discipline problems have declined, Jones said.
"No doubt about it, it's changed our whole environment, our whole culture, as far as fourth- and fifth-graders go," he said.
"It's improved the hallways, it's improved everything."
School District of Lancaster is hoping to replicate these positive results at three other elementary schools next year.
The district has landed a $637,000 federal grant to expand the pilot program at Burrowes to three other district elementary schools in 2010-11.
The money will be used to purchase more than 250 laptops, whiteboards and portable wireless tablets linked to the boards for fifth-grade students at Lafayette, Ross and Wharton elementary schools.
The grant, from the U.S. Department of Education's Enhancing Education Through Technology program, also will pay for professional development for teachers and administrators, as well as additional laptops for Burrowes students.
SDL has received EETT funding for the past four years, but this year's grant is the largest by far, thanks to an influx of federal stimulus funds, officials said.
It will allow the district to:
• Add 87 laptops, four whiteboards and projectors and 12 wireless tablets in four fifth-grade classrooms at Lafayette Elementary School.
• Add 56 laptops, two whiteboards and projectors and six tablets in two fifth-grade classrooms at Wharton Elementary School.
• Add 56 laptops, two whiteboards and projectors and six tablets in two fifth-grade classrooms at Ross Elementary School.
• Add 30 laptops for grades four and five at Burrowes, in addition to the 60 already in use.
The program marks the first time SDL will provide advanced computer technology on such a large scale to elementary school students.
Until now, whiteboards and laptops had largely been reserved for use by middle and high schoolers.
In addition to improving student participation and achievement, the grant is designed to make all pupils computer literate by grade eight.
Jones said his students come to Burrowes with a wide range of abilities, depending on their access to computers outside of school, but they're quick learners.
"Students who do well with technology take the lead for the rest of the class," he said. "As a whole, it's helped the entire class work together."
Jones said he's had to admonish only a couple of students for misusing the equipment.
"I think the students appreciate what they've been given," he said of the laptops and whiteboards. "I can't imagine not having it, and I think the students feel the same way."
Teachers will be trained this summer in using the new equipment, which the district plans to have in place when classes begin next fall.
• In a related technology upgrade, SDL will spend $664,000 to implement a new software system designed to better track student performance and tailor instruction to pupils' needs.
The school board Tuesday approved a five-year contract with Schoolnet Inc. to provide its Instructional Management Suite software for use by teachers and administrators.
The system will allow schools to track the progress of individual students, groups of students or entire schools on specific tests or assignments and cross reference that data with attendance, discipline and other student records.
It also will provide centralized access to lesson plans, curriculum guides, academic standards and other tools designed to improve instruction.
Federal stimulus funds will pay for about $380,000 of the total cost, and the school district will cover the rest.