Livingston Public Schools will firmly step into the 21st century at the start of the next school year when students in Grades 7-12 will be given district-owned computing devices as part of a 1:1 computing initiative approved by the Livingston Board of Education on Monday, March 7. The funding for this significant tech ed push is part of the school spending plan currently under review by board members.

For the first half of this school year, school leaders have been closely watching how tech ed could transform teaching and learning in Livingston classrooms. In pilots and demonstration classes, we’ve seen examples of how students can be empowered with more complex and creative work, including a high school calculus class using a math app that makes handwritten equations come alive.

The school board members unanimously authorized the District’s administrative team to move forward on the tech ed proposal.

The use of technology has been extensive in the classrooms selected for a pilot as school leaders assessed the experience by both students and teachers. In a U.S. History class, students made use of a variety of apps, Internet sites, and digital inking on Surface laptops to enhance current events like the State of the Union and delve deeper in their study of historic events.

At the same time, school leaders are also writing policies and guidelines for the use of the technology. Those policies and a handbook will roll out in the coming weeks as the District prepares to distribute and manage the devices and continue to monitor bandwidth to support the students accessing the Internet. A forum for parents to learn more about the specific details will happen before the end of the school year.

The computing initiative carries a $1.5 million price tag, the money being reallocated in the school budget from capital improvements to tech ed.

The specifics of the plan call for every student in Grades 7-12 to be issued a laptop for Internet access and digital learning. This includes new Microsoft Surface devices at the high school, and redistributing existing Lenovo laptops at Heritage.

Grades K-6 will see greater access for tech ed with additional computer carts, with more laptops at Mt. Pleasant Middle and additional Chromebook carts in the elementary schools, creating a two-to-one student-to-device ratio.

Support for teachers will include professional development and guidance from technology coaches.