Shoreline and Kent schools go high-tech

FORGET THE THREE-RING binders and the spiral notebooks. Students in Kent and Shoreline this fall will tote different school supplies.

The two school districts are launching the state's first large-scale efforts to put technology at the front of the classroom.

The Shoreline School District has started a laptop-leasing program at three schools, while the Kent School District on Thursday will open the Kent Technology Academy, a computer-immersion "school within a school" at Mill Creek Middle School.

With little more than a week to go before the first day of school, Shoreline officials handed out Apple iBooks yesterday at Kellogg Middle School. The pilot program allots more than 1,000 take-home laptops, one for every Kellogg student and all fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders at Echo Lake Elementary. Families must pay $60 and sign an agreement in order to receive a laptop; scholarships are available to those who can't afford to pay.

The district will try an alternative at Einstein Middle School, where one laptop will be available for every two students.

Students will be asked to use the computers for homework assignments and for Web-based programs in the classroom. District officials say they've installed filters to guard against inappropriate material.

Kellogg principal Lori Longo said expanding access to technology is key to preparing kids for job skills and a future in a tech-driven society.

"We can't waste any more time getting our students ready to be competitive," she said.

Shoreline Superintendent Jim Welsh said this distribution program "levels the playing field" by catering to various learning levels and helping those whose families don't have computers.

The program cost the district about $350,000, funded by the remainder of a 1994 Facility and Technology bond. The district plans to go to voters next year in hopes of expanding the laptop program to other schools.

The state's Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction is working to expand educational technology in public schools, and about 185 of the state's 296 districts have adopted some sort of technology standards for students, said Dennis Small, educational-technology program manager.

"Really our focus has been, and continues to be, what the role of technology can play in improving teaching and student learning," Small said. "How to improve teaching practices and change practices to integrate technology is certainly a huge challenge."

Other challenges, he said, are finding tech support, identifying good teaching software and training teachers who may lag behind students when it comes to technology.

The three teachers assigned to the Kent Technology Academy call themselves "closet geeks," all with computer backgrounds. They'll teach the usual core subjects — math, science, humanities — but they designed their own lesson plans to be Web-based and interactive. Students will complete homework assignments on school-issued tablet laptops.

Housed at Mill Creek Middle School, the academy will serve 90 seventh-graders from throughout the district who were picked through a lottery.

The tech academy, which is wired for Wi-Fi, cost the district $10 million.

"Technology is the lure to bring kids in, but it doesn't change what they need to know," said Emrie Hollander, who will teach math at the academy.

Mill Creek assistant principal Dani Pfeiffer, who will run the tech academy, said the district is using the academy as "a laboratory school." If the academy is successful, Mill Creek Middle school and other schools in the district may adopt the same format, she said.

"Kids are at the center instead of the textbook at the center," said Pfeiffer.

Added Becky Keene, who will teach humanities: "We want to channel the enthusiasm they already have toward technology and use it for skills that will help them be successful in their lives."

Christina Siderius: 206-515-5066 or csiderius@seattletimes.com