One-to-One and Sustainability

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One-to-One and Sustainability

Now that it’s evident we are in a recession, funding educational programs will become more complicated. School budgets, often using with a zero-sum approach (fund one program/offset the funding with a reduction elsewhere), are already carefully balanced. With many people out of work, millions of foreclosed homes, and the prices of houses dropping, tax revenue needed by schools will shrink. What does this mean in terms of sustaining one-to-one?

Overall, it’s too early to see the full impact on schools of the recession. Schools are now working with a budget that was set probably in January, February or March of 2008. But new budgets will be planned in the next three months. Sustaining one-to-one will be on the minds of many educators and administrators. What are the ingredients to successful one-to-one so that students and teachers continue to have this vital learning assistant?

I did a quick survey of educators and got some feedback on elements of sustaining one-to-one. It seems that keeping one-to-one going is about more than just funding, even though in the end it comes down to funding.

Making sure one-to-one is adopted by teachers is key. Kern Kelley of Sebasticook Valley Middle School, part of the Maine Laptop Initiative, which provided laptops for every 7th and 8th grader, describes his program as fully funded and not requested yearly. He says, “Funding is, of course, an issue but there really must be substantial professional development that accompanies the program or otherwise it's just the hope that teachers will embrace the tools.”

Ensuring sustainability involves making the program transparent and seamless. Sarah Hanawald of Greensboro Day Schools points to the longevity of her system saying, It's been 9 years, so now it is just "the way we do things.” She admits it took a little while to get started, but eventually “… there was at least one teacher doing something really interesting and involved with technology so that the kids weren't just using it for notes.”

When leadership is fully on board, one-to-one continues. Alex Inman of the Whitfield School in St. Louis summarizes their approach, “Commitment from leadership. Develop a common language for why you are doing your one-to-one program. If you are going to do a one-to-one program, it should be considered an operational part of your budget, schedule and professional development.”

Ian Stuart of Islay High School, Argyll and Bute, Scotland says his school found success and sustainability by taking a holistic view of funding. “Look at where your costs are going pre 1-2-1. We identified a huge cost in photocopying, ink, toner. We identified how much on average we were spending on fixed place technologies, i.e. PC's, TV's, video's and DVD players. The savings in replacing existing technologies plus the normal budget spent on technologies should far exceed the amount required to keep the developments going.

Dave Candelario of Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School (MICDS) advises a look at curriculum. “It's imperative that the one-to-one program is driven by advancing the curriculum. Authentic curriculum advancement requires human resources that understand how to integrate the traditional curriculum work with the 21st century curriculum work. Schools that adequately allocate faculty/staff that can focus on curriculum development (i.e. Technology Integration Specialists) are best equipped to sustain a 1:1 program. “ He continues, “Ideally, our schools reach a point where we're not talking about one-to-one "program" sustainability, but rather talking about developing and sustaining the overall academic program and technology/1:1 just happens to be a requirement for an effective program. More emphasis needs to be placed on curriculum and less on 1:1. Doing this makes the use of 1:1 PCs more authentic and transparent.”

Ultimately, these are the essential questions: Has funding for one-to-one been included in the operational budget and not as a year-to-year consideration? Does one-to-one advance, extend and further teaching and learning in classrooms? Has one-to-one been the way teaching and learning occurs continually, and on a daily basis, in the school or district? Will students, teachers, administrators, Board members, and parents say, “don’t underfund one-to-one. It’s integral for education here”?

In offices in corporate America everyone has his or her own computer; no one would remove this vital vehicle for getting work done. If schools and educators have made one-to-one just as necessary and integral to how the work of teaching and learning occurs, have funded it year-to-year in the operational budget, are lead by supportive visionaries, and ensure that teachers are provided with technical support and professional development opportunities - one-to-one should endure.

Pamela Livingston is a technology educator and author of the best-selling book,"1-to-1 Learning: Laptop Programs That Work."