Matt Akin, superintendent of the Piedmont City Schools (not far from Birmingham), talks about their long-running 1:1 Mpower program, working with Stanford and iTunes U, partnership with the entire local community, and the impact on the students. Â They have three K-12 schools in the district, and children take laptops home with them starting in Grade 4.
“every student at Piedmont has the opportunity of taking French, German, or Chinese, instead of just taking Spanish. And if they want to get ahead, they can take two years in one.
Our students pay a $50 insurance fee. If they’re low income and they can’t afford the fee, we feel strongly that everyone should have something invested, so a student may pay $2 a month.Â
I contacted the professor at Stanford because I think the videos are probably three or four years old and said, “It sure would be nice if we could have your stuff.” He sent us all his PowerPoints, his coding requirements, and solutions.
A great interview by Stephen Noonoo. Â (Is it wrong of me to want to CamelCase his last name?) Â Encore!