More Students Need Laptops--USA Today

In my email inbox from Keith Bennett, Litton Middle School Technology Educator, with the little message, "Thought this might interest you," was a link to a USA Today article about a laptop program in Walled Lake, Michigan's Consolidated School District that points to the future, driven by perceptive administrators and educators, and is well worth the read. Staff writer Stephanie Steinberg gets to the point with a quote from a participating school principal:

""We would never send our own kids to pediatricians that were practicing medicine from the '70s or '80s," says Mark Hess, principal of Sarah Banks Middle School in Wixom, Mich. "Why would we send our kids to schools that are practicing instructional techniques that are decades old? If we did that, it'd be educational malpractice."

Indeed, although hundreds of thousands of parents are in that unenviable position not out of their own choice, but  because they are beholden to the policies of schools and school districts that are not so forward (or even present) thinking. Enjoy the read at  More Students Need a Laptop...

In other news, we now have 9 of our first 13 MNPS Virtual Learning students enrolled in their courses. Barbra and Sherry have worked tirelessly with Theresa at Middle College High School to understand each student's needs and to craft a schedule for them that will challenge them but not discourage their completion of coursework. We will watch closely and offer every bit of support we can muster, as we continue to build this program, toward building this school, underneath them. Please, dear Powers-That-Be, let our Blackboard P.O. burst out of the procedural entanglements and into the hands of Blackboard so that we can get going on our Learning Management System!!!

My mantra for the day: Let me know the next right thing, then do it, and do it well for...