Learning Benefits Seen in Laptop Initiative

Sustaining a laptop program at a middle school in Michigan requires a wireless vision and parent purchasing power.

By Katie Ash

After a decade of running a 1-to-1 laptop program at Sarah Banks Middle School, it’s safe to say the educators there have learned many lessons about what makes such an initiative work.

Much has changed since the program was first launched in 1999 at the Detroit-area school, says Mark Hess, now the principal of the school but a teacher there when the program began.

Back then, teachers and students mostly used Microsoft Office software programs, since the students’ laptops did not have Internet capabilities. The computers’ battery packs weren’t nearly as strong or sophisticated as they are now, and keeping the laptops charged was a...