The New Caney Independent School District, a rural school district of Montgomery County, recently launched a highly aggressive upgrade to its districts technology. Just three years ago, the district’s teachers were unable take-home their laptops, servers crashed on a regular bases and almost the entire district lacked wireless internet. But come this fall, the school district will be undertaking one of the state’s most aggressive laptop programs.
This new program will give every student from third grade and up their own Google Chromebook. This adds up to around 11,500 students within this Houston school district. The new laptops will be on a three year lease agreement with Google and will cost the district close to $1 million per year.
The administrators of this program are hoping this program will help enhance the technology skills of its student population. Experts already agree that introducing students to this technology and applications such as Google Drive and Prezie prepares students for college and the new digital world.
The new program will allow middle and high school students to take their laptops home during the school year, as long as they check them back in by summer. Third through fifth graders will only be able to use the computers during school and the school will also provide computers to younger grades on a per class bases.
Other school districts within the Houston area have also launched similar laptop programs, but not to the extent of New Caney. These districts include Houston ISD, Clear Creek ISD, Klein ISD and Spring Branch ISD.