| From online courses to child-friendly laptops and virtual | | | | Average attendance climbed to 94 percent from 92 |
| teachers, technology is spreading in America's | | | | percent; discipline referrals fell 30 percent. And parents |
| classrooms, reducing the need for textbooks, note | | | | are more engaged, she said. "Any family can chat |
| pads, paper and in some cases even the schools | | | | online with teacher and say, 'Hey, we're having this |
| themselves. | | | | problem.'" |
| Just ask 11-year-old Jemella Chambers. She is one of | | | | Unlike traditional schools, Frederick's students work at |
| 650 students who receive an Apple Inc laptop each | | | | vastly different levels in the same classroom. |
| day at a state-funded school in Boston. From the | | | | The Internet is also a catalyst for change. US |
| second row of her classroom, she taps out math | | | | enrolment in online classes reached 1 million last year, |
| assignments on animated education software that she | | | | 22 times the level seen in 2000, according to the North |
| likens to a video game. | | | | American Council for Online Learning. |
| "It's comfortable," she said of Scholastic Corp's FASTT | | | | That's only the beginning, said Michael Horn, executive |
| Math software in which she and other students | | | | director of education at Innosight Institute, a nonprofit |
| compete for high scores by completing mathematical | | | | think tank in Massachusetts. |
| equations. "This makes me learn better. It's like playing | | | | "Our projections show that 50 percent of high school |
| a game," she said. | | | | courses will be taught online by 2013. It's about one |
| Education experts say her school, the Lilla G. Frederick | | | | percent right now." |
| Pilot Middle School in Boston, Massachusetts, offers a | | | | K12 Inc, which provides online educational services in 17 |
| glimpse into the future. | | | | US states, has seen enrolment rise 57 percent from |
| It has no textbooks. Students receive laptops at the | | | | last year to 41,000 full-time students, said its chief |
| start of each day, returning them at the end. Teachers | | | | executive Ron Packard. |
| and students maintain blogs. Staff and parents chat on | | | | "We're getting the kids who the local school is not |
| instant messaging software. Assignments are | | | | working for. And the spectrum goes from extreme |
| submitted through electronic "drop boxes" on the | | | | special education to extremely gifted kids." |
| school's Website. | | | | Virginia-based K12 recently opened an office in Dubai. |
| The experiment at Frederick began two years ago at | | | | Packard says he expects strong demand for |
| a cost of about US$2 million. Class work is done in | | | | American education from foreigners who want to |
| Google Inc's free applications like Google Docs, or | | | | enter US universities. |
| Apple's iMovie and educational software like FASTT | | | | Horn expects demand for teachers to fall and virtual |
| Math. | | | | schools to boost achievement in a US education |
| "Why would we ever buy a book when we can buy a | | | | system where only two-thirds of teenagers graduate |
| computer? Textbooks are often obsolete before they | | | | from high school. |
| are even printed," said Debra Socia, principal of the | | | | "You deliver education at lower cost, but you will |
| school in Dorchester, a tough district prone to crime. | | | | actually improve the amount of time that a teacher |
| There is one concession to the past: a library stocked | | | | can spend with each student because they are no |
| with novels. | | | | longer delivering one-size-fits-all lesson plans," he said. |
| "It's a powerful, powerful experience," added Socia. | | | | |