For Some, Laptops Don't Compute

Alexandria officials say it is too soon to gauge laptop-driven achievement gains, because T.C. Williams started issuing the machines in fall 2004 to sophomores, juniors and seniors, and the Minnie Howard School, which feeds into T.C., began distributing Dell laptops to ninth-graders in fall 2003.

Officials say that implementation could have been better. "There have been lessons learned, definitely," said Elizabeth Riddle, the system's instructional technology coordinator. But after the slow start, she said, "the payoffs are great."

Across the nation, student laptop programs are increasing "by leaps and bounds," said Don Knezek, chief executive of the International Society of Technology Education. He cited statewide programs in Maine and Michigan, among others. He also said some studies have shown that such programs improve achievement.

Alexandria officials say that Loudoun County schools and even other countries have sent delegations to observe the T.C. Williams program.

Under Virginia law, funds for this program must be appropriated each year, so school board and community members will need to be convinced of its value. The laptops have been leased for four years.

Alexandria school officials say they are in for the long haul. The new T.C. Williams campus, due to open next fall, will have wireless access, and the city has announced plans to go wireless next year.

Many students have been won over, including Conrad. "I use my laptop for 100 percent of my physics and 100 percent of my government class," she said. "It makes everybody really organized, even the most disorganized of my friends."

Teacher training has also intensified.

"I think they made the realization that they may have put the cart before the horse," said G.A. Hagen, a technology resource teacher at T.C. Williams. "It was like, 'Okay, teacher, here's the laptop -- go with it,' and [teachers] were like, 'What do you mean, go with it? Is there a Web site I go to?' "

Nearly all T.C. Williams teachers have been trained on Blackboard. They will be required to make their courses available on the system by Jan. 8 and to use the program regularly by June.

School Board Chairman Arthur E. Peabody Jr. said this week that he is impressed with the Blackboard technology but that teacher training had not come far enough.

Hagen said that young teachers tend to adapt more quickly but that many veterans have also come around.