By Natalie McGill
Gazette Staff Writer
Thursday, May 15, 2008

Fairmont Heights High School students in Tumisha Alao's 11th-grade Advanced Placement English class know instantly if they aced or failed a quiz, which questions they missed and which they got right.

Alao's classroom recently began using the

eInstruction Classroom Performance System, which enables students to take quizzes and complete lessons by pressing a button rather than writing answers on paper. The teacher receives instant feedback on a laptop about how the students performed, and students learn scores and grades the moment they finish assessments.

Alao's class uses the equipment that Prince George's County Board of Education member Pat Fletcher (District 3) donated to the school's English department April 30. Fletcher won the equipment, valued at nearly $2,000, as a door prize at a recent National School Boards Association conference.

"Fairmont Heights High School is one of the high schools that's in my district, and in terms of the technology, I just figured that Fairmont Heights students would benefit from it," Fletcher said.

The technology has been available to Fairmont Heights teachers since last school year, when the school purchased a few eInstruction sets, English teacher Gilmar Mejia said. Teachers may sign out the equipment, including the newest set. The math department also has at least two eInstruction sets to rotate among teachers, Mejia said.

Fletcher, who found out after donating the equipment that the school had been seeking another set, demonstrated it during her April 30 visit and talked with students who were familiar with eInstruction. Alao said her class was selected because of its strong academic achievement. Several of her students had not yet used the equipment.

Students liked the instant feedback, Fletcher said.

"It allowed them to know immediately what they needed to study more on," she said.

The software is designed for multiple-choice quizzes and assessments. The software is installed on a laptop, and the sensor is connected to the laptop with a cable, Alao said.

Classrooms at Suitland and Eleanor Roosevelt high schools, as well as James Ryder Randall and Perrywood elementary schools, also use eInstruction, county schools spokesman John White said. Fifty other county schools use similar technology.

Alao said the equipment is useful and easy to navigate, but perhaps better suited to math class. "Some teachers use it daily," Alao said. "I don't. This class has so much writing involved in it. It wouldn't be as conducive to use it as frequently."

The equipment makes it easier for teachers to identify students who need extra help and to encourage the more tentative students to participate, Fletcher said.

Each student is assigned an identification number that only he or she and the teacher know. Many students, including junior Guadalupe Osorio, 16, of Hyattsville, appreciate finding out immediately how they did instead of waiting for returned papers.

"It's pretty cool," Osorio said. "It's fast and efficient."