Fulton County school system leaders have given out close to 17,500 mobile devices like tablets or small laptops for students to take home, with plans to hand out thousands more by next year.
The district, which wants to equip all middle and high school students with the technology, handed out the first devices for the start of this school year to 460 eighth-graders at Autrey Mill Middle School. School leaders plan to hand out a total of nearly 65,000 devices to teachers and students by fall 2017.
The device roll-out plan calls for middle schools and high schools to issue one device per student, and in elementary schools classroom sets are used to encourage collaborative learning among students.
So far, students have received Apple iPads, Microsoft Surfaces, Dell Latitudes and Dell Chromebooks to design personalized learning technology plans, according to Fulton schools. And 23 of Fulton’s nearly 100 schools have rolled out the nearly 17,500 devices since August.
Fulton school board members were presented with an update to the technology rollout at a meeting Tuesday. They heard from three leaders at Fulton schools — which have already received the devices – who said the technology has helped boost classroom learning.
When Fulton school officials announced the technology rollout last school year – considered the most expansive effort yet by a Georgia school district to make technology available to students — the projected cost for the devices was nearly $28.3 million. That money is expected to come from SPLOST (special-purpose local option sales tax) funds, according to Fulton officials.
Not every student has a computer at home, and Fulton leaders believe giving all children mobile devices will level the playing field. They’re working on getting as many kids connected to the Internet at home as possible, and point out that kids can also get online at the public library and other areas.
Fulton officials say they’ve spent the past two years training teachers how to use the devices to best augment learning in the classroom. The district says it also has software that can track where the devices are at all times, guarding against theft.
The Fulton school system is the fourth-largest school system in Georgia. Approximately 96,000 students attend 101 schools.
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