Project RED's Tools for Success: A 1-to-1 Initiative Is Only as Good as the Planning and Leadership Behind It

Educators have seen the excitement and focus that students show when using digital devices. In hopes of increasing attendance, reducing dropout rates, and improving learning overall, more and more superintendents are driving their districts toward a 1-to-1 environment in which students take control of their own learning. The question is no longer whether districts should move to digital learning, but how they can do it well, what they should focus on to help students learn, and when they should adopt it. To help schools answer these questions, in 2010 Project RED conducted a survey of technology programs in 1,000 US schools. The survey was the first and only national research focusing on academic results and financial implications of education technology. The research shows that, if effectively implemented, 1-to-1 technology programs can lead to improved student achievement and significant return on investment. Based on those findings, Project RED has created a replicable design for school districts to make the best possible use of technology in a learning environment to help improve student achievement and offer significant return on investment. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Project RED research reveals that most schools' planning is less comprehensive than it should be. To help schools get ready, Project RED has broken down its research into advice and downloadable tools, which are available for free on its website. (Registration is required.) Pillars of Success There are four pillars for planning a 1-to-1 program that can mean the difference between success and failure. Project RED has a tool for each planning step. (Examples of all four tools are on page 26.) 1) Assess your district with the Project RED Readiness Tool. Is your district ready to embark on a 1-to-1 implementation? Have you already begun, but are starting to realize the complexity of the process? Recently, when a superintendent asked us for help in implementing his 1-to-1 project, we asked when he was planning to start the project His answer was a shocker:. He said that the students and the teachers would all be getting their laptops at the same time--in one month. He, in turn, may have been shocked by our answer that he was on a track for failure. And indeed, things didn't work out as he had hoped. This disappointment could have been avoided. By guiding you through a self-assessment of your district's current readiness, the Project RED Readiness Tool will alert you to crucial areas that you may not have previously considered in your project plan, including leadership, funding, technology and learning, and infrastructure. Leadership and funding are particularly mission-critical; you must be prepared for action in these areas or your plan Is likely to fail. 2) Calculate the real cost with the Project RED Implementation Cost Comparison Tool. Every superintendent will require a comprehensive cost plan in order to figure out the long-range costs and to justify these costs by explaining to the school board and the community the expected return on investment from a new initiative. In getting started, the most difficult aspect of planning is figuring out the "real costs" of implementation, whether in a BYOD program or with a school-supplied device. While a statewide program, such as the one implemented by Maine, may have lower average costs, this tool provides a broad array of costs to consider, based on the experiences of real school districts. The cost of technology implementations can vary widely. For example, reported costs for 1-to-1 implementations range from $250 to more than $1,000 per student per year. The chart in the slide show represents nationally averaged technology Implementation costs for a traditional school setting (a 3-to-1 student-to-computer ratio) versus a 1-to-1 setting. Since 2011, when this data was collected costs have been trending down in most areas. …