CASE STUDY: Alexandria City Public Schools
CASE STUDY: Alexandria City Public Schools Location Alexandria, Virginia, located six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C., is a unique suburban environment with a diverse, urban population. A significant number of
The Challenge:
residents are federal civil service workers.
•
Give students and teachers a more personalized experience.
•
Allow the district to be more nimble and flexible in terms of content, teacher
Enrollment 14,246 students in grades PreK-12; 58 percent qualify for free and reduced lunch. Ethnic/racial diversity: 35 percent Hispanic; 31 percent black; 27 percent white; 4 percent Asian; 3 percent other. 125 countries
To transition from a longstanding, laptop-based 1:1 initiative to one that would:
strategies and response to security issues. •
Increase student participation in the process of both choosing the right system and supporting it.
•
Provide a more reliable device management system.
of birth; 87 native languages spoken.
•
Be more cost-effective.
Technology Pioneers of 1:1 initiatives, Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) began a laptop program for every ninth-grader in 2003, then expanded the program to all high school students in 2004. Following a successful pilot with Amplify, ACPS rolled out the Amplify System in September 2014 across four of its schools, to 3,365 students in grades 9-12, 400 students in grades 4-5,
The Solution:
and 293 teachers.
system allowed students to make connections with their tablets immediately
Funding The 1:1 initiative is part of the operating budget that is approved each year by the school board.
Switching from laptops to tablets, by implementing the Amplify System. After extensively researching 1:1 devices, district leaders chose Amplify because they felt it would help them achieve their five goals, and more. An instant connection for students The Amplify System’s ability to sync with the district’s student information and automatically. From the moment they logged on, each student’s personal schedule was already on his or her tablet. The devices are organized around their classes and assignments.
www.amplify.com/tablet For more information about the Amplify System, please email [email protected] or call (800) 823-1969.
1
More opportunities for flexibility and spontaneity The need to constantly update software manually on laptops led the district to seek a much more flexible solution. “With the Amplify Tablet we found we could quickly push out apps and updates, automatically,” says Elizabeth Hoover, chief technology officer of Alexandria City Public Schools. “And teachers can find resources and distribute them within minutes to the class. We’re hoping that this flexibility improves the kind of personalization not only for students but also for teachers.” Hoover adds that the tablets’ “on” time is very quick, allowing teachers and students to turn them on instantly and use them in the moment or as part of a planned lesson. Greater student ownership and participation Student involvement has always been a priority for ACPS. From the beginning of the process, the district called on students to help select the next device, believing that they are critical consumers with valuable opinions and ideas on technology. The district plans to take student involvement a step further by including them in the support aspect. They are developing student mentors and a team that gets together weekly with new students to give them an overview of the tablets. A competitively priced, constantly refreshed product On the cost front, ACPS liked Amplify because of its competitive pricing and also its seamless and automatic updates of the tablets. A frustration the district had with purchasing traditional laptops was that the laptops rapidly seemed outdated. With the Amplify System, the regular updates keep the tablets fresh and constantly improved. More control overall, and in the classroom Teachers can find it daunting to look across 20 laptops in a classroom and feel in control. In the past, ACPS used third-party software to control the laptops, but found it to be another piece of software they needed to learn and then launch every time. Teachers like the Amplify System’s classroom management tools because they make it easier to manage a group of students at all different skill levels. “Teachers want to feel in control of their instruction and where each student is going with the resources they have in front of them,” Hoover says.
The Alexandria-Amplify partnership One of the biggest selling points for Alexandria was that “Amplify really listens,” Hoover says. During the district’s pilot, an Amplify staff member was always present. “Any issues we had, they experienced them right along with us. The Amplify staffer could communicate back to the office exactly what was happening and the urgency of it,” she says. “I’ve worked on help desks, and it’s not always easy to understand what the problem is because you’re not there.” And the listening doesn’t begin and end with troubleshooting, Hoover adds. “We also had so many focus groups where the kids and teachers had the opportunity to help shape the direction in which the Amplify System has gone,” she says. “We have seen the results from our requests in changes they made to the devices. Amplify has a real commitment to understanding and responding.”
www.amplify.com/tablet For more information about the Amplify System, please email [email protected] or call (800) 823-1969.
2
The Challenge:
residents are federal civil service workers.
•
Give students and teachers a more personalized experience.
•
Allow the district to be more nimble and flexible in terms of content, teacher
Enrollment 14,246 students in grades PreK-12; 58 percent qualify for free and reduced lunch. Ethnic/racial diversity: 35 percent Hispanic; 31 percent black; 27 percent white; 4 percent Asian; 3 percent other. 125 countries
To transition from a longstanding, laptop-based 1:1 initiative to one that would:
strategies and response to security issues. •
Increase student participation in the process of both choosing the right system and supporting it.
•
Provide a more reliable device management system.
of birth; 87 native languages spoken.
•
Be more cost-effective.
Technology Pioneers of 1:1 initiatives, Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) began a laptop program for every ninth-grader in 2003, then expanded the program to all high school students in 2004. Following a successful pilot with Amplify, ACPS rolled out the Amplify System in September 2014 across four of its schools, to 3,365 students in grades 9-12, 400 students in grades 4-5,
The Solution:
and 293 teachers.
system allowed students to make connections with their tablets immediately
Funding The 1:1 initiative is part of the operating budget that is approved each year by the school board.
Switching from laptops to tablets, by implementing the Amplify System. After extensively researching 1:1 devices, district leaders chose Amplify because they felt it would help them achieve their five goals, and more. An instant connection for students The Amplify System’s ability to sync with the district’s student information and automatically. From the moment they logged on, each student’s personal schedule was already on his or her tablet. The devices are organized around their classes and assignments.
www.amplify.com/tablet For more information about the Amplify System, please email [email protected] or call (800) 823-1969.
1
More opportunities for flexibility and spontaneity The need to constantly update software manually on laptops led the district to seek a much more flexible solution. “With the Amplify Tablet we found we could quickly push out apps and updates, automatically,” says Elizabeth Hoover, chief technology officer of Alexandria City Public Schools. “And teachers can find resources and distribute them within minutes to the class. We’re hoping that this flexibility improves the kind of personalization not only for students but also for teachers.” Hoover adds that the tablets’ “on” time is very quick, allowing teachers and students to turn them on instantly and use them in the moment or as part of a planned lesson. Greater student ownership and participation Student involvement has always been a priority for ACPS. From the beginning of the process, the district called on students to help select the next device, believing that they are critical consumers with valuable opinions and ideas on technology. The district plans to take student involvement a step further by including them in the support aspect. They are developing student mentors and a team that gets together weekly with new students to give them an overview of the tablets. A competitively priced, constantly refreshed product On the cost front, ACPS liked Amplify because of its competitive pricing and also its seamless and automatic updates of the tablets. A frustration the district had with purchasing traditional laptops was that the laptops rapidly seemed outdated. With the Amplify System, the regular updates keep the tablets fresh and constantly improved. More control overall, and in the classroom Teachers can find it daunting to look across 20 laptops in a classroom and feel in control. In the past, ACPS used third-party software to control the laptops, but found it to be another piece of software they needed to learn and then launch every time. Teachers like the Amplify System’s classroom management tools because they make it easier to manage a group of students at all different skill levels. “Teachers want to feel in control of their instruction and where each student is going with the resources they have in front of them,” Hoover says.
The Alexandria-Amplify partnership One of the biggest selling points for Alexandria was that “Amplify really listens,” Hoover says. During the district’s pilot, an Amplify staff member was always present. “Any issues we had, they experienced them right along with us. The Amplify staffer could communicate back to the office exactly what was happening and the urgency of it,” she says. “I’ve worked on help desks, and it’s not always easy to understand what the problem is because you’re not there.” And the listening doesn’t begin and end with troubleshooting, Hoover adds. “We also had so many focus groups where the kids and teachers had the opportunity to help shape the direction in which the Amplify System has gone,” she says. “We have seen the results from our requests in changes they made to the devices. Amplify has a real commitment to understanding and responding.”
www.amplify.com/tablet For more information about the Amplify System, please email [email protected] or call (800) 823-1969.
2
