article thumbnail

How one city closed the digital divide for nearly all its students

The Hechinger Report

It’s just been exacerbated by the pandemic,” said Rebeca Shackleford, the director of federal government relations at All4Ed, an education advocacy nonprofit. Inside Castlemont’s media center in May 2021, Chromebook carts are completely empty. As funding came in, the next step was to buy the Chromebooks and hot spots.

article thumbnail

Tipping point: Can Summit put personalized learning over the top?

The Hechinger Report

It’s so much better,” said Brooke Williams, who sat on the classroom floor with her Chromebook in her lap, adjusting her number line. “I Still, there are some stalwart critics, notably Benjamin Riley, who visited many personalized-learning classrooms from 2010 to 2014 as the policy and advocacy director for the NewSchools Venture Fund.

article thumbnail

The messy reality of personalized learning

The Hechinger Report

Teachers project lesson plans onto interactive screens, and little hands reach for black Chromebook laptops, which are stacked like cafeteria trays in a large box called a Chromecart. The ratio of children to Chromebooks, in grades three through five, is one to one. Yet, inside Isaac Paine, tech abounds.