Sun shines on STAT’s lack of student achievement

The Baltimore Sun, more than four years after the Baltimore County Public School laptop-per-student program was launched, reports on the lack of overall student achievement on standardized tests and other measures — as well as other various drawbacks of the costly program. Taxpayers are actually paying nearly $300 million in laptop costs alone, with an additional $140 million contract later noted in the Sun story :

“It has been four years since Baltimore County’s first elementary school children excitedly put their hands on their own laptops, beginning a $147 million rollout aimed at giving students from first to 12th grade access to technology and transforming the way lessons are taught.

But the ambitious program has yet to show the results many had hoped for. Despite the saturation of technology, Baltimore County ranks near the bottom of the state in passing rates on standardized tests. The scores are generally flat for students in grades three through eight, many of whom have had the computers for at least three years.”

 

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With BCPS’s new school board in place, some are breathing a sigh of relief

November 27 Baltimore Post editorial.

When it comes to Baltimore County Public Schools’ (BCPS) new school board, some are breathing a sigh of relief. And while there may be disagreement on the reasons why that is, one thing is certain: for many of those who have been paying attention over the last six years, the new group of new and incumbent board members is seen as a new dawn, a new day and a very welcome new beginning.