FEW DISTRICTS HAVE MORE MILES on their 1-to-1 computing initiatives than
Texas' Irving Independent School District, where the teachers have had laptops since
1996 and the current student program began with a pilot launched in 2001.

Today, the Irving 1-to-1 program puts close to 12,000 laptops in the hands of
students and teachers throughout the district.

After nearly a decade, Owen and her team have learned a few things about maintaining 1-to-1
computer programs in K-12 environments. The cornerstone of her strategy: personnel. Owen keeps
two technicians on duty at the 1-to-1 high school campuses, and one at every other campus. On
top of that, the district employs a central team of five technicians whose job it is to resolve
problems that people at the campus level can't handle.

At Robbinsdale Cooper High School, which serves more than 2,000 students in grades 9-12 in a northwest suburb of Minneapolis, ninth-graders are just beginning to use WriteToLearn. Teachers and administrators say they'll use it to prepare for the state writing and reading assessments and have high hopes for success.

"We're excited about the possibilities," said social-studies teacher Jill Kind. "The immediate feedback for the students will be great, as well as the knowledge we'll gain. We'll be able to see areas where students need help, so we'll be better able to individualize instruction."

Earlier this school year, language-arts teacher Michael Jenkins started using WriteToLearn with his students at Estancia Middle School in New Mexico, and he's already seeing changes.

"Lights are going on, and they're excited about learning," he said. "When I say it's time to go to the computer lab, they jump up and go, and I have no problem keeping them on task." He added that during a recent visit, Estancia's superintendent was surprised to see that the students were so immersed in WriteToLearn, they didn't even notice when the dismissal bell was about to ring.

Two high schools in Minnesota are using Pearson Education's WriteToLearn to help students build literacy skills and prepare for the new Minnesota writing assessment.

The schools are Dunwoody Academy High School, a new technical charter school in north Minneapolis administered by Dunwoody College, and Robbinsdale Cooper High School, part of the Robbinsdale Area Schools in New Hope, Minn.

With WriteToLearn, students practice essay writing and summarization skills, and their efforts are measured by a "Knowledge Analysis Technologies" (KAT) engine. The KAT engine is an automated assessment technology that evaluates the meaning of text by examining whole passages, not just grammatical correctness or spelling.

"WriteToLearn is an awesome program that gives each student feedback right away, which is something a teacher cannot possibly have time to do," said Duane Dutrieuille, dean of academic and student affairs at Dunwoody Academy High School.