"It's been really exciting, because at the district level we just wouldn't have the funding to do a true 1-to-1 initiative beyond the fifth grade, where the students don't trade classrooms," explains Maas. "To see our PTOs really get behind the initiative and fund a further deployment in their own way is a real testimony to what the parents see in this effort."

The real key to success in both Littleton and Saugus Union was ensuring that the netbooks would not be used as glorified word processors.