Early in the last decade, Piedmont City School District, a small three-school district in Eastern Alabama between Birmingham and Atlanta, laid claim to the worst computer-to-student ratio in the state. Since then, the Piedmont district, where 65 percent of students qualify for reduced or free lunch, has successfully shaken off that title after embarking on a number of ambitious technology-driven projects, including a 1-to-1 take-home laptop initiative--called Mpower--a remote-learning partnership with Stanford University, and a wide-scale E-rate-funded project that will eventually bring high-speed Internet access to every student's home.
"About four years ago the last big employer in our city left, so our school system is the biggest thing going on in our community," explained Piedmont Superintendent Matt Akin. "Looking at the future, we felt like we needed to do something to give our community hope again." |
