What does a small rural town in Alabama have to offer students? A lot, according to Digital Promise, which recently published a multimedia case study and documentary about Piedmont City, Alabama. It highlights Piedmont’s efforts to provide a 21st century education for students through in-school and at-home technology access.
In Piedmont, a city still reeling from the textile plant closures and the more recent economic downturn, students are thriving and feeling well-prepared for their next step be it college or work.
The reason: Each student is provided with a laptop they can use 24/7 and Internet access, not only at school but also throughout Piedmont. The results? In just a few years since the initiative began in 2010, enrollment in Piedmont grew by 20%; the number of students selecting the advanced high school diploma increased by 18%; and the number of students taking the ACT college entrance exam has increased by 40%. *
Superintendent Matt Akin tells the story in this short, but powerful 6-minute video.
Changing a Rural Community’s Expectations Through 24/7 Learning from Digital Promise on Vimeo.
Piedmont is one of five League school districts to be profiled in a multimedia case study that are “pioneering effective ways to use technology,” according Digital Promise officials.
“Piedmont is emerging as a national model for how to close the digital learning gap,” said Sara Schapiro, director of the Digital Promise League of Innovative Schools. “At a time when rural communities are disproportionately unable to find affordable access to high-quality technology, Piedmont is connecting its students to the world around them, raising expectations and creating new opportunities in the process.”
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, nearly 40 percent of rural homes across the country have no Internet access, compared to 27 percent in urban homes. Piedmont, where about 68 percent of all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, has made great strides in closing this digital-access gap through its “mPower Piedmont” learning initiative, which provides all students in grades 4 – 12 a laptop to take home and low- or no-cost home Internet access through district partnerships.
“The laptop simply provides a means for our students in a rural area to access a wealth of knowledge they wouldn’t have otherwise,” says Matt Akin, who has been superintendent in Piedmont for 10 years. “The fact that all of our students have access to a device and Internet access all the time, immediately we felt better about where we live and where our kids go to school.”
Piedmont is the smallest school district in the League of Innovative Schools, and only one of two in Alabama (Baldwin County is the other select district in the League). Piedmont has participated in several other League projects in the past, including a study into how technology can prevent summer learning loss, a workshop on competency-based education, and Teacher Wallets, which allows teachers to make their own budget and purchasing decisions about instructional technologies.
More results from mPower Piedmont initiative include:
- The percent of students requiring remediation at college has dropped 13 points, and is now more than five points below the state average.
- Piedmont High School has been ranked the second-most connected school nationally by U.S. News & World Report.
- Piedmont High School was the only high school in Alabama recognized by Apple Inc. as an Apple Distinguished School – and is one of only 56 in the nation.
- The Piedmont system is one of 26 founding members of the League of Innovative Schools, selected in 2011 by a group of national education leaders.
- The League of Innovative Schools is a national coalition of 57 school districts that fosters collaboration between education leaders, entrepreneurs, researchers, and thought partners.
Digital Promise is a nonprofit organization authorized by Congress to spur innovation in education in order to improve the opportunity to learn for all Americans. Through its work, it supports a comprehensive agenda to benefit lifelong learning and provide Americans with the knowledge and skills needed to compete in the global economy.
* Note: Beginning in 2014, the Alabama State Department of Education will no longer administer the Alabama High School Graduation Exam, and all Alabama public high school juniors will take the ACT, funded by the ALSDE, as a part of the new assessment system implemented by the State Board of Education.
