FAQ 1-to-1.1

In case you didn't see this elsewhere........

Who will get a computer in the 1-to-1 program?

Beginning next August, every freshman will receive an Apple Macbook as part of their education at Faith. Freshman in subsequent years will also get Macbooks, so that by the 2012-13 school year, every high school student will have one.

Why did the school begin with freshmen?  Shouldn’t the seniors be the 1^st beneficiaries?

There are a number of reasons. First, our funding model is built on using each computer for four years. Second, we wanted each student to get a new computer at the start of the program and ideally, be able to retain the computer upon graduation.  Starting with any class other than freshmen would mean we would have to recycle the machines through the program, which would have required more stringent guidelines on their use by our students. Third, many seniors do not have full loads, denying us maximum use of the machines.

So why not give everyone a machine and allow parents the option of buying it at fair market if it was not used for four years?

To fully implement the 1-to-1 program over the next four years the school will spend nearly $1.3 million dollars. If we bought it all at once, parents would have seen a $1000 bill. Even amortizing it over four years, tuition would need to increase by over $250 just for technology. Most parents could not absorb that increase, and fundamentally, we need to keep our doors open to continue to do ministry.  About $75 of the increase in tuition for next year supports the funding for the 1^st year of 1-to-1. We estimate that over four years, tuition will have to go up a minimum of $262 to pay for technology improvements and at that level the 1-to-1 program should be self-sustaining.  Of course, additional dollars will be needed to support other elements of the school program.

A second critical aspect of the decision to deliberately move in this way has to do with teacher preparation. We don’t want the computers to become expensive paperweights, and so we are investing in additional teacher education.  While our entire faculty has been engaged in workshops designed to improve their effectiveness in using technology, we will be providing an additional 30 hours of training in Macbook specific training.  Apple has an excellent reputation for staff development, but it is very expensive. We could not afford to train all of our teachers to the standard we believe necessary if we had to do it all at once.

So if my student isn’t a freshman, aren’t I paying for something my student won’t be receiving?

There are several ways to answer this question.  First, your tuition dollars support the school’s entire program, which includes many things your student may not personally participate in or use. Similarly, every student eats in our student center and only a few current parents pledged to the capital campaign that supported its construction and since it now paid for, everyone enjoys its benefits. But most importantly, there will still be 425 tablet PCs and 35+ computers in the Koerwitz Resource Center available for student use, now with 200 or so fewer students who need to use them.  Our non-freshman teachers will still be using technology in the classroom through the cart program.  Our administrators will still have high expectations for teacher use of technology in the classrooms.

Will there be additional costs for the parents of freshmen?

Probably.  Parents will have to buy insurance on the machines or pay a significant damage deposit.  Parents will also have to provide a school approved protective covering, case or bag for the laptop.

Why did the school switch to Apple when most of the world uses a PC?

Certainly the demise of our original PC provider, Gateway/MPC, encouraged us to look around.  While other companies could have provided tablets, that feature significantly increases the cost per unit. But for most uses, the tablet function was not required and moving away from it made moving to 1-to-1 more financially viable.  Apple is solid company with a strong reputation and growing share of the K-12 market.  Its staff development model is superior. Apple’s pricing structure is now much more favorable than it was a few years back.  Teachers who need the tablet function (particularly in math and science) will still be able to use a PC machine and Apple does make an accessory that functions as a tablet.

What about classes where freshmen are intermingled with other grades?

We will provide a cart or two with Macs on them so that teachers in those circumstances can work with a uniform group of computers. For instance, imagine a Spanish I class with fifteen 9^th and twelve 10^th graders.  Here the teacher could reserve a Mac cart and hand out the Macs to 10^th graders and then conduct the lesson.  In subsequent years of the 1-to-1 program, this becomes less necessary. Even so, in most cases the work students do is web-based, so platform (Mac or PC) doesn’t really matter. Teachers could, depending on the nature of the activity, teach students with PCs, Macs or Linux machines at the same time.

Can I buy a Macbook for my non-freshman student and can they use it is school?

No. When students are at school they connect to a network.  In order to provide security for that network, it is important that the computers are imaged the same and that everyone in the 1-to-1 program understands the rules and protocols.  Rolling out 1-to-1 according to our plan will enable us to appropriately educate both student users and their parents about what can and cannot be done with these machines.  And while I just noted that much of what students do is platform neutral, it certainly is easier on our teachers when they look out at a classroom where everyone has the same computer.

When will my freshman student get his/her computer?

We are developing plans to roll out this program.  Sometime this spring, we will have a parent meeting to present an overview of the 1-to-1 program.  Next August there will be several “pick-up” dates which will require the presence of your 9^th grader and at least one parent.

Will students continue to use textbooks?

Yes. While we are working to equip our students with 21^st century skills, books will continue to play an important role in our students’ education.  We will certainly be looking for textbook providers that include digital alternatives

History

I am a social studies teacher by training, with an emphasis on politics and government.  The last year has held great interest for me.  It probably won't surprise you to learn that I generally favored the other guy, but like most Americans, I am praying that Mr. Obama will eventually be revered as one of our greatest Presidents.  Simply put, we need great, effective leadership for our country.  I am not one of those who believe we are in the worst times since the Great Depression.  I remember gas lines, runaway inflation, and Jimmy Carter's malaise speech.  I do worry that some of the strengths that our country had in the past that could lift us out of economic calamity are no longer present.  I do believe we stand at a turning point and that the actions we take over the next few years will very much determine whether my children will have a standard of living that surpasses the one I have had for most of my life.

I am anxious to hear what he has to say.  It is a time for a return to moral courage, to look beyond our own needs and to build community.  I hope simply he tells us the truth, unambiguously.

I also hope that whenever possible, our students will be able to watch or listen to the speech on Tuesday. History is being made And what President Obama does could have a profound effect on  destinies of the young people with whom we work.  My prayer is that his decisions are guided from on high.

Technology: Some Background

I am always amused whenever we announce something significant that I will have to tamp down rumors about the change for the next couple of weeks. In the Crusader newsletter we announced that beginning next fall, all incoming freshmen students would receive a computer as part of their education at Faith. This week I took a phone call from a parent who had heard we would be eliminating textbooks as part of this program. Not true.



While I am no fan of textbooks (I think they can get in the way of teachers teaching good lessons and students taking responsibility for their own learning) at least in the near term, textbooks will continue to play a role in a Faith education. We will have discussions over the next several years about reducing our reliance on textbooks, we are not there yet. We will promote a move to electronic versions of texts whenever we can.



Over the next few months parents will get more information about what moving to one-to-one will mean for students at Faith, but I do need to immediately talk about some of the thinking that went into the way we are starting the process. The most negative feedback we have received to date has been from the parents of this year's freshmen and I guess that's understandable.

In almost any major decision we make there are competing and often contradictory interests. Throughout the last decade Faith has made an effort to build an excellent school. That has been most evident in the construction and physical improvements that have been appeared: 1st a gym, then student center and now the CPAC. While we have reached the end of a building phase, our school cannot stop improving. Excellence is a journey, not a destination. In these difficult economic times we faced troubling choice: minimize or reduce tuition and further delay implementation of our long-standing goal or begin the process of one-to-one while remaining cognizant of the impact on our families. We chose the latter. But we were mindful of the financial impact this program would have, so our roll out will be slower than we would like. I could not justify to the Board a 6-7% increase in tuition to buy the 400 computers necessary to begin with both 9th and 10th graders.

We didn't start with seniors because they would only be here for one year and many take a reduced load. That would not yield the biggest impact for our precious dollars. Now you can certainly make an argument that your tuition dollars will be paying for computers that your student will never see. The reality is that your tuition dollars pay for the school program. That may include a number of programs that your student never experiences or enjoys. Your tuition dollars support basketball teams, school newspapers, AP Studio Art and the paintball club. You may not have a student in any of them. Moreover, your tuition dollars still support technology. In fact, since the freshmen will have their own computers, our ratio of computers to students is dropping, making it more likely your student will have direct access to one of our existing laptops. Perhaps most importantly, your tuition dollars are supporting additional training that all our teachers have received over the last couple of years to equip them to be more effective users of classroom technology. That will continue to improve the education of all our students.

There is more to be said on this, but the Crusaders are in action tonight!