Press Release - Tuesday, January 17, 2006
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21ST CENTURY INITIATIVE TO PREPARE ILLINOIS STUDENTS FOR THE INFORMATION AGE ECONOMY SEVENTH GRADERS GIVE TESTIMONIALS ON HOW KELLMAN SCHOOL'S LAPTOP PROGRAM IS PREPARING THEM FOR HIGH SCHOOL
CHICAGO -Today, Lt. Governor Pat Quinn proposed the I-Connect Initiative - legislation to provide a personal laptop computer for all 169,000 seventh grade students in Illinois public schools. Laptop computer initiatives in other states have significantly improved academic performance.
Modeled after the Maine Learning Technology Initiative, I-Connect will allow Illinois students to learn anywhere at anytime with their laptop computer. Henrico County in Virginia introduced a similar laptop initiative for students in grades 6-12. Last school year, students in that school district achieved the highest SAT verbal and math scores ever recorded in the county, just four years after the program began.
"No Illinois child should be left on the wrong side of the digital divide," Quinn said. "Laptops are the textbooks of tomorrow."
Under Quinn's proposal, Illinois seventh grade students will be issued a laptop computer at the beginning of the school year and would be allowed to keep the laptop computer over the course of the year. School districts will decide how the laptop computer will be utilized in the classroom. Teachers will also receive professional training on how to integrate laptop computers into everyday curriculum.
Joseph Kellman Corporation Community School is no stranger to innovation in the classroom. Last March, Kellman began a laptop program in which K-3 students share laptops and students in grades 4-8 are provided laptops of their own. Upon graduation, Kellman students receive a new laptop for use in high school. Halfway through the program's first year, Kellman attributes an increase in student engagement and a decrease in disciplinary problems to the success of the program.
Quinn was joined by Troy Ratliff, Vice-President of the Joseph Kellman Foundation and Brenda Browder, Principal of Joseph Kellman Corporation Community School who spoke on the impact of laptops in the classroom. Seventh grade students from Kellman also gave testimonials on how the laptop program is helping them prepare for high school.
Lt. Governor Quinn serves as Chairman of the Broadband Deployment Council. The Council was created under Executive Order in September to address Internet access needs for all Illinois citizens and to help bridge the digital divide.
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