i-CAN Project is first of its kind in SC
January 2005

The Kershaw County School District is leading a revolution in improving instruction in the high school classroom.

Walk through the ninth grade halls at any of the district’s high schools and look through the classroom windows. What you will see is a laptop computer on each student’s desk. What you will also see are students focused and engaged in hands-on instruction.

Hang around for lunch and walk outside. Within a few minutes you will see students begin to huddle. There will be a group here and a group there. They will sit on the ground, on a bench, maybe at a table. At the center of each huddle will be a laptop computer. Students are now spending extra minutes at lunch surfing the internet with friends or working on projects on a wireless laptop.

On Saturday afternoon, you might drive by a high school campus and see students sitting outside in the school’s commons area. Don’t call security. They are there because even though they may not have internet access at home, they can come to the school campus seven days a week and use the school’s wireless internet access even though the school doors are closed.

24 …7…

That’s the access every Kershaw County ninth grader has to technology and the world of information on the internet. Within three years, every high school student will have this access.

In January, 2005, the Kershaw County School District became the first in the state to implement a laptop distribution program for an entire class of high school students. The district’s i-CAN project provided every ninth grade student with a Hewlett-Packard laptop computer to keep throughout his/her high school career. All high school teachers also have laptops computers, and ninth grade teachers were given projectors, printers, digital cameras and other peripherals to allow for extensive use of technology in the classroom.

Each year each incoming ninth grade class will receive laptops so that in three more years, every high school student in Kershaw County will have his own laptop. All high schools have wireless internet access so that all students will be able to access the internet while at school.

The i-CAN project resulted from the vision of Superintendent Herbert Berg and the Kershaw County School Board who wanted to make students competitive in a 21st century environment.

Berg and the school board credit the district’s high school principals and the instructional, technology, and financial staffs for their work in making this vision a reality.

The project was named i-CAN because this initiative will enable students to say and believe “I Can” when they face the necessary tasks of the future – in higher education as well as in the workplace. The little “i” shows the connection of the project with the internet as all laptops will have wireless internet access at school sites.

The district’s four year contract with Hewlett Packard provides extensive staff development programs for teachers as well as on site technical assistance at each high school.

“The ‘school tools’ of my day were instruments like the protractor, the compass, and the slide rule. The ‘tool’ of today’s classroom and workplace is the computer. We are putting our students significantly ahead of the competition they will face by arming them with extensive computer skills made possible by this program,” said Berg.

In addition, Berg says that giving every student computer access is providing educational equity. “This program is truly leveling the playing field for many of our students. We talk about equity in education, but this is an initiative that is bringing it to each student. We are making a difference in the lives of Kershaw County students,” said Berg.

After using their computers during for fours years in high school, students can purchase their computer from the district for $50.
Reports from Kershaw County high school principals, teachers, and students are that the laptops immediately improved instruction and student motivation for learning. “It has been amazing,” said Reggie Dean, Camden High School Principal and South Carolina 2004 Principal of the Year.

For more information on the i-CAN project, click here.