Zion-Benton Township High School K12...tight-knit group of students and teachers—we really know...
Transcript of Zion-Benton Township High School K12...tight-knit group of students and teachers—we really know...
K ids “in the middle” have a special place to go at Zion-Benton Township High School
north of Chicago. For more than eight years, the school has operated a Tech Academy
that offers a small learning environment for roughly 250 of the school’s 2,600 students.
Designed to appeal to kids who are neither top of the class nor in need of special education
services, the academy helps average students prepare for college using a school-within-a-school
environment where every student carries a Dell Latitude notebook computer.
Small schools and small learning communities have become a favored way to provide students
with more attention from teachers. For the Tech Academy, that advantage is augmented by
courses designed to get the most from the fact that each student comes to class each day with
his or her own notebook. Students in the academy take 12.5 of their 22 graduation-requirement
credits within the academy—everything except for foreign language, math, gym and electives.
“We have all the academy classes in one hallway where all the rooms are wired for the
kids’ computers,” says Kevin Smyk, the academy’s coordinator and science teacher. We’re a
tight-knit group of students and teachers—we really know when a student is having a bad day.”
CUSTOMER OVERVIEW
Zion-Benton Township High School offers
a Tech Academy for 250 of its 2,600
students who thrive in the small, specialized
environment that marks the program. The
Tech Academy prepares these students for a
college career through a teaching approach
that integrates subject areas with a focus
on technology.
CHALLENGE
The Tech Academy needed reliable technology
with dependable support and a company that
could offer easy ordering for students and
their parents.
SOLUTION Each student in the Tech Academy purchases
their own Dell™ Latitude™ notebook through
a Dell Premier Page Web site dedicated
exclusively to the Academy.
BENEFITThe Dell notebooks are dependable, and the
Tech Academy can rely on Dell Service Support
to provide quick assistance making it simple
for students to own their own computers. The
notebooks help teachers bring education to life
and give students a competitive edge as they
prepare for college.
Zion-Benton Township High School K12
DELL SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE™ FRAMEWORK ■
DELL INTELLIGENT CLASSROOM™ SOLUTION ■
LIBRARY ■
MOBILITY ■
ASSESSMENT/STANDARDS ■
ONE-TO-ONE ■
E-RATE ■
One-to-one Dell notebook initiative on a small scale creates high impact student education at Zion-Benton High School’s Tech Academy
Small School Within A School, Big Results
Multidisciplinary courses
Cohorts of students move from class to class during the part of
the day they’re in the Tech Academy allowing the faculty to design
multidisciplinary courses that are connected in ways that simply aren’t
possible when each student has a unique schedule. For example,
when students are learning about medieval Europe in history class,
they walk to physics the next period and figure out the machinery of
catapults and siege engines.
Genevieve Sherman deCabrera, who teaches English in the academy,
says her juniors get to choose a book about environmental issues then
study that topic’s real-world impact in biology. Meanwhile, her freshman
class just read Animal Farm during a unit on the Russian revolution
in history class. Next up is Elie Wiesel’s Night during the unit on
World War II.
Of course, the notebook computers are invaluable for the work
that comes with these demanding courses. “In social studies,
when they’re doing current events, having the notebooks allows for
just-in-time learning—the students can look at and discuss the most
recent events,” Smyk says.
Time to shine
Public speaking and group work are particularly valued in the academy.
Students typically give more than 20 presentations to classmates and
faculty over their four years, and here the notebooks really shine.
“Almost everything has some multimedia presentation requirement,”
Smyk says. “PowerPoint is now a minimum—that will get you a C for
that aspect of the project.”
Unlike many other one-to-one computer initiatives, Zion-Benton
doesn’t provide the computers for the Tech Academy’s students. Each
family is responsible for purchasing the Dell™ Latitude™ notebook the
student uses each day. The district has worked together with Dell
to make two choices available: a basic model and a slightly more
expensive one with a few more options, such as a DVD burner.
Once a family has picked out their machine from a Dell Premier Page,
a page on the Dell Web site created for Tech Academy participants,
the school partitions the computer’s hard drive into two sections.“ The
family owns the computer, so we can’t tell them they can’t use it at
home. But still, we wrestle with how secure to make [the notebooks],”
says Lee Steinsdoerfer, the school’s technology director. “We make
an agreement with the parents that we control the C drive. We set
it up with our own software so all students have the same programs
for classes. And they use the D drive for what they want to install
at home so they don’t put on something that interferes with the
school’s programs.”
Reliable machines
Dell hasn’t always provided all the computers for the Tech Academy,
Steinsdoerfer says, but the firm has the school’s business now in large
part because the machines are reliable—and because Dell offers a
four-year limited warranty1 for when the inevitable tech problems do
arise. The district found that Dell’s flexible, reliable approach stood
In social studies, when they’re doing current events, having the notebooks allows for
just-in-time learning—the students can look at and discuss the most recent events.”
— Kevin Smyk, Tech Academy Coordinator and Science Teacher, Zion-Benton Township High School
PLACE IM-AGE HERE
1 For a copy of our guarantees and limited warranties, please write Dell U.S.A. L.P., Attn: Warranties, One Dell Way, Round Rock, TX 78682. For more information, visit www.dell.com/warranty.
Dell cannot be responsible for errors in typography, photography or omissions. Dell, the Dell logo, PowerEdge, Latitude, and OptiPlex are trademarks of Dell Inc. Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products. Dell disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others. © 2007 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of Dell Inc. is strictly forbidden. 07DPUB148_0507
out among other competitive bids, and that Dell’s partnership with the
school is comprehensive and unique.
A teacher in the Tech Academy since it opened, Sherman deCabrera
says she has watched as the notebooks were used mostly for research
at the beginning, to now, when students turn in their homework and
look up assignments online, create presentations in Flash, and help one
another on a moderated bulletin board the program offers. “We get
e-mail from kids who graduated and are in college, and they say they’re
leaps and bounds ahead of their peers with both the technology and
what they know in class,” she says. “It’s always nice to hear.”
HOW IT WORKS
HARDWAREDell™ Latitude™ notebooks
SERVICESDell Premier Page Web site
Dell Four-Year Warranty
We get e-mail from kids who graduated
and are in college, and they say they’re
leaps and bounds ahead of their peers
with both the technology and what they
know in class. It’s always nice to hear.”
— Genevieve Sherman deCabrera, English Teacher, Tech Academy, Zion-Benton Township High School