Concord, NH — It was winter of 2004, and Parents’ Night at Winnisquam Regional Middle School was already off to a rousing start. At the New Hampshire school, teachers were proudly showing off the work of seventh graders who were using their new wireless iBook laptops. Shortly after the festivities got underway, an unexpected guest arrived: Governor Craig Benson — without bodyguard, limo, entourage, or a single photographer. “He drove himself over, sat down with the kids, and had himself one heck of a great time,” says Winnisquam teacher Nancy Ober. “He has since become a true friend to our school.”
Benson brings a special passion to the 1 to 1 learning model. As a former college professor and a cofounder of CableTron, Inc., he understands the full potential and value of the technology/education nexus. Even more crucial, Benson personally knocked on the doors of private industry to find dollars for his state’s Technology Promoting Student Excellence (TPSE) laptop program.
“I had met with former Maine Governor Angus King prior to becoming governor of New Hampshire,” says Benson. “Then when I assumed office I was able to share some of the data from Maine’s laptop initiative, that showed decreases in absenteeism, in trips to detention, and in tardiness … in short, that kids who had the iBook laptops became excited about going to school. With that information we were able to convince the local business community what the laptops could do, and eventually raised $1.3 million to fund the program.”
Students have rich, live content right on their iBook laptops. Teachers can spend more time teaching, and less time writing notes on the board.
— Adam Houghton, District Technology Coordinator, Haverhill Cooperative Middle School
Schools Vie for Laptops
Aware that the initial funding would not support a statewide laptop initiative, Benson devised an imaginative solution: He put out a request for proposal to 23 of the state’s middle schools, inviting them to envision how the laptops would be used. All of the schools were at the lower end of the socioeconomic scale, and had a history of low student achievement.
