Laptop users score high Laptop users score high (July 02, 2004)

District reviews immersion program
by Teresa C. Brown

A Laptop Immersion program, piloted at Harvest Park Middle School, got high marks during its review at the school district trustees' meeting June 22.

Cindy Galbo, assistant superintendent for Educational Services, told the trustees that the successful program is expanding to seventh grade at Pleasanton Middle School next year.

"In general, the difference was significant across all graded levels," said Cengiz Gulek, director of Assessment and Evaluation for the Pleasanton Unified School District.

"Students in the laptop program scored much higher than those in the non-laptop program," Gulek told the trustees.

Gulek showed school board members a graphed comparison between the laptop users and the non-users, noting that the users consistently scored higher than the non-users in a variety of tests, including California standardized tests and end-of-the-course tests.

A total of 259 students were enrolled in the laptop program, now in its third year, at the middle school, Gulek said. There were 91 students in sixth grade, 93 in seventh, and 75 in eighth.

Using the end-of-the-course grades in English, the greatest difference was in seventh grade, where 90 percent of the laptop users achieved a "B" grade or better, compared to 63 percent of non-users.

In sixth grade, the percentage was 88 percent to 76 percent, and in eighth grade it was 76 percent to 71 percent.

In math scores, the results were similar. In grade seven, 84 percent of the students in the program scored a "B" or better compared to 75 percent of the non-users. In sixth grade, the comparison was 80 percent to 71 percent; and in eighth, it was 68 percent to 56 percent.

Across the entire grade scale, students in the laptop program scored higher than their non-user counterparts, with the lowest percentage of students overall scoring "C," "D" and "F" grades.

Only 1 percent in eighth-grade English and sixth-grade math in the laptop program scored a failing grade, while at other grade levels, no one scored an "F."

Among non-users, no one in eighth-grade English scored a failing grade, and in the other grade levels, the percentage failing the end-of-the-course test ranged from 2 to 6 percent.

Likewise, laptop-using students scored substantially higher in the district-wide writing sample, Gulek said. In sixth grade district-wide, 81 percent of the students met the writing standard, while among the sixth-grade laptop users, 95 percent met the standard. In eighth grade, the percentage of laptop users who met the standard was 91 percent, and district-wide it was 84 percent.

The review also included the percentage of students who scored at or above the national average on the California Achievement Test and the California Standards Test in English, math and English language arts with similar results.

The greatest percentage point difference reported by Gulek was in math for seventh grade: 22 percentage points separated the users from the non-users, with 81 percent of laptop users scoring either at the proficient or advanced level.

Gulek also reported on first semester grade point averages for students in the program in comparison to those not in it. In grade six, the average GPA for laptop users was 3.51, compared to 3.21 of non-users.

In seventh grade, it was 3.36 compared to 3.04; and in eighth, it was 3.22 to 3.10.

The laptop program began in the 2001-02 academic year at Harvest Park with 60 sixth-grade students participating and parents purchasing the laptops.

Among high-achieving students, the program had the same percentage of students identified as gifted and talented as those not in the program.

In addition to expansion, the district will also explore the availability of online or CD textbooks as a possible future cost-saving measure.

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