Pilot program to enhance student learning at home

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Pilot program to enhance student learning at home

Around Osceola

Wednesday, 14 April 2010 00:00

In partnership with DELL Computers, the Osceola County School District will soon be putting computers and learning software in the hands of English Language Learners (ELLs) to enhance their English language acquisition at home.
Phase 1 of the Families and Schools, Together! (Project F.A.S.T.) will begin with the distribution of netbook computers for home use to 150 students at Ventura Elementary and Denn John Middle Schools. The computers were distributed to selected students on Wednesday night at Denn John Middle and tonight at 6 p.m. at Ventura Elementary. Funds for the netbooks will be provided by DELL, the district's exclusive computer vendor, through a Rebate Program on purchases made for schools and departments.
The goal of the program is to close the achievement gap for Osceola’s ELL students by expanding the instructional time beyond the traditional school day. Such additional time on task and resources are needed as students with limited English ability often struggle with learning the language at the same time they are trying to learn the content in each academic area. Providing resources directly into homes where little to no English is spoken is a powerful means of reaching not only students, but parents and siblings as well.
“Technology, especially computers, can play an integral part in providing our ELL students with valuable language experiences as they learn English,” Superintendent Michael A. Grego said. “These computers will provide a powerful home-to-school connection as they will be used to provide additional language learning opportunities that take place beyond normal classroom instruction making for an extended school day and year. Combining these opportunities with activities that can be done at home with family members will provide a rich language learning experience for our Osceola students.”
Participating students will be given pre- and post-assessments so academic gains can be measured and evaluations will be done to see the increases in grades, language acquisition, and test scores. As additional rebate dollars become available from DELL, the number of participating students and schools will be expanded.