Rowan Classrooms Get a Boost from Cisco

By Nancy Kaffer
Hattiesburg American.com
March 30, 2007 

 

Money and Technology from Technology Giant Cisco Systems Inc. Has Transformed Rowan

 Photo: First-grader Ta'Corianna Longino uses a Promethean ACTIVboard to make a measurement. By Rebecca Latimer | Hattiesburg American 

"How long is this rectangle?" teacher Kimberly Miller asks her first-grade class at Rowan Elementary School, gesturing toward the high-tech whiteboard showing a graphic depiction of colored shapes and marked rulers.

Her students know the answer, but a field of hands doesn't sprout - rather, students reach for small, egg-shaped electronic devices called "Activotes."

In seconds, each student has registered an answer to Miller's question, and with the push of a few more buttons, the teacher is able to display instant results on the whiteboard - a Promethean Activboard - indicating which kids get it and which kids need more work.

"I like to use the Activotes," said 6-year-old Deaundra Patton. "It's fun."

Money and technology from California-based technology giant Cisco Systems Inc. has transformed Rowan, teachers say.

Rowan was selected as a 21st Century School by Cisco, receiving more grant dollars than other schools that were awarded some part of the $20 million in grant money Cisco spent in the state.

Hope Magee's job used to involve paperwork - lots and lots of paperwork.

Magee performs the assessments necessary for the school's federal Reading First grant, a process that must be completed three times a year for each of the school's roughly 250 K-3 students. She also completes progress evaluations every two weeks.

Before the Cisco grant enabled the purchase of Magee's handheld personal digital assistant and the software that syncs it with her desktop computer, all assessments were done with pencil and paper.

"I had to score it by hand and then translate it into the system," she said.

Now, she scores the assessments on the PDA, which instantly derives a score, and is able to load the data directly onto her computer.