Tag: maine

Maine high school iBook program looks promising

Maine’s education commissioner says she has assurances from at least 47 superintendents that they are ready to move forward with iBooks in high schools this fall, giving her confidence that a deal can be struck with Apple. “Susan Gendron said the commitments bring her closer to the minimum level of 8,400 students and teachers necessary for Apple to rent laptops for US$300 apiece per year, with training and other perks included,” reports AP.

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Tentative plan to put iBooks in some Maine high schools

Following the news that Maine’s iBook program would not be expanded into high schools this fall, the administration of John Baldacci quickly came up with a new plan to get the laptops to some ninth-graders. “Under the proposal, Apple is considering renting laptops to school districts that want them for high schools this fall, and payments would be deferred for a year, Education Commissioner Susan Gendron said,” reports AP.

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iBook expansion in Maine not looking good

Leaders of the Maine Legislature’s education committee said Monday that the state’s iBook program will not be expanded into high schools this fall, but Governor John Baldacci refused to concede defeat before reviewing his options, according to a Maine Today article. Apple representatives and the state Department of Education met for most of the day to review their options after the Legislature ended its special session with no action on laptops. Baldacci said he planned to review those options on Tuesday.

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Apple in negotiations to expand Maine iBook program

As expected, Apple has begun negotiations with Maine’s Education Department to expand the state’s middle school iBook program into high schools. “Against a backdrop of budget turmoil, Education Commissioner Susan Gendron is seeking to sell state lawmakers on her proposal for tapping into a renovation fund to jump-start an expansion of the state’s laptop program into the state’s 160 high schools and vocational schools,” reports AP.

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Students give Maine iBook program high marks

“Thirteen-year-old Jeremy Harmon says that learning on a laptop computer is more fun than just reading a book,” writes Tess Nacelewicz for the Portland Press Herald. “‘You can be more involved with the work and we can do a lot more stuff, like spreadsheets,’ the seventh-grader at Portland’s Lyman Moore Middle School said Thursday. His comments echo those of other seventh-graders who participated in a state study of the impact that Maine’s unique laptop computer initiative is having, halfway through its first year.

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NYT: Maine iBook program a success

The New York Times (free registration required) reports on the success of Governor Angus King’s initiative to bring iBooks to every seventh and eighth grader in Maine. “Attendance is up. Detentions are down. Just six months after Maine began a controversial program to provide laptop computers to every seventh grader in the state, educators are impressed by how quickly students and teachers have adapted to laptop technology.” Read More

Thousands of Maine students to get free home Internet access

Maine Governor Angus King announced last week that thousands more students in the state will get home Internet access for iBooks assigned to them by their schools, thanks to millions of dollars worth of cash and donations, reports AP. About half of the 239 Maine schools that received iBooks let students take them home for research, but those without Internet access are at a disadvantage, said King.

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