San Marcos School System Recognized as Tech-Savvy
It’s not often that you’ll find a third-grader who uses a Palm Pilot to do her schoolwork, or have a teacher tell a student to whip out an iPod. But in the San Marcos Consolidated Independent School District, that’s par for the course(work).
It’s all part of a massive transformation the district has undergone in the past four years that includes building new schools, renovating others and using cutting-edge technology to help kids learn.
This district prides itself on its innovative use of technology, and it has been recognized as a leader in using the gadgets of the modern world to help kids solve some pretty big educational problems.
In 2005, the school system launched the Bilingual/ESL iPod Project, a program to help non-English speaking students learn the language. It was one of the first three districts in the nation to make use of Apple’s highly popular MP3 player to educate kids.
Teachers load the video iPods with class material, giving students the opportunity to go home and review what they’ve learned and even pause the player to look up a word.
The program was a huge success, helping kids learn English at breakneck speed.
“We had some of the students go on to advanced placement classes,” says Iris Campbell, public information officer for the school district.
The iPod project has expanded to deaf and special education students, too.
At Bowie Elementary, every third- and fourth-grader is issued a Palm TX with wireless access.
Kids get keyboard instruction starting in the third grade. They take tests online, use digital cameras and interactive white boards, and play online educational games.
The kids not only like it, they seem to be learning more with the new technology, says Ronda Stonecipher, the school district’s coordinator of technology.
“Our students have grown up in the Information Age,” she says. “We try to use that to our advantage. It is their love of technology that we tap into.”
For two years running, the SMCISD has been named the Top Tech District in central Texas.
The wide use of this new technology is a fairly recent phenomenon that came on the heels of building improvements.
In 2004, voters passed two propositions totaling more than $122 million for construction and renovation of new schools. The money was used to build three new elementary schools, a high school and a support services building, along with the renovation of several other schools.
“Since the new buildings have been put in place, we have seen exponential growth in the use of technology by teachers, mainly because of ease of use,” Stonecipher says.
