Falls Church City Public Schools (FCCPS) has consistently ranked as Virginia’s best system, and I have been fortunate enough to work with the city for the last 25 years. My name is Dang Nguyen, and I currently serve as the Chief Technology Officer, responsible for all computer technology installation, maintenance, projects, and relevant technology contracts for FCCPS.

It seems like yesterday that I was sitting in my office trying to repair old Compaq computers loaded with Windows 95 and 98 for classroom and library use. The task was complex, requiring several hours of manual hardware troubleshooting and/or component replacement. There was no technology infrastructure in place to support personalized learning. Fast-forward to today, and I find myself distributing MacBook devices to hundreds of students at the beginning of the school year as part of the one-to-one laptop program implemented in 2013.

Before the computer program’s rollout, significant planning and discussion had to occur.

As a part of the Information Technology (IT) team, we developed a technology plan that included the acquisition strategy, funding, piloting, implementation, and communication plan to roll out the project. Our IT team had to understand the student population and consider learning goals, needs, and home environments, especially since our project included an extension of school walls. All these things could not have happened without the right school leadership, which, to me, was critical in developing and maintaining conditions that support this change for academic improvement. The leaders’ voices I heard at the start of this initiative were strong, and they shared the vision that technology would enhance teaching and student-centered learning.

In one instance, a teacher I was helping shared that she was already tired since she had so much lesson planning to catch up on and was concerned the initiative would be more burdensome. On the other hand, another teacher was excited about the initiative. She described how she envisioned this as an easier way to share information and interact with the kids. I brought this feedback and other concerns back to our IT leadership then, and I’m glad I did. The leadership team got wind of these concerns and decided to revise the communication plan to ensure teachers are informed of all laptop initiative decisions. This provided a better level of comfort for certain teachers and made the leadership team more aware of monitoring all concerns to help address them. After all, teacher buy-in is crucial for innovation implementation.

Apple’s one-to-one lease agreement was signed, and our district will lease for three years. At the end of the lease term, we will have the option to purchase the device. The Apple One-to-One program also helps us with other services, such as providing personalized training and support and rolling out the device without hiccups. Furthermore, after we purchased all the devices, we reimaged them and used them for elementary school for another three years.  I remember our district was an Apple Distinguished School for several years after one-to-one deployment.

Many challenges initially existed, like finding limited bandwidth, connection problems, training all users, and managing students’ off-task behaviors.

Nevertheless, we addressed these challenges through problem-solving, shared decision-making, and fidelity to the school’s mission and goals. The goal of the one-to-one laptop program was to bridge the gap between student needs and classroom environments at FCCPS, and it was a success.

The program significantly enhanced student engagement and allowed access to information never made available. The district created a more dynamic and interactive learning environment that blended valuable and effective instruction with technology by providing each student with their device. This significant shift helped foster collaboration between teachers and students, positively impacting personalized learning.

By empowering students with technology, FCCPS has created a more engaging and effective learning environment. The one-to-one laptop program has improved academic outcomes and prepared students for the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.