Smethport Area School District opens the doors for students today, and every student in the district will be issued a device to use both at school and home as part of a new technology initiative.

“We have always had hopes and a goal of bringing technology to the one-to-one level for all of our students and over the last couple of years we have updated and refreshed our elementary technology,” Smethport Superintendent David London said. “This year, we are able to take the technology to the one-to-one level as a result of grant funds available due to the pandemic situation.”

The hope with the program is to provide a uniform and consistent approach to 21st Century Learning for the elementary students, London explained. He noted that the one-to-one technology initiative began at the beginning of the year with the older students in the district.

“We started our one-to-one program in January of 2020 when students returned from the holiday break. That worked out in our favor at the 7-12 level as students were able to utilize their device for learning at home during the March to June pandemic closure,” he stated.

From that unexpected deviation from the normal school routine, a lot of academic challenges arose. District administrators found the current climate a good time to address the pressing need for technology.

“It was evident that we need a uniform approach in devices and applications for all of our elementary students so that the learning via technology process could be streamlined for our students and families,” London said.

The benefits of the older students being provided technology have not been measured, as studies can take three to five years to provide accurate data on such a topic. Meanwhile, there are other mitigating factors that would interfere with such an evaluation.

“There are so many other issues affecting achievement right now that I am not sure the effects of technology could be accurately measured,” London said. “We know from experiences in other districts that technology skills will improve as will 21st Century Skills. Those skill improvements should also be measured over time for Smethport students. We also know that without technology, delivering instruction in an ‘at home distance learning’ situation is difficult.”

Meetings both in-person and virtually were held to provide parents with information on the initiative and allow for all appropriate paperwork to be signed.

The funding for the new technology is one silver lining from the continued struggles related to student safety and preparedness for potential surges in illness during the coronavirus pandemic.

“Many districts are using the funds provided via grant opportunities resulting from the pandemic situation to provide devices and applications to support learning,” London explained. “Smethport is in that group. We have also contributed district effort toward our overall technology program.”