Made possible by a district wide technology initiative, students will use iPads in the classroom as an effort to close a racial achievement gap in the school.

The team at Hazelbrook Middle School is one of nine groups selected for the district's Digital Learning Collaborative, the second phase of ...

Teams of teachers submitted proposals specifying a key area of student learning – like reading, writing or science – and how they would use a specific technology tool to close the gap in those areas.

Sixth grade learning specialist Rory Moore wrote the proposal for Hazelbrook, citing the achievement gap between the school's white students and Hispanic students.

Moore said he chose the iPad because it can be tailored and personalized to fit each student's need.

Each student in those classes will receive an iPad, which will be stored in the classrooms.

Moore plans to use an application called iBooks Author, which allows students to create stories using multimedia, to help develop language skills.

"These kids are so enamored with this technology," he said. "It's so much more stimulating than a workbook."

Tuesday morning, the district's technology specialist, Jo Barendse, made the finishing touches on synching the iPads to Moore's main computer.

She said each iPad is stored in a synching cart, where she can download all the learning applications to each one in one full swoop.

The iPads are then controlled through Moore's MacBook Air laptop, so he can give immediate and individual feedback to each student.

For differentiated instruction, Moore can manually tailor the student's iPad to include other learning applications if needed.

In addition to iBooks Author, Moore will use other phonics-based free applications, including Spelling Plus and visual dictionaries. 

-- Findley Merritt