Lexington County School District One creates SMART classrooms
South Carolina district installs hundreds of SMART Board interactive whiteboards
CALGARY, Alberta --- September 8, 2005 --- SMART Technologies Inc. announces that Lexington County School District One has equipped 300 classrooms with SMART Board™ interactive whiteboards to prepare 21st-century learners for a digital future. South Carolina’s Lexington One school district has more than 19,000 students and plans to have approximately 600 SMART Board interactive whiteboards installed in its elementary classrooms by late 2005 – moving toward its goal to outfit every K–6 classroom. The district received grants from the SMARTer Kids™ Foundation of Canada and help from local SMART reseller ProView to support the district’s technology implementation. Lexington One chose SMART products because they integrate well with various technology tools and software programs.
With a strong emphasis on building technology proficiencies for both teachers and students at Lexington One, nearly 95 percent of teachers have passed the technology competency modules developed by district administrators. To develop the students’ technology skill sets early on, the teachers collaborate with instructional technology coaches to incorporate interactive whiteboards into K–6 lessons for every core subject, including art and music. The SMART Board interactive whiteboard is a primary instructional tool and is integrated with various classroom technology tools, including projectors, wireless laptops, streaming video, digital cameras, DVD players and video cameras. Using classroom voting devices with the SMART Board interactive whiteboard, the teachers can also do impromptu benchmarking and assessment tests. The teachers access a wealth of interactive lesson activities that are correlated to state curriculum standards and available for free download from www.education.smarttech.com/standards.
Many school jurisdictions have standardized on SMART Board interactive whiteboards, which provide interactive learning opportunities and enhance student achievement in more than 150,000 classrooms spanning every U.S. state, every Local Education Authority in the UK and more than 75 countries.
“We’re constantly looking for innovative ways to boost student achievement in the district. We’ve found that the SMART Board interactive whiteboard is integral to engaging students in the classroom – it helps students stay on task and learn better,” says Patrick Hanks, director of instructional technology at Lexington County School District One. “One memorable example that comes to mind: when asked what does she like most about school, one of our third graders said she likes writing on the SMART Board interactive whiteboard best.”
“Lexington County School District One aims to build a strong foundation for its youngest students by providing a leading-edge learning environment for them,” says Nancy Knowlton, SMART’s president and co-CEO. “SMART products are helping the school district achieve this objective by creating an engaging learning experience for all.”
About SMART Board interactive whiteboards
The SMART Board interactive whiteboard is a large, touch-sensitive display. Connected to a computer and projector, the interactive whiteboard is like a giant computer screen that students and teachers simply touch to operate. Using their finger or a pen as a mouse, teachers and students can access and control any computer application, file or multimedia platform, including the Internet, CD-ROMs and DVDs. They can also write over applications in digital ink, then save their work for future study and review. The SMART Board interactive whiteboard engages students with diverse learning styles by providing both immediate access to a wide range of digital materials and a common focus for the entire class – not something easily achieved with other technologies. It is the number one choice among primary and secondary school educators in more than 75 countries worldwide because the pioneering software interface captures the imagination of students of all backgrounds and abilities in order to help them learn together, understand better and achieve more. For more information, visit www.smarttech.com/smartboard.
About ProView
ProView is an audiovisual integrator dedicated to helping schools across the Carolinas make the transition into the 21st century through the integration of SMART products, multimedia projectors, Wi-Fi products and videoconferencing tools for distance learning. ProView also provides design, engineering, installation and grant assistance for a complete turnkey solution. ProView is one component of the operating company, Southern Business Communications. For more information, visit www.proviewinc.com.
For more information, contact:
Public Relations
SMART Technologies Inc.
1207 – 11th Avenue SW, Suite 300
Calgary, AB T3C 0M5
CANADA
403.802.2595
pr@smarttech.com
Please note that SMART is written in all capital letters.