RJ Reynolds Foundation: Birth-12 Education Grant Proposal

Carver High School, 3545 Carver School Rd, Winston Salem, NC 27105

Statement of purpose and organizational objectives

Through the generous funding of the Reynolds American Foundation’s Birth-12 Public Education grant,
Carver High School hopes to increase the accessibility for lower-income students to technologies which
have become essential components of modern education. By establishing a technology lending program
through library services, laptops and wifi connections can be made available to students who previously
did not have the advantage of possessing this important technology for use outside of school. By forming
a partnership between library services and an assigned team from the information services department,
this equipment will be tracked and monitored, while also receiving appropriate maintenance and service.
The ability to access these technologies outside of class time will help to create a more equitable
educational experience for all students, regardless of their socioeconomic level. Students who qualify for
free and reduced lunch at our school will be eligible for this technology lending initiative. Our goal is to
see an increase in student achievement due to students now having access to class assignments and
instructional resources at home that they did not previously have. This will be determined by monitoring
students’ performance on class projects and state testing, and through teacher, student, and parent
feedback. We view this program as a pilot project that can be expanded to meet the greater needs of
our school upon evaluation, and potentially become a model for other schools in Forsyth County. Our
specific goals are as follows:

○ To provide at-home access to laptops and/or Wi-Fi through a lending program targeting
socioeconomically disadvantaged Juniors and Seniors at Carver High School
○ To assist staff with identifying students in need of technical access and assignments that
require digital tools. Faculty will be asked to update/edit a shared assignment calendar with
projects that require access to technology and to suggest students that may be struggling due
to lack of access
○ To increase student tech literacy - students who want to participate in the lending program will
be required to take an introductory course regarding basic computer literacy and responsible
care of equipment
○ To improve student test scores, overall grades, and reduce the disadvantage of students
without native access to technology
○ To give students a broader understanding of the world by exposing them to the vast
resources available online
○ To help prepare students for any post-secondary education or the workforce

Description of the problem, need or issue the proposal seeks to address

Many schools are expecting students to have access to computers to complete assignments, research,
complete projects, and access other learning materials. For many students this a difficult task because
they do not have access to computers or the internet. In 2013 the US Census Bureau reported that
86.2% of households in North Carolina have access to computers and the internet, that leaves almost
15% of households without. Here at Carver High in Winston Salem NC, the problem is much more
severe. According to the Forsyth County 2015 School Plan for Improvement for Carver High, 93.15% of
students are eligible for free or reduced lunch compared to the state average of 57.56%. The concept of
the Digital Divide and the lack of access to technology among the poor is well known. According to a
2014 Pew Research Study in Internet User Demographics, only 77% of households making under

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$30,000/yr use the internet, compared to the national average of 87%. Taken together, these statistics
indicate a major need for access to and exposure to digital tools at Carver High. Since the need for
intervention at Carver High is so severe, our pilot program proposes to limit the lending program to
Juniors and Seniors with the hopes of expanding it to all grade levels within 2 years. This program will
help to bridge the gap for those students without computers or internet access, allowing a level playing
field for all.

Description of the proposed project

The laptop lending program we are proposing is for Carver High School, a Forsyth County school in
Winston Salem NC. Carver is a low performing school with a disproportionate number of economically
disadvantaged students. The laptop lending program will target Juniors and Seniors with free or reduced
lunch and enter them into the program based on their access to technology outside of the school. In
order to be eligible to checkout a laptop, the student will be required to take a short class on tech literacy
and digital citizenship. Upon successful completion of the class, each student and student guardian will
sign a terms of use contract, agreeing to responsible use and care conditions as defined by the program.
A breach of these contract terms may result in immediate dismissal from the program. Once they are
eligible, laptops and WiFi hotspots can be made available to them based on priorities setup by faculty
that will register relevant assignments in an online calendar shared with Library Services. Our initial
stock of available technology will consist of 22 Laptops and 7 USB WiFi Hotspots. While our goal is to
provide an equal amount laptops and internet access, the cost of providing mobile WiFi is currently
prohibitive. Our rationale to offer a larger number of laptops is that many digital tools are available
locally on the device and that free WiFi can be found at a variety of public places. During our evaluation
process, we will reexamine this ratio and and make adjustments as we expand the program. Our goals
for this program are to increase the academic performance of students that would not otherwise have
access to digital tools in the home, expose students to digital tools and the broad resources that are
available through them, and to help better prepare students to continue their education or succeed in the
workplace. The lending program and mandatory class for eligibility will both be administered through
Library Services. Forsyth County IT staff will be responsible for acquisition, setup, and maintenance of
the technology, and Carver High faculty will assist in identifying potential candidates for the program, as
well as logging relevant assignments from their courses that require access to the technology, and
providing feedback as to their perceived effectiveness of the program. Our program will incorporate four
evaluations per school year, looking into the effectiveness of our goals. The evaluations will consider the
number of students in the program and any academic improvement by those students based on
longitudinal tracking of individual assignment grades, over all grades, and state test scores. In addition
we will consider surveys of faculty, staff, parents, and students asking about the effectiveness of the
program, and a technical evaluation of the hardware and software used including hours the technology
was checked out and hours of use. Current Carver High School programs are funded by the county and
PTA fundraising. Our timeline and budget are as follows:

Timeline

January 3rd – January 27th

∙ Work with Forsyth Co IT staff to purchase pre approved equipment for the program
∙ Identify students eligible for the program through free/reduced lunch status and based on teacher
recommendations
∙ Work with Library Services to develop curriculum for student checkout eligibility focusing on tech
literacy and digital citizenship

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 ∙ Setup shared, technology-relevant assignment calendar, train faculty on how and when to use it,
open calendar for use

January 27th – February 10th

∙ Train Library Services staff on program logistics and technology used in the program
∙ Setup and test laptops and wireless hotspots

February 13th -

∙ Open the program

Budget

∙ Equipment (22 Chromebooks)

Board of directors and officers

Lauren Caruso, Kristin Forrest, Becky Johannesen, Sten Swenson