Isabelle Chiu
Staff Writer
At the Dec. 10 board meeting the Manhattan Beach Unified School District Board of trustees approved the purchase of 500 new Dell Chromebooks for elementary and middle schools.
The board funded this purchase to facilitate Common Core testing for all students this spring. The total cost for this purchase, including Chrome Carts and software, will be $196,859.05 and will be taken from MBUSD’s general fund. When testing is not in session, the district plans to store the Chromebooks in a computer lab for student use.
“The Common Core state standards are the smarter assessment that takes place of the Standardized Testing and Reporting every year,” MBUSD Board Vice President Bill Fournell said. “It has to be done on a computer going forward, as opposed to on a scantron.”
Chromebooks will be used instead of iPads during this year’s testing at the middle and elementary schools. According to Fournell, the testing is expected to go much faster because there are a lot more Chromebooks compared to last year’s number of iPads.
“Having an adequate supply of functioning technology can definitely improve a student’s educational experience,” Mira Costa High School Parent Teacher Student Association President Sandi Gleason said.
Leave a Reply