As part of a groundbreaking personalized learning initiative, CICS West Belden put iPads and Chromebooks into the hands of every student at the Chicago charter school—just not right away.
For the first year, West Belden tested the devices in just a few pilot classrooms—and only after teachers and students were prepared to use them. School leaders emphasized the need to bring teachers with differing comfort levels on board; those who were most enthusiastic about leveraging technology helped design the full implementation, select the software, and run the pilot classrooms to spark interest among their peers.