The Eastern Upper Peninsula Intermediate School District in Michigan emphasized computer usage in its classrooms to improve digital literacy among economically disadvantaged students and families in Chippewa, Luce, and Mackinac Counties. The District encouraged more than 20,000 households to subscribe to broadband. The School District provided families with new computers to support students’ academic achievement, and educating teachers on how to integrate technology into their lesson plans and homework assignments.

The District believed that a key component of increasing digital literacy among students is to expand technology use in their classrooms. As part of the program, the school district hired an instructional technologist to help teachers identify ways to incorporate digital technology into their lesson plans and homework assignments. The schools now use cloud computing, educational websites, online lesson plans, and web-based software to administer quizzes and facilitate student-teacher communication outside of normal school hours.

Barbara Light, the district’s BTOP project director, said, “The impact of BTOP has been huge! It has provided both a catalyst for change and the means to make change. Due to the commitment of our teachers and administrators to 21st century teaching methods, the provision of computer netbooks, the support of our technology consortium staff, and the work of the instructional technologist, BTOP is transforming the way education happens in our classrooms.”