With the support of the local community, the Chicago Public Schools and corporate America, by the fall of 2000 Englewood will be home to a charter school that promises the future of technology in education — supplying each student with his own personal computer.
The Edison – Great Builders of Cities Charter School, for students in kindergarten through 8th grade, promises to be one of many charter schools around the United States offering technology to their students in new ways.
Prologue, a local alternative-school organization with three operating high schools, and the Edison Project, a New York-based for-profit charter school company, have come together to open the doors on the new school.
According to Nancy Jackson, chief administrator of Prologue, the personal computers will come equipped with basic office programs, so students can do written assignments, research projects and prepare resumes and portfolios.
One of the school’s many focuses will be on the building and engineering trades with about one-quarter of its curriculum on construction, urban planning, architecture and steel.
The school is counting on the community for partnerships to help make the school a success. “We’ve learned a lot about how to set up a community technology center with no money,” Jackson said. “We’ve got donated equipment, volunteers, and we’ve built our own tables for the computers to go on. We just got an Apple corporate grant, which will help.”
And the school plans to give back to the community by making the computers available to area residents.
“The computers are here for the students, but the goal is to make them
accessible to everyone in the community,” Jackson said. “We’ve found that senior citizens are curious, too, and they’re learning very basic computer skills. Some of them are starting to nose around on the Internet.”
“We like to do things with the community, particularly in the area of community techno, try to teach kids and everybody else how to use the computer,” Great Builders principal Pa Joof said.
