School district promotes learning innovation with advanced technology for every student. Kent School District

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1 School district promotes learning innovation with advanced technology for every student 4,500 employees United States Public education When decided to expand its One Student One Device program to elementary schools, it developed a strategy to use technology to transform classrooms while streamlining IT maintenance. The district adopted Windows 10 and distributed the HP EliteBook 820 laptop and Microsoft Surface Pro 3 devices to students from kindergarten to sixth grade, and students became more engaged and performed better academically, while the district reduced IT costs and helped build community support for technology in the classroom.

2 serves 28,000 K 12 students at 43 campuses in the city of Kent, Washington. The district employs 4,500 teachers, administrators, and other staff. What if all children from the day they started school had their own computers? If they all had the modern tools they need, what kind of school work would they do, and what kind of learning experience would they build for themselves? Ask the where kindergarten students learn to write the alphabet using touchscreen tablets, fourth graders collaborate on team projects in the cloud, and sixth graders get real-time feedback from teachers while they work online. Innovative learning opportunities We believe Windows 10 and Office 365 can help us open up new opportunities for students and teachers in and out of the classroom. Stosh Morency, Interim Chief Information and Digital Strategy Officer, Serving 28,000 K 12 students at 43 campuses, Kent is one of the most diverse school districts in the state of Washington more than 130 languages are spoken in the district. Diversity brings opportunities and challenges, and Kent has long been a leader in community building and an innovator in bringing technology directly into the classroom. Since 2009, we have built sustained community engagement in our initiative to provide all our students with meaningful technology resources and innovative learning opportunities, says Stosh Morency, Interim Chief Information and Digital Strategy Officer at the Kent School District.

3 The motto is, successfully preparing all students for their futures, and by 2015, it was already providing a laptop running the Windows 7 operating system to every student from seventh to twelfth grade. The district wanted to expand the program for elementary students, which would double the number of devices it would have to distribute and manage. It also wanted to expose students to advanced technologies and new devices that could give them more flexibility; easier connections to information, peers, and teachers; and new options for learning. features and capabilities in Windows 10, including the ability to update the operating system without having to do a manual refresh on each device, Kent School District decided to become an early adopter of Windows 10 and worked with Microsoft Services to launch a pilot project in February 2015 at four elementary schools. Students are eager to adapt the tools we provide them to meet their individualized learning needs, says Morency. We have to make sure we provide them with tools that have the flexibility to meet those needs. A new approach for IT To double the size of its One Student One Device program, the district needed to improve device management. It already takes the IT team the entire summer to refresh student devices. A new approach was needed and the team is excited about Windows 10. The summer refresh is so intense that we get behind on other housekeeping, and the start of school can sometimes be challenging, says Leslie Binions, Technical Support Lead at Kent School District. We definitely need a way to ease into the new school year more smoothly. An unbeatable technology combination for education The school district has maintained a longstanding relationship with Microsoft and it is both a Microsoft Showcase School and a visitation site for the National School Board Association. When it saw the new key The district distributed 590 Microsoft Surface Pro 3 devices to students in kindergarten and grades four through six, and 400 HP EliteBook 820 laptops in grades one through three. It deployed Windows 10 on all the new devices, and 104 teachers and librarians upgraded to Windows 10. Around the same time, the entire district began using Microsoft Office 365. Binions took charge of the pilot and the eventual district-wide migration to Windows 10. We wanted uniformity with the tools that teachers and students were already familiar with while taking advantage of the most up-to-date technology and security safeguards, he says. But we also wanted to make sure we could give students the flexibility to use their devices the way they want to.

4 Students are eager to adapt the tools we provide them to meet their individualized learning needs. We have to make sure we provide them with tools that have the flexibility to meet those needs. Stosh Morency, Interim Chief Information and Digital Strategy Officer, More ways to learn, more student engagement Students using the new devices are finding new ways to work and learn, based on their personal working styles. Some students with the Surface Pro 3 use the typing pad and a mouse like a laptop, while others prefer the touchscreen in tablet mode. Kindergarteners use the Surface Pen and touchscreen to learn how to write letters. Students in the fourth through sixth grades use inking and Scratch Space in Microsoft OneNote to draw out math problems and shapes for geometry lessons. Students in all grade levels in Kent now use OneNote to collaborate on team research projects, track assignments, share writing projects with teachers, and get feedback in real time. They use PowerPoint Online and Sway to create visually engaging reports. Beth Sommerville, a Teacher-Librarian Technology Integration Specialist at Fairwood Elementary School in the, has seen how students use these devices to learn at their own pace. Students who get done quickly can find resources for additional exploration, and online assignments provide different types of direction and guidance for students who learn in different ways, she says. Even teachers that were initially resistant now love the Windows 10 devices because students are more engaged and less disruptive. Sommerville notes that before the district provided devices to students, school could seem like a technology downgrade from the rest of their lives. Now their school experience more closely matches their home life, and it helps prepare students for a technology-based workplace. The elementary students cannot take their devices home yet but can sign on to their Office 365 accounts on other devices off campus to work on assignments and collaborate with their teachers and peers from home. Better learning experience, higher achievement The is excited about expanding the technology resources it can offer to students by adopting Windows 10 and the Microsoft cloud. We believe Windows 10 and Office 365 can help us open up new opportunities for students and teachers in and out of the classroom, says Morency. With tools such as OneNote Class Notebooks, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive, teachers can monitor students progress in real time and help

5 them stay on task. That makes it easier for teachers to personalize the learning experience and give appropriate attention to students at every level in the classroom. We ve seen tremendous gains in a few specific students, says Aubrey Buerstatte, Teacher-Librarian and Technology Integration Specialist at Horizon Elementary School. One girl was always late. She slept through class, had difficulty with her handwriting, and was performing below grade level. Then her teacher helped her set up a OneNote folder and start doing her work on a Surface Pro 3 running Windows 10. She was able to organize and keep track of her assignments, and compose without worrying about her handwriting. The touch screen and Surface pen were also large factors in getting this student engaged in her learning. Now she is excited to do her work, her test scores have improved dramatically, and she is on target to finish the year above grade level. install Windows 10 on all 26,000 devices in the school district by the start of the school year. Happy teachers, happy students, happy IT With administration and management features in Windows 10 such as in-place upgrade, the IT team at can get more done in less time. When asked what else his team might be able to accomplish without having to refresh 26,000 devices over the summer, Binions jokes, take a month off. IT relief Binions anticipates that in-place upgrades with Windows 10 will replace the current process of manually refreshing each device, simplifying his team s summers. With security features such as Microsoft AppLocker, BitLocker, and device-level data encryption built into Windows 10, Kent School District can distribute devices to students and teachers with confidence. Deploying Bitlocker encrypted systems protects our staff and students should their device fall into the wrong hands, says Binions. It also helps us prevent kids from using Safe Mode to circumvent District restrictions. The pilot rollout ended successfully in January 2016, and the district began distributing Windows 10 PCs to all its elementary-school libraries. It expects to Seriously, he adds, streamlining our workload will provide opportunities that we don t even know about yet, and a uniform, robust, secure, and stable operating system will create basic efficiencies and help us resolve problems faster. When we can keep teachers and students happy, we re happy. With simpler upgrades, more reliability, and safeguards the district can trust, Morency foresees a time when students can even take their devices home for the summer. We ve always envisioned having these devices in the hands of kids all year long, he says.

6 Even teachers that were initially resistant now love the Windows 10 devices because students are more engaged and less disruptive. Beth Sommerville, Teacher Librarian and Technology Integration Specialist, Fairwood Elementary School, Education leadership and community support The district continues to be recognized for its commitment to technology innovation and student success. Educators from around the world come to to visit its showcase schools. A group hosted by the National School Board Association visited the district in 2005 with a follow-up visit in 2015 to see how the has sustained the innovative use of technology to support student learning. The 2015 visit coincided with the annual technology expo, a community event that attracts an average of 5,000 people every year to see students showcasing their learning. Parents and other community members attended the event, which helped to generate more parent involvement and increased public support. The district believes the best evidence of support is the community s continued willingness to pass levies to fund more technology in Kent schools. Hardware Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Microsoft Surface Pen Hewlett Packard Laptops Product Solution Taxonomies Windows 10 Enterprise Microsoft Office 365 Microsoft SharePoint Online Microsoft OneDrive Microsoft OneNote Microsoft PowerPoint Online Windows 10 Windows 10 is the best Windows ever. It combines what people like most about Windows 7 and 8 with great new features. It has a familiar look and feel, plus innovations in security, personalization, and productivity that work across your devices. The result is a rich experience that s quick to learn, easy to use, and great for doing the things that matter most to you. Sway Technologies AppLocker BitLocker This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Document published April 2016