MSNBC reports on Maine’s laptop program, and the news seems to be pretty positive:

• Students scored significantly higher on the writing test despite having to write it by hand.
• Attendance is up with students reporting that they liked school better since getting the laptop.
• Detentions are down.
• Teachers are able to make lessons more personal for students.
• Teachers report that students are becoming better at combining information from different sources and expressing their thoughts.
• It’s easier to study real-world problems and dig deeper into concepts.
• Students are learning 21st century skills like collaboration and creativity.
• Maine feels like it is helping to ease the economic digital divide.

Here’s the negative:  test scores, besides the writing test, have not changed much. And, as we all know, test scores are really what’s important:  “What we need to look at is the broader impact on student improvement,” said Timothy Magner, the director of the Office of Education Technology, a branch of the U.S. Department of Education. “One of the key metrics is test scores. We’re keenly interested in that.”

So, despite all the successes, the program is going to be judged on one metric, which at least according to one academic, may not be the right one.  “What you can do on laptops isn’t measured on current standardized tests,” said Mark Warschauer, an education professor at UC Irvine.

And, here’s the other bad news: Maine would like to expand the program, but budget cuts have made that impossible.  So, let’s see, we seem to have found something that gets kids engaged and helps them learn, but we don’t have the political will to actually fund it.  I’m reminded of the old saying: it will be a great day when schools get all the money they need, and the air force has to have a bake sale to build a bomber.