HP Makes the Grade with One-to-one Computing

(2005-04-08)

Kershaw County School District selects HP and Classroom Connect to deploy one-to-one computing initiative

One-to-one computing – where each teacher and student pervasively use a notebook or tablet PC in their everyday teaching and learning process – is proving to be a highly effective educational practice at many schools across the country.

Extending a longstanding, collaborative relationship, Kershaw County chose to work with HP due to its comprehensive portfolio of technology solutions and services and its continuing commitment to improve student learning and teacher efficiencies through one-to-one computing initiatives.

"One-to-one computing encourages greater collaboration and critical thinking from students while catering to a myriad of learning styles in an interactive school setting," said Cathy Martin, director of education, Government, Health, and Education – Americas, HP. "Beyond offering a broad portfolio of technology solutions and services, HP works with key industry partners to help ensure schools are getting what they need from their technology investment, including the training and professional development to learn how to use technology in the daily curriculum."

Kershaw County School District serves one of South Carolina's rural student populations. As part of the growing popularity of one-to-one computing in K-12 education, Kershaw County's four-year contract will put HP Compaq nx5000 notebooks into the hands of the district's 3,000 high school students and 200 high school teachers.

Demanding more than just a hardware solution from its technology providers, Kershaw County wanted a mechanism to ensure that its teachers were equipped with the knowledge to effectively implement technology into the curriculum. When assessing technology providers, the district decided that HP had the most comprehensive professional development solution to meet its training needs.

"What made HP stand head-and-shoulders above the competition was its ability to bring Kershaw an entire solution – from hardware to professional development. HP's partnership with Classroom Connect met our faculty training requirements and allowed us to use one IT provider for top-of-the-line hardware and service solutions," said Herbert Berg, superintendent, Kershaw County School District.

Classroom Connect, an educational technology division of Harcourt Education, is providing student software and technology professional development to Kershaw County School District through its Laptop Institute. The Institute includes comprehensive workshops designed to integrate technology in classroom instruction and for online courses, mentoring for teachers and an ongoing series of workshops for school leaders and administrators.

"For the past 10 years, Classroom Connect has seen firsthand the profound impact professional development has on a technology program's success," said Jim Bowler, president and chief executive officer, Classroom Connect. "Robust, dynamic training on how to make the connection between notebook usage and boosting student achievement is critical. We are honored to be working with HP to fulfill this essential aspect of the Kershaw County initiative."

HP notebooks are used to modify, modernize and personalize educational instruction and learning in Kershaw County. In addition, the district's three high schools also are equipped with HP Photosmart digital cameras and HP vp6111 digital projectors to give students access to the technology needed to function successfully in today's workplace.

To ensure that HP technology solutions are running optimally at all times, HP provides each of Kershaw County's high schools with onsite technical support staff. In addition, Kershaw County relies on HP ProLiant servers and HP ProCurve switches to handle the county's administrative and infrastructural computing systems.

About HP

HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure, global services, business and home computing, and imaging and printing. For the four fiscal quarters ended Jan. 31, 2005, HP revenue totaled $81.8 billion. More information about HP (NYSE, Nasdaq: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com.

This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that, if they ever materialize or prove incorrect, could cause the results of HP and its consolidated subsidiaries to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including the expected development, performance or rankings of products or services; statements of expectation or belief; and any statement of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include the development, performance and market acceptance of products and services and other risks that are described from time to time in HP's Securities and Exchange Commission reports, including but not limited to HP's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Oct. 31, 2004. HP assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.