DPS digital plan eliminates district's textbooks by 2015

Marisa Schultz / The Detroit News

Detroit Public Schools wants to digitalize its teaching within five years as part of a plan to accelerate student achievement.

Viewing technology as the great equalizer, DPS officials said the district is investing in high-tech tools to equip all sixth- through 12th-graders with computers and digitalizing the curriculum, textbooks and lesson plans.

The vision: "By 2015, you are not buying textbooks," said Barbara Byrd-Bennett, the district's chief academic and accountability auditor.

The first step is an interactive Web-based portal called Learning Village that would be fully functioning by the fall. The product is part of a $40 million contract with Boston's Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, which marks the largest single deal for the book publisher. It's paid for with federal grants.

Separately, the district also intends to use another $14.2 million in federal stimulus and Title I dollars for mini laptops for all 36,000 students and 4,000 teachers in grades 6-12. That plan is awaiting approval from the Michigan Department of Education; a spokeswoman there said a decision should come in the next month.

Using Learning Village, teachers can have access to students' assessment results, quickly diagnose struggling students and prescribe an individualized lesson for those students. Parents can also log into the system to track their students' progress, print additional worksheets and view cumulative test results for a teacher's entire class.

Josette Rosendary said she'd have to go to a library or community center to do so. She has a home computer, but no Internet access.

"I'm all for high-tech but everything should not be high-tech," said Rosendary, whose son is in 10th grade.

It's unclear the exact percentage of Detroit households with computers and Internet access, but a 2004 University of Michigan study found that income is the single biggest predictor of computer usage in Metro Detroit.

The initiative is part of the district's broader plans to implement high standards and rigorous curriculum and better use data to track accountability. But, teachers have been asked to embrace too many new products at one time, they argue.

"You put teachers in a position where you won't be able to do all of them effectively," said Keith Johnson, president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers. "If you are going to eat the elephant, you got to take one bite at a time."

To help roll out the Learning Village technology, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is setting up a Detroit office with at least 13 employees for technical support, training and outreach.

mschultz@detnews.com (313) 222-2310