Interactive Whiteboards Factor in Improved AYP

Cumberland County Schools (CCS) in Fayetteville, North Carolina, has witnessed a significant increase in its Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) score.

In 2005, CCS began extensively implementing SMART Board interactive whiteboards and AirLiner wireless slates across all 90 schools in the district. Approximately 1,800 SMART Board interactive whiteboards and more than 1,000 wireless slates have been installed to date, with 200 SMART Board interactive whiteboards still to come.

CCS officials pointed to the use of SMART products as a significant contributing factor in the improvement of student outcomes, specifically citing a marked increase in their AYP score. In the 2007–2008 school year, Cumberland County Schools’ AYP was 27.6 percent. In 2008–2009, it jumped to 72.4 percent. This measurement, undertaken as a requirement of the No Child Left Behind Act, is an indication of how well every public school and school district in the United States performs based on standardized testing of K–12 students, elementary and secondary attendance, and grade 12 graduation rates.

  “We believe that a great classroom is interactive,” says Terry Williams, executive director of technology for Cumberland County Schools. “Having SMART products in our classrooms makes them interactive and engaging, inspiring students to learn.”

With more than 54,000 students and 3,600 teachers, CCS is the 4th largest district in North Carolina and 77th largest in the United States.  As reasons for choosing SMART, CCS cited the company’s training services, superior product quality and ease of use. In the 2008–2009 school year, nearly 1,600 CCS teachers were trained on SMART Board interactive whiteboards and SMART Notebook software, with an additional 38 sessions run in the summer of 2009.  According to CCS administrators, teachers were also quick to adopt SMART Notebook software because it works so well with existing technology products.