Students get free laptops

Students at two Rowland Unified schools received free laptops this week, and the excitement was palpable.

 

Fifth-graders at Oswalt Academy try out the new computers.

Pebbles Tsai takes pictures with a photo program, with help from teacher Lisa Rodriguez, right. Grandmother Meilin Tsai looks on.

Fifth- and sixth-graders and their teachers at Oswalt Academy and Ybarra Academy of the Arts and Technology were given the Apple Notebook computers through the Laptop Learning Program, which provides students full-time use of the computers, at home and school, regardless of economic background.

School district officials said many of the students from the Walnut schools do not have computers at home.

Officials said that teachers and parents report that students who participate in these kinds of programs are more involved in learning activities and spend more time on schoolwork.

-- Beth Shuster

Photo credits: Gina Ward

'Wired' to college

It's no surprise to most parents that their teenagers are better able than they to negotiate technology. If they're really "wired," students can choose a college based on rankings out today by PC Magazine and Princeton Review.

Local schools did well in the survey: Pomona College in Claremont was ranked fifth and lauded for its 24-hour on-campus computer repair service. USC was 17th. Read more about the rankings on The Times' Technology blog.

-- Mary MacVean