School laptop program begets writing gains

In my own district, we noticed a great inconsistency with the ability to write across the curriculum. Meaning, students have great difficulty in translating their abilities to write out a thoughtful, coherent paper describing a math problem, for example. To tackle this problem, our district has piloted the use of Moodle as a way to promote online collaboration and peer editing of works. Though not our only reason to use Moodle, it is a major reason.

I found a recent article about a study done on the Maine's ed-tech initiative (AKA their 1:1 program). The study shows the greatest growth has taken place in the student ability to write for the standardized test. Promising, and yet I am going to take the time to read the actual study. One's ability to write for a standardized test, to me, does not necessarily translate a student is a better writer. However, the 20 percent jump in test scores may say otherwise. Again, a look at the study will hopefully answer my questions, or only raise more.