New London Snags $128K from State for School Technology

New London Public Schools will receive $128,469 in state grant money for technology as part of an effort to better equip the district for compliance with the new Common Core standards.

New London applied for the money from the state Department of Education late this summer after a request for proposals was issued and plans to use it expand bandwidth and computer workstations at the middle and high schools.

 “We are very excited to upgrade the older, existing technologies in these two schools to take advantage of not only online curriculum offerings but the Smarter Balanced assessment,” Timothy Wheeler, the district’s chief information officer, said Friday in a news release issued by New London Public Schools.

Overall, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced $24 million in grants to 128 applicants Friday.

“Ensuring students are prepared to compete in a global economy and to excel in 21st century careers means that we must strive to equip them with the knowledge, skills and tools they will need,” Gov. Malloy said. “I believe in the Common Core Standards and do not want to impose unfunded costs on municipalities for technology-related expenditures necessary to implement these standards, which is why we secured additional funding in response to districts’ needs and concerns.”

The computerized Smarter Balance assessments will start to replace the longstanding math and English language arts CMT and CAPT tests during the 2014-15 school year, although the science portion of the older pencil/bubble tests will continue to be administered.

According to the governor’s office, awards must be used for the purposes of purchasing new computing devices, inter-school bandwidth, or inter-district bandwidth.