The Handheld Educators Leadership Program was launched in the Summer of 2002 as a collaborative project between the College of Education at Wichita State Universityand the Instructional Technology Department of the Wichita Public Schools. The objective of the project is to investigate use of handheld computers to improve student achievement, create standards based curriculum, and to develop educational leadership in use of handheld technology in the classroom.

In September, four schools were selected for participation in the project. A team, the Handheld Computing Advisor Committee, recommended the selection criteria along with the general structure of the program. The schools North High, Mayberry Middle, Kellogg Science and Technology, and Spaght Accelerated Magnet Schools have been provided with 25 Palm M130 handheld computers, an budget for software and hardware accessories, and extensive inservice activities provided by WPS and WSU.

Three other schools have decided to join us and provide their own Palm handheld computers. Those schools are Curtis Middle, Mead Middle, Gardner Elementary and Lawrence Elementary Schools. They are included to participate in all of the training and inservice activities during the year as we look at developing a model for handheld deployment for the district.

We believe that the participants in the project will ensure our success in adapting this technology to address our district educational needs. Our goal is to grow together and develop an operational framework to extend handheld computers throughout the district providing our students with ready access to instructional technology.