Piedmont City Schools

Empowering students with technology

Providing 1:1 Macbook use for all students in grade 4-12

mPower Piedmont, which began in 2009, provides all students in grades 4-12 (approximately 800 students per year) with a laptop computer to use at school or home 24/. mPower is offered despite many ongoing challenges typical of many small, rural districts like Piedmont. With a small and ever-chang...

Encouraging students to work at their own pace

Advancing mastery, relevance, and student ownership

mBolden Piedmont is a mastery-based learning initiative that started at Piedmont Middle School. The school day is divided up into three areas that consist of Team Time, Class Time, and My Time. Team Time is a mentoring time where teachers help students work on goal setting and team building activ...

Providing 24/7 home internet access throughout a rural district

Using MiFi to level the playing field

Providing 24/7 free access first began with installing a wireless mesh over the entire city, through the proceeds from a grant. Students that were not in the city limits were issued a MiFi device to take home to use for internet access. Over time, it was clear that the system couldn't sustain the...

Streaming school in the summer

Providing online courses throughout to help with summer slide as well as credit advancement

Summer Virtual Academy (SVA) offers students opportunities to take online summer classes to help prevent summer slide. Also, students can use SVA for credit advancement. Starting in middle school, students are allowed to take classes that can count toward high school credit, including many langua...