El Paso ISD

As a high school student, carrying around
seven or eight paper textbooks might well feel
like hauling stone tablets. Books are heavy,
cumbersome, static, and often out of date.
EPISD traditionally replaced textbooks every
eight years, but when that time came due
recently, Superintendent Juan Cabrera had a
dierent idea: to transform classroom teaching
through the use of digital content.
“If we bought a device that hosts multiple
textbooks and has the ability to make subject
matter dynamic, we could give students both
a research tool and a collaboration tool—an
engaging environment where they could be
active participants in their own learning,”
Cabrera says. “In no way does paper engage
students like an electronic format can; the
e-text environment can be rich with videos,
interactivity, and content refreshed on the y.
It’s a tool for transforming how education is
delivered in the classroom.”
It’s also a tool for empowering students to
succeed in the digital age. Approximately
80% of EPISD students are eligible for
reduced-price or free lunches, an indicator of
economic demographics. Many had never used
computers before, and El Paso teachers had
not yet integrated digital textbooks into their
classroom methods. Therefore, the district
did not simply distribute devices and hope
for the best. Rather, it planned with care. A
comprehensive four-page process checklist
addresses every success factor, from teacher
professional development all the way down to
notebook repair and reimaging.
Students and faculty choose
HP Stream Notebook
The rst item on the checklist was device
selection. EPISD initially wanted to consider
three types of devices—laptops, tablets,
and Chromebooks—and sent out a Request
for Proposal that received 27 responses. An
EPISD committee then narrowed the device
options to a short list of three—a tablet, a
touchscreen laptop (both non-HP), and the
HP Stream Notebook.
Loan equipment was distributed to teachers
and students for testing and the committee
kept mum about its own preferences for HP as
the industry-leading vendor. “The committee’s
top choice was the HP Stream but we didn’t
want to bias the teachers or students. We just
gave them all three devices and said, ‘Tell us
what you think,’” recalls Stephen Stiles, EPISD
chief technology ocer.
“I personally thought the teachers would
prefer the HP Stream and students would
go for the tablet. To my surprise, they both
went for the HP Stream. The students
recognized that the tablets could break, and
the detachable keyboards and styluses could
get lost. They thought the HP Stream, with
its portability and responsive keyboard, was
best suited to their needs. It was a slam-dunk
decision all the way around.”
“ Preparation is everything. We
have a process checklist that
any district that wants to do
an implementation like this
needs to address.”
– Stephen Stiles, chief technology ocer, El Paso
Independent School District
Students liked that the thin and lightweight
HP Stream Notebook, featuring an 11.6-inch
diagonal display, would t easily in backpacks.
EPISD also provided them with carrying cases.
Windows 10 helps bring students up to speed
while maximizing collaboration with Microsoft
OneDrive* cloud storage. EPISD opts for the
notebooks to come loaded with Microsoft
Oce 365 for the Oce suite of applications.
HP helped arrange for Microsoft to come in
to train a core group of teachers, who then
trained their colleagues—1,200 high school
teachers—on basic application usage.
Meanwhile, district IT sta prepared the
EPISD network and power infrastructures to
optimize both online and oine functionality.
The district also uses HP PCs in classroom
Case study | K-12 Education
2
*
Sold separately or as optional features.