As educators around the world continue to choose SMART products, more and more districts are implementing large-scale installations, often standardizing across multiple schools, grades and subject areas. Charleston County School District (CCSD) in Charleston, South Carolina, Lubbock Independent School District (LISD) in Lubbock, Texas, and Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) in Orange County, Florida, are three U.S. districts to recently adopt a large number of SMART products, including SMART Board interactive whiteboards, SMART Document Cameras and SMART Response interactive response systems, to name a few.

Charleston County School District
In September 2011, CCSD – the second-largest district in South Carolina – added 3,500 SMART Document Cameras to their already extensive collection of SMART products. Five years ago, CCSD began installing SMART Board interactive whiteboards in their classrooms and today have more than 3,500 interactive whiteboards in schools throughout the district. CCSD represents a unique blend of urban, suburban and rural schools that span 1,000 square miles of coastal lands and serves approximately 44,000 students in 80 schools, including several specialized programs. Thanks to Mixed Reality Tools – 3D Tools for SMART Notebook software, sample 3D content and the mixed reality cube, which you can assign to 3D images and use to manipulate them on your interactive whiteboard – teachers and students have been using the SMART Document Camera in all grades and subjects. In addition to SMART Board interactive whiteboards and SMART Document Cameras, CCSD uses the SMART Response interactive response system, SMART Classroom Suite interactive learning software, SMART Ideas concept-mapping software and SMART Slate wireless slates in their classrooms.

Lubbock Independent School District
In November 2011, LISD chose to standardize on SMART products, installing approximately 1,300 SMART Board 680i interactive whiteboard systems and 1,300 SMART Document Cameras in classrooms where core subjects, such as science, math, language arts or social studies, are taught. In order to ensure that all students have access to the new interactive solutions, LISD also installed 75 SMART Height-Adjustable Wall Mounts in pre-kindergarten classrooms, enabling younger children to reach the interactive whiteboards. Many teachers at LISD have been using the SMART Board interactive whiteboard since 2004 and over the years, district officials discovered that nearly every teacher applying for a technology grant was asking for a SMART Board. Thanks to a US$198-million bond passed in 2010, with US$28-million dedicated to technology, LISD was able to install SMART products in classrooms throughout the district and are now considering adding SMART Response interactive response systems to classrooms in the future.

Orange County Public Schools
Most recently, OCPS – the tenth largest school district in the U.S. with more than 181,000 students and 8,000 classrooms – chose to standardize on SMART products. SMART Board interactive whiteboards were already installed in approximately 2,500 classrooms across the district and, with this standardization, OCPS has approved expenditures up to $3.6-million over the next three years for SMART products, licensing, training, installation and services. As part of their standardization, OCPS will be installing SMART Board 800 series interactive whiteboards in classrooms across the district and may also include SMART Response interactive response systems, SMART Document Cameras and SMART Slate wireless slates. With the standardization at OCPS, 22 of the 25 largest U.S. public schools have now installed SMART Boards in their classrooms, with seven of those 22 districts standardizing on SMART products.

You can learn more about the school districts highlighted here by visiting Charleston County School District at ccsdschools.com, Lubbock ISD at lubbockisd.org and Orange County Public Schools at ocps.net.

Has your school recently added a significant number of SMART products to the classroom, or do you know of a school or district that has? If so, please tell us about it in the comment section below.