The Pike County Board of Education has been awarded a $160,000 technology grant by the Alabama Department of Education. The grant was awarded through the Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) program which is designed to improve student academic achievement through the use of technology in elementary and secondary schools, said Stephanie Snyder, who wrote the grant.

Under the EETT program, the U.S. Department of Education provides grants to educational agencies on the basis of their proportionate share of funding under Part A of Title I.

Snyder said the grant funds will be used to target English classes at Pike County and Goshen high schools.

"The goal will be to increase the writing scores of our students through the use of technology," she said. "Nine classrooms in grades seven through 12 will have net books which are mini-laptops. These laptops will be used to implement their writing skills through in-class training and by coordinating writing assignments with other classes."

The English teachers at PCHS & GHS will receive intense technology training this upcoming summer as well as next school year on how to implement this new technology in their classroom. These teachers will be required to assign writing assignments to students using Web 2.0 tools like blogs and wikis. They will also require students to use their student email account, digital locker and homework drop-box to submit assignments. This will be a test to see if these classrooms will be able to "go green" by stopping the use of paper and submitting everything in a digital format.

The English classes will also partner with local businesses to demonstrate to students the types of writing techniques that will be expected when they complete high school or college. The students will create newsletters, brochures, press releases, etc for these local businesses and then have their work critiqued. The students will also partner with the Troy Messenger and submit articles about the Brundidge and Goshen communities.