School Profiles

e Akau ki Papamoa Primary School transformed from a failing school to a nationally recognised model school for integrating technology into teaching and learning. They created a learning environment based on Māori values, supported by a one-to-one iPad program. There has been an acceleration literacy and numeracy of up to two times faster than expected year-level progress and 90 percent of students are now reading at or above the expected standard. Te Akau ki Papamoa engages every learner with no exceptions - 'He wake eke noa'.

Teachers at Philadelphia Performing Arts: A String Theory Charter School create custom learning materials with iPad, iTunes U, and iBooks Author. As the city's largest tuition-free K–12 charter school, it offers a STEAM curriculum that emphasizes academic and artistic excellence equally. And with Apple technology at the core of teaching and learning, teachers design their own curriculum, and students create multimedia projects that reflect their individual creativity and knowledge.

In thinking about new ways to develop and deliver curriculum, Philadelphia Performing Arts decided to abandon traditional textbooks in upper-middle school and high school. Teachers are free to develop their own customized curriculum the way they want to teach and the way students will learn best. By allowing students to express their newfound knowledge however they choose, iPad helps them become more self-reliant. It's how Philadelphia Performing Arts is producing a generation of creative problem solvers.