The World’s First 1:1 Laptop Program Started in Maine – So How’d It Turn Out?
Across the United States, an estimated 88% of public school districts now employ some form of 1-to-1 computing, whereby every student is provided with a personal laptop or tablet for use at school (and oftentimes at home). Similar initiatives have spread to dozens of countries around the world, making 1:1 computing one of the defining educational reforms of the twenty-first century.
With such extraordinary global adoption, you’d assume these programs are supported by overwhelming evidence demonstrating substantial improvements in student learning.
Think again.
1-to-1 computer initiatives have one of the lowest effect sizes in the entire EdTech literature: approximately +0.12 (1, 2, 3). That’s less than one-third of the +0.42benchmark commonly used to identify educational interventions with meaningful impact.
Put simply, one-to-one laptop programs consistently underperform many traditional, analog approaches to teaching and learning. Given the enormous financial investment and transformational claims made on their behalf, these modest results should give policymakers, educators, and parents pause.
So where did this whole movement begin?
Surprisingly, it began in one small U.S. state.
In 2002, Maine became the first jurisdiction in the U.S. – and one of the first in the world – to launch a statewide one-to-one laptop program. More than twenty years later, it remains the country’s longest-running statewide 1:1 initiative.
If there is anywhere we should expect to observe the long-term benefits of one-to-one computing, it is here.
At a time when most schools still relied on shared desktop computer labs, Maine embraced a radically different vision: every student carrying a personal computer into every lesson, every day. The Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) sought to transform teaching and learning through digital technology – and more than two decades later, the program continues today.
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“The curious case of Maine doesn’t prove that 1-to-1 computing harms learning. But after more than 20 years and more than $450 million in public investment, the outcome is increasingly difficult to ignore.”
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