Piedmont schools receives grant

Piedmont Middle School has been awarded a $450,000 grant to continue developing a program that is changing the way students there learn.  The program utilizes laptop computers to provide individualized instruction and track students’ progress in the mastery of concepts. Students who understand the material well can earn high school credits in the lower grades.  Supt Matt Akin said The school will use the money to pay for teacher training, buy software, redesign its old library and hire someone to coordinate the program, which will result in a complete redesign of the classroom.  The new program, called mBolden, was started this academic year with a planning grant from Next Generation Learning Challenges, an organization that supports innovation in education. The organization, backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is again supporting the system’s plan with the grant award announced this week, but this time the system plans to use the money to expand the program, which is being piloted at the middle school now.

Piedmont is the only public school district from the South to receive an award from the grant program.