“Between 6,000 and 7,000 Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 students will get their own fourth-generation Apple iPad to use next school year, paid for by the district at a cost of between $1.25 and $1.43 million for a three-year lease,” Jessica Cilella reports for The Daily Herald.

“Officials decided this week to expand the district’s experimental one-on-one program, which put iPad 2s in the hands of 1,500 students last fall, after reviewing the positive impacts iPads are having on instructors and students,” Cilella reports. “The use of iPads by District 211 students this school year has resulted in better organization, instant feedback, savings in paper and class time and more engaged classrooms, according to teachers leading the program.”

Cilella reports, “District 211 officials are considering expanding the program to include every student by the 2014-15 school year. That trend seems to be growing among the more affluent school districts. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire also is considering distributing iPads to all students by 2015. Every incoming freshman could get one starting with the 2013-14 school year. The school already leases hundreds of iPads for students and staff members participating in a test program… Gurnee Elementary District 56′s 2,250 students will start using iPads by late February. Meanwhile, Carol Stream Elementary District 93 plans to have its 4,000 students using personal iPad or MacBook Air laptop computers by 2015.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Smart schools. No wonder Dell et al. are sucking fumes: Finally, the jig is up.