This website is an e-zine, or online magazine. It is dedicated to the continued evolution of K-12 schools.

Slowly but surely K-12 schools are being transformed from models based on Industrial Age needs and perceptions to models fully suited for the 21st Century society .

The idea of the Smart School was first introduced in 1990 as a model for the City of Hampton Virginia's public schools. In the age of information technology, anything "smart" interacts with its user and adjusts its behavior or response according to a set of predetermined criteria and actions. For example, a "smart" building might interact with those who occupy it in a range of ways. A system might be designed to turn on or off lights in rooms as users come and go. Or a smart building may change the temperature and humidity controls as the number of people in the building increase or decrease. Smart buildings interact with users in specified ways that enhance the user experience and offer more efficient use of resources.


Another example in common use today is smart weapons. Smart weapons interact with the environment to maintain a true path to the target. No longer do bombs just fall from the plane.


Smart Schools, by definition, then, are learning environments that adjust themselves to individual learners. SmartSchools provide a more personalized and appropriate learning experience. Smart Schools are designed and built with information age tools. Very few smart schools exist in the world today. By 2020, we believe they will be the norm.


Smart Schools will provide individualized or personalized learning plans for each learner they serve. Learning plans are based on a comprehensive analysis of learning abilities, special talents, learning styles, or deficiencies in the learner's readiness to learn. Some might call it by its old name: individualized instruction.

Smart Schools go beyond the traditional notion of individualizing instruction. Rather, the focus is on learning; not instruction. In addition, a Smart School will employ advanced IT tools and techniques such as data mining to automate the analysis of individual learners and the development of their learning plans.


While K-12 schoolsin the U.S. are a long way from being "Smart" in 2002, they can begin by building the capacity in their infrastructures, IT resources, and teaching and learning paradigm to achieve SmartSchool status.


The Center for SmartSchool Development has been established to assist schools who are ready to begin the journey to SmartSchool status.

This site is currently under construction. Please visit again within a week or two for more insight into SmartSchools for K-12 education.