Dell Named 2014 Education Partner of the Year by Google for Education

At Dell, we are committed to empowering educators and students with technology to personalize learning and develop the critical thinking skills they need for college and career. Realizing this goal requires a thoughtful, end-to-end IT strategy and close collaboration with industry partners to offer schools a robust portfolio of productive, affordable and flexible IT solutions specifically designed for education. Our latest education solutions portfolio launch exemplifies this approach, including the second generation of the Dell Chromebook 11 with new features to advance digital learning while maximizing school budgets. And, with our new Dell KACE K1000 Systems Management Appliance, we offer first-to-market management support for Chromebooks, making it even easier to administer, secure and manage all Chromebook devices.

That’s why I am thrilled to share that Google for Work & Education recognized Dell as the 2014 Education Partner of the Year at TeamWork 2015, the annual global partner summit which took place in San Diego, CA. This award demonstrates Dell’s unwavering focus on education customers and strong collaboration with Google to enable schools to deploy, manage and support Dell Chromebooks successfully.

After all, working together to help schools innovate learning that is really what is most important about our partnership. We’ve seen some incredible results from school districts across the country that leverage Dell Chromebooks to increase student access to technology, meet online testing requirements and support unique learning needs.

For example, Hesperia Unified School District deployed more than 19,000 Dell Chromebooks to enhance learning for the district’s students in grades 2-12. The district was able to save more than $3 million by selecting the Dell Chromebook over traditional textbooks and plans to use the devices to enhance classroom instruction while also preparing for Smarter Balanced Assessment testing. 

"Working every day on the same device that will be used to take the Smarter Balanced Assessment will definitely benefit our students and over time, we anticipate that teachers will develop computer-enhanced activities that complement the Smarter Balanced questions and even better prepare our students for the test, " according to Director of K-12 Programs and Projects Darrel Nickolaisen.

More recently, 100 students in the New Buffalo Area School district received Dell Chromebooks to transition from computer labs toward mobile learning environments. Chillicothe high school students “lit up” upon receiving Dell Chromebook 11 laptops in January and are excited to collaborate on projects using their devices. And, Dare County Schools’ Digital Learning Initiative deployed the Dell Chromebook 11 to take their schools into the 21st Century.

These are just a few of the inspiring stories that demonstrate the impact of our partnership in education. At Dell we remain steadfast to meeting the needs of our education customers, with open, affordable and manageable solutions.  We are excited to build upon this success so that more students and teachers everywhere have the opportunity to realize technology’s learning potential.

About the Author: Jon Phillips