Ten years ago, New York City’s Intermediate School 339 (IS339) was home to the type of learning environment one might expect from an inner-city school in a low-income neighborhood. Located in the Claremont district of the Bronx, this middle school struggled to meet the educational needs of its 945 students. Nearly 85% of students qualified for free or reduced cost lunch, with 28% enrolled in the English as a second language program. One assessment of the school showed that only 9% of students were testing to the appropriate grade level in math. Teachers struggled to keep kids engaged, often failing to do so thanks to an immense lack of resources. Boredom among the student body meant that fights and gang activity were also common. “Walking through the hallways, it felt like at any moment chaos was gonna break out.” However all of that would change when one man realized that the “light at the end of the tunnel might [just] be a laptop screen.”
"We make school make more sense for them when we provide them with the opportunity to use technology." Jason Levy