Capistrano Valley Christian School Success Story

Success
Stories

Capistrano
Valley
Christian

The Affordability of State Funding

Profile

Capistrano Valley Christian School is a private Christian PreK-12 grade school located in San Juan Capistrano,
California. Dr. Terry Gaunt, the Principal of the High School and Human Anatomy & Physiology Instructor,
oversees the one-to-one tablet and PC program. Capistrano’s one-to-one program has entered its eighth year.
Six years into the program, Dr. Gaunt and his administration made the decision to transition from print to digital
books.

Dr. Gaunt and his team were unsure of how to integrate the digital books and classroom environments in their
classrooms and needed an external partner to guide them. The digital transition would reduce the cost of books
and bring Capistrano at the head of the curve in technology and innovation.

Concerns

Being new to the integration of digital books and environments, Dr. Gaunt and his team needed help in setting
up the platforms and books. Having a specialist would provide them with insight to which textbooks were
available in digital form and what books needed alternatives.

Dr. Gaunt and his administration also desired to make digital books more affordable than physical books for their
parents.

“The videos embedded in the book, 3D images, practice quizzes, diagrams, and
virtual labs got me excited because they are cool stuff! They not only helped
me provide the students with an enhanced learning environment, but also
“
enhanced my teaching.
— Dr. Terry Gaunt, Principal & Human Anatomy & Physiology

The Experience School Profile “

Introducing a one-to-one tablet and laptop program to parents, Location
students, and teachers was inspired by the administration’s desire to
advance in technology and innovation within the classroom. “We looked San Juan Capistrano, California
into the trends that schools were going into. After researching, we
wanted to stay ahead of the curve by jumping into it and learning what Grade Levels
it was about.” Six years into using the one-to-one program, Capistrano
decided to branch into digital books and environments with EdTech PreK - 12th
after researching and visiting schools that had already implemented
digital textbooks and had them in place. Enrollment

Through research, Dr. Gaunt and his administration found that digital 440 Students
books could potentially be cheaper than physical books. At first, the
cost of the books did not seem significantly different. “We thought the “We looked into the
digital versions were much cheaper. They were not as inexpensive as we trends that schools
thought. There was a bit of a difference using the one-cost-model plan were going into.
that we are looking into for next year.” The one-cost-model plan takes After researching,
the average cost of books for all students rather than each student we wanted to stay
paying variations in costs. For students who take AP courses and may ahead of the curve
pay $500 for books, this can decrease expenses by several hundred by jumping into it
dollars. EdTech’s Curriculum Specialists give recommendations for and learning what it
alternative editions of books and other texts that meet the school’s was about.
curriculum to reduce book expenses for parents. This not only reduces —Dr. Terry Gaunt
the cost for all students, but parents can also anticipate the cost of the Principal
books in the future.

Digital books and online classroom environments bring an interactive
learning approach to the classroom that helps all types of learners
—­­ visual, auditory, read-write, and kinesthetic. As a teacher, Dr. Gaunt
has benefited from using digital environments in his course. “The
videos embedded in the book, 3D images, practice quizzes, diagrams,
and virtual labs got me excited because they are cool stuff! They
not only helped me provide the students with an enhanced learning
environment, but also enhanced my teaching.”

When Dr. Gaunt and his team started their journey in bringing digital
learning environments and books to the classroom, they struggled with
implementing them. Now, the process of purchasing books in their
EdTech bookstore and accessing content is much easier than expected.
“The transition of purchasing online was not a big deal from hard bound
to digital. Once they purchased their books, their login credentials were
on their shelf and easy to access. Anytime troubleshooting needed to be
done, 90% of the time I was able to handle help my students on my own
before contacting EdTech.” Dr. Gaunt and his team received guidance
in introducing digital books and classrooms to his school and posses
the knowledge and confidence in the innovation it has brought to the

school.

The Solutions

Capistrano Valley Christian School needed help in their digital transition. EdTech addressed the following
pain points they had:

Improving Cost — Since the cost of digital books was not significantly different from textbooks,
EdTech introduced the one-cost-model for students to pay a flat rate to make books more affordable.
Curriculum Guidance — Capistrano received guidance in selecting digital equivalents to
their current textbooks along with recommendation to digital alternatives that met their curriculum.

“Making it “ About EdTech
Possible.
EdTech makes it possible for K-12 students to
access digital content in the classroom. From
helping schools choose and implement ebook
platforms, to helping publishers get their content
digitized and placed in front of students, to aiding
teachers in customizing their students’ learning
experience, EdTech simplifies technology for
learning.

edtechsoftware.com