Did You Know...
Access to computers in schools can make THE difference for students
preparing for tomorrow’s workforce. With your help, we can put them in!
Improving Outcomes & Closing the Digital Divide:
Philadelphia Children’s Foundation supports Philadelphia public schools by installing internet-ready computers into classrooms and publicly accessible (H&SA) rooms within the school. We typically install up to three computers into classrooms of the schools we are able to support. They are part of the school’s network and usage is supervised and encouraged by teachers.
Our computers become an essential tool for teachers in assisting students that are falling behind, keep order in the classroom, and assist students in doing research. Teachers can direct students in need to spend time on educational websites that address students’ individual shortcomings. Some of the most frequently accessed websites include First-in-Math, Lexia (reading/writing), SumDog, ABCya, Class DoJo, and Kahn Academy.
Through access to some of the best educational websites, children increase their academic skills independently and teachers are able to track student use and progress.
How are our Computers Used in the Classroom?
With our classroom computers, Pre-K-to-3rd Grade students learn and review reading, writing, and math skills. Older students can do Internet research for their projects and access more specialized programs (graphics, Google Apps, etc.). Some specifics below:
How is PCF able to support schools?
PCF receives thousands of corporate-donated computers, which we turn into fast Internet terminals for students. PCF volunteers clean, refurbish, and then install Linux on them (reduces support and makes them FAST) to get them ready. PCF then delivers and installs them into identified schools.
Donated computers are not quite “Free”!
The computers are “free” except:
- We have to pay to have them picked up
- In many cases the drives have to be physically destroyed
- Replacement drives and RAM need to be purchased
- Missing keyboards, mice and monitors need to be purchased
- And we pay to have broken donated equipment recycled responsibly
To support schools, we incur additional expenses including:
- Part-time installers (who work alongside students)
- Truck rental
- Printer & toner for H&SA room
- Networks switches
- Audio headsets
- Power strips for every class
- Patch cables (networking)
- Asset tags & Support Materials
- Plus there’s warehouse cost, insurance, and misc expenses
Your support is an investment in our future. Sponsor a computer, classroom or entire school today!
Quotes From Teachers:
Quotes from existing PCF Computers-For-Education recipients:
Kindergarten Teacher Kimberly T.: “12 students entered kindergarten lacking basic skills so they were registered on the LEXIA reading program. I would monitor my students’ LEXIA progress daily (admin tools). By the end of the year, ALL my students mastered the Pre-K skills they were lacking. And SIX students obtained their Kindergarten skills and moved on to 1st Grade by April/May 🙂”
5th Grade Teacher Chiron T.: “…the computers helped with math and reading scores on the PSSA.”
3rd Grade Teacher J. Jones: “Most of my struggling readers improved in fluency and basic decoding skills. Thank You So Much 🙂”
Read (many) more on our testimonials page.
Application Form for Schools
If you are a teacher or a school administrator, please fill out this Application Form.
Classroom Computers Program News:
600+ Laptops Donated to Philadelphia Public Schools
Through the generous equipment and monetary donations from Radnor Middle School, Einstein Healthcare Network, Jefferson Health, the Drumcliff Foundation, and private donors, PCF has been able to significantly increase our support to Philadelphia public schools [...]
Classroom Computers/Printers for Our Partner Schools
During the 2018-19 school year, PCF donated and installed hundreds of desktop computers to various local schools including Houston, Emlen, Logan, Mifflin, and others. The bulk of them were installed into classrooms with the remainder [...]
~160 Computers Donated, Delivered, and Installed at Houston Elem.
For the second year in a row, HealthShare Exchange (web ») employees helped PCF with a full day of volunteering. About 30 employees showed up on a hot late summer day at the beginning of [...]
60 High-End Laptops to Three Schools
On August 20th, PCF Western suburbs co-founders Ashwin and Srikar, along with their new volunteer Divyesh G., had the opportunity to visit three Philadelphia public schools to distribute a total of 60 laptops. Over the summer, [...]
Classroom Computers Installed
During the 20117-18 school year, a great deal of effort was spent ensuring that the teachers in the schools we work with have all the computer equipment they need...or that they have room for, in [...]
30+ Projectors Distributed
Two weeks or so ago, Friends' Central School in Wynnewood donated a van-load full of iMacs and Projectors to PCF. This week, the projectors were distributed to some very happy schools including Emlen, Logan, Dobson, Mifflin, [...]
DIY Classroom Computers at Mifflin
Today we spent some time in Ms. Salter's classroom at Mifflin Elementary School in East Falls. She requested 10 laptops to use for Google Classroom assignments, typing practice, creating papers, and doing research for projects. [...]
“Tech-master” Program at Logan
PCF is delighted to implement our "Tech-Master" program (a.k.a. "It Support Team" or "Geek Squad" program) at Logan. Logan has utilized PCF's Classroom Computers for a few years now and the goal is to teach [...]
Health Partners Plans and PCF Provide 60 Laptops to Lab Charter
On Tuesday September 19, The Philadelphia Children's Foundation, Health Partners Plans, and the Health Partners Foundation presented The Laboratory Charter School with 60 refurbished Laptop Computers. The computers will be used by the teachers and [...]
Lab Wiring at ET Steel
When we contacted Steel about updating our classroom computers at their school, we learned that they needed some help in their computer lab. The first two rows of Macs needed to be hardwired. SDP had [...]
10 More iPads to Jenks in Chestnut Hill
A King of Prussia based company, which prefers to stay anonymous, donated 10 additional iPads to PCF (they donated iPads int he past). Last year, many of the same firm's employees spent a day at [...]
Radnor District Donation Benefits Houston
The Radnor School District has been incredibly supportive of PCF over the years donating hundreds of laptops and hundreds (thousands?) of books. Their donations have helped all the schools we work with and have made [...]
30+ Laser Printers to Teachers/Centers in Need
PCF has been busy distributing and installing Laser Printers to schools and community centers in need. In many schools, teachers only have access to the printer in their school's main office, which means they have [...]
PhillyKids is Looking for Part-Time Worker/s
The Philadelphia Children's Foundation is looking to fill a part time position as soon as possible. Philadelphia Children’s Foundation Elementary School Technology Program Development and Instruction Position Description Background PCF is a non-profit organization of people [...]
Refurbishing Lessons at Houston
In our effort to make schools more self sufficient, we created our "IT Support Teams" program which teaches 4th and 5th graders how to do parts of the refurbishing and performing the updating of machines [...]
Pilot: Emlen 5th Graders Refurbish (& Install) Their Own Computers
PCF spent the day at Emlen Elementary in East Mt. Airy to launch a new way for us to support schools with classroom computers. PCF's "IT Support Team" program refurbishes and installs computers on-site with the help of the [...]
Logan Computers Updated
PCF Recently updated all 50-some-odd computers at Logan Elementary. Logan was the first school we updated using PCF's new "imaging" method. Since we installed the computers at Logan last year, Adobe discontinued Flash for the [...]
PCF’s New State-of-the-Art Refurbishing Process
We could have used a few different titles for this post such as "How To Save Yourself 60+ Minutes Per Machine", or "Fast and Error-Free Refurbishing" or "How DAO Technologies Saved PCF !" among others. [...]
PCF in the Chestnut Hill Local
A long article about PCF, written by Sue Ann Rybak, was published in The Chestnut Hill Local today. Sue accompanied PCF's Jan Deruiter at a recent 3D printing class at Emlen Elementary in East Mt. [...]
20-Unit Laptop Cart for Houston Elementary
Today, we put the finishing touches on a 20-unit laptop cart at Houston Elementary. The second grade teacher, Ms. Renfer, is getting assistance from the district's regional Technology Integration Specialist on how to best integrate [...]
ABCya! Lowers Flash Requirements
ABCya! is one of the most popular educational games websites among students in the various schools we work with. It offers students of all ages/grades educational games to teach them math, reading, and so on [...]
Classroom Computers for James Logan
We found out about Logan Elementary, located just NW of Mt. Airy, from the Principal at Emlen. After meeting with Logan's Principal and TTL, PCF decided to support them with our Classroom Computers program. Man, [...]
Classroom Computers & Mini-Lab at W. Cramp
Thanks to our donors and volunteers, PCF was able to install 30 computers into various classrooms and the Family Resource Room at William Cramp Elementary. Prior to installing the computers, PCF provided Cramp with 8 [...]
Classroom Computers at E.T. Steel
PCF installed almost 50 computers into Steel classrooms in a mad rush before the start of PSSA tests (at which point no visitors would be allowed into the building, let alone classrooms). Earlier in the [...]
The Move Before The Storm
We have learned that it helps to move our equipment into staging rooms inside schools before we show up at a future date to install them. This way, we cut down on truck rental expenses [...]