Edison schools are technologically rich environments that prepare students for the workplaces of tomorrow. We believe that information technology can make students, teachers, and schools more effective—but only when used as a tool and not as a teaching machine. In Edison schools, technology is fully integrated with the education program and used to facilitate communication, research, writing, and analysis just as it is used in the real world. To support this integration, every student, teacher, principal, and administrator has easy access to classroom computers and other technologies, including video cameras, cassette tape recorders, VCR's, televisions, and laser discs. In addition, every family with a student in the third grade or higher receives technology for use in the home and every teacher receives his or her own laptop computer. How does technology help students and families?