The school's 1:1 laptop-to-student initiative is a role model for other institutions—even those in other countries, says Carol Mann, director of information systems for the school. In the past year, St. Andrew's has played host to delegates from Costa Rica and Scotland and, most recently, a group of educators from Monterrey, Mexico.

Five administrators from the American School Foundation of Monterrey visited St. Andrew's on the morning of Feb. 25 to learn more about the use of Apple laptop computers in the daily curriculum.

The group was accompanied by representatives from Apple Latin America, including senior education sales executive Eric Apablasa. St. Andrew's is "a reference site where they are using Apple technology," Apablasa said. "They're the only ones with the [1:1 initiative] that I know of in this area."

Mann led the entourage around the campus, visiting classrooms and meeting with teachers. The visitors were given a brief history of the computer integration, which was started four years ago; observed students using their laptops to create a presentation on the digestive system; and talked to teachers about their use of the computers for subjects such as science, social studies, foreign language, art and English.

"Truly, you look into any classroom and your chances of seeing a student using an iBook is pretty good," Mann said. "We love showing off what we do because there's so much enthusiasm for it."

According to Mann, the enthusiasm comes not only from school staff and students but also from the community. While the school pays discounted prices for the laptops, the funding comes from an annual giving drive. Through the generosity of St. Andrew's parents, the school is able to afford one computer for each student.

Ron Lalonde, middle school assistant principal of the American School Foundation of Monterrey, said the school is just now building its relationship with Apple and considering starting up a similar 1:1 initiative. "We've been an Apple school for 12 years," Lalonde said, referring to the school's use of the company's computers and other equipment.

The delegation spent more than one day at the Bay Area Apple headquarters, but the visit to St. Andrew's was a "real-life application from an educational point of view," Apablasa said.

Along with Lalonde, the visitors were elementary school Assistant Principal Dave Bridgeman, network administrator Roberto Garcia, technology coordinator Lucia Viesca and curriculum coordinator Dave Scoot.

Like St. Andrew's, the American School is an independent day school but has a high school population and has approximately 2,000 students, in contrast to the 450 at St. Andrew's.