Feb. 26--If the effectiveness of giving every student a laptop were measured in enthusiasm, the results so far in the West Bend School District would show success.

Just ask some of the students at Silverbrook Middle School who learned late last year they would participate in a 150-student pilot program of one-to-one computing in the district.

"We were all really excited," said eighth-grader Jaclyn Utrie, 14. "We would ask like every day, 'When are we going to get them?' "

The enthusiasm hasn't died four weeks after the computers arrived, but now it's accompanied by responsibility. They have to prove that giving every student a laptop can improve education, not just in West Bend but also to other schools in the area considering a similar step.

Although several schools in the Milwaukee area, mostly small and private, have given laptops to students or required them to bring their own, West Bend could be the first to experiment with a large, multi-school program.

"What I'm hoping is, if this works, then everyone will have the chance to have one," said Tom Balestrieri, 14, another Silverbrook eighth-grader.

The weight's not entirely on the shoulders of the West Bend students. Some other school districts in the state also are starting to experiment with universal laptop programs.

The Pewaukee School District plans to start distributing some sort of portable technology -- be it laptop, tablet or hand-held device -- to its eighth-graders in fall.

Every public or private high school freshman in Stevens Point could receive a laptop for schoolwork next year, under a proposal by the Sentry Insurance Foundation, which would provide financing for the next five years.

"The world is becoming a digital world, and we need to instruct and prepare these students to be digital citizens," said Amy Pugh, an instructional technology specialist in Pewaukee.

The efforts are being aided by a drop in technological costs -- West Bend's small laptops are $300 each -- and a belief that one of the best ways to prepare students for the future is by making computers ubiquitous. The district is financing most of the cost of the program.

Universal laptop programs exist in nearly every state, with results so far showing they are more likely to improve student attitudes and attendance than test scores, said Yong Zhao, an education professor at Michigan State University and co-author of "The Digital Pencil," a book about one-to-one computing in schools.