Why Schools are Turning to Google Apps

What is this article about?
Why Schools are Turning to Google Apps. Edutopia. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2010/04/28/schools-google-apps/

Schools are turning to using Google Apps for three big reasons. 1) It saves schools money; 2) It boosts academic performance and motivation, and; 3) It prepares students for digital communication in the real world.

Saving Money- The Oregon state public school system is turning to Google Apps and projects to save $1.5 million per year. Google Apps is free for educational institutions and is a good replacement for other formats for generating student work.
Boosting Motivation and Performance- These Oregon schools have found that Google Apps creates student interest and allows for an affordable one-on-one teaching format for at-risk students that were doing poorly in English. The Google Apps have shown to boost reading scores several points over a course of a year. The students are showing fewer behavior problems and harder work ethic.
Preparing for the Real World- Google Sites is a great way to create a digital portfolio of student work instead of a resume to a prospective employer. Science students can collect data and share it in a Google spreadsheet for analysis as a real world scientist might do.

What are my thoughts?
I think that Google Apps is a great free resource for students that may not be able to afford a software package like Microsoft Office. If schools were able to make the shift to use Google Apps more in the classroom, the school could definitely save a lot of money. I think that it would be a tough shift and a steeper learning curve for the teachers. I think that it would take a lot of work to convince an entire school or even district to make this shift. Change is not easy, even if it is free.