Chromebooks continue to secure their spot as the number one choice for teachers and students in the classroom.

In the last year, Chromebook went from having less than 1 percent of the education market to nearly 20 percent, according to an article on onvia.com. The article said Gartner reported that out of the 2.9 million Chromebooks that were made in 2013, “the U.S. education sector bought 85 percent of them.”

“Over the last several years, many U.S. K-12 schools have adopted a one-to-one laptop program, primarily for high school students or in wealthier schools,” the article said. “In the program, students are issued a laptop to use in class and, in some cases, at home.”

The article said that the iPad “was the top choice for many of these schools,” but “may not be the best choice now.”

“With the adoption of Common Core in many states which requires a computer with a keyboard for online testing and an overall tech-savvy mindset of teachers and students alike, more K-12 students are getting the opportunity to be a part of a 1:1 program – thanks in large part to Google’s Chromebook,” said the article. “The Chromebook is an affordable option and this is an extremely important factor when schools on limited budgets consider which mobile computer to buy and how many.”

Chromebooks, the article said, “have additional advantages over the competition. Chromebooks can be configured quickly, require little training and need very little maintenance – in turn providing more overall cost savings.”

“Each Chromebook comes complete with multiple layers of security, a long battery life, built-in cloud storage, a browser-based operating system, a keyboard and access to many apps including Google’s Apps for Education and a suite of offline apps,” said the article. “Overall, teachers and administrators find that Chromebooks helps inspire students to learn, to create and to collaborate in real-time.”

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Article by Kassondra Granata, Education World Contributor