At Quaker Valley, students don't blame the dog for missing homework. They blame the laptop computer that is out for repairs.

Selected as one of the state's three digital school districts three years ago, Quaker Valley has been providing laptops to students in grades three through 12 to use on a school wireless network and at home.

District officials have reached some conclusions: Not all students need a laptop to take home; the next laptop contract will include guaranteed quick computer repairs and eliminate that homework excuse; and more sophisticated professional development is needed for teachers.

Tonight, the school board is scheduled to vote on a new, four-year computer lease with Apple -- up to $3.1 million over four years -- that would provide laptops only for students in the ninth through 12th grades to use at school and home.

At the middle and elementary schools, sufficient computers -- laptops and desktops -- would be made available for use at school.

Each teacher would continue to have a laptop.

"This is our year we take a step back and look at what is good and bad, how we adjust to keep moving forward. We don't want to take steps backward,'' said Joseph Marrone, director of administrative services.

As part of the project, the district also tried providing high-speed Internet access to each student's home. That proved too costly and was discontinued last year.

The state digital school grant provided $4.1 million over two years to supplement district technology spending; the district paid for last year on its own. Now, with the expiration of the three-year computer lease, Quaker Valley's use of technology is at a turning point.

"We think the laptops at the high school have been a wonderful tool,'' said board vice president Nancy Chalfant-Walker.

But she said they weren't needed as much at the elementary schools, and there were mixed feelings about their use at the middle school.

Superintendent Gerard Longo said elementary students didn't take the computers home very often, and when they did, parents worried about their access to Web sites.

At the middle school level, he said, laptops were damaged or forgotten, resulting in a number of students not having them in class.

Longo said laptops made a noticeable difference at the high school, including providing access to online Advanced Placement courses. The number of AP exams taken grew from 111 in 2001 to 251 this year.

Harry Faulk, an associate dean emeritus at Carnegie Mellon University who studied the effort for two years, thinks Quaker Valley's latest plan is a good move.

He said the elementary students received some benefits from the laptops, but at the high school, he said, "I think you got a bigger bang for the buck.''

In December, Faulk and RAND Corp. issued two studies on the digital school district.

Both studies pointed to the problems of lengthy laptop repairs and the need for higher- level professional development.

Even so, Faulk said Quaker Valley is ahead of most districts because it uses technology in more and better ways. "They really blazed a trail,'' he said.