So what do students think?

MELANIE REUTER: "I don't have to carry a textbook around, so that's nice."

MARIA STEPHANY: "I don't like it because the Internet sometimes, its like, doesn't work."

BRIAN TRAN: "You can highlight your work. You can leave notes on your work and it'll all be saved onto your account. It's a lot better than a regular textbook."

Social studies teacher Michael Bambara says the e-book he uses in his government class is better than a printed textbook. He likes the way it has materials for students with different levels of reading skills.

MICHAEL BAMBARA: "Particularly this book, that I use in government has differentiated reading levels. So a person can individualize their learning and I can individualize their instruction."

But the students also need access to the Internet when they are not at school. About ten percent of students in Fairfax County do not have a computer or online access at home. Stephen Castillo is one of them.

STEPHEN CASTILLO: "Pretty much I go to, like, the library, I guess, or go to a friend's house."

Public libraries in the county have free Internet. There are also after-school computer labs as well as computer clubhouses supported by the county. Middle school student Slieman Hakim is happy about that. He says his family has to share a single computer at home.

SLIEMAN HAKIM: "All of my family works on a computer, my sister and me both do our homework on it. So I come here to do my homework. It's good."