Williamson County schools may have only been in session half the day Friday, but at Hillsboro Elementary and Middle School, the lessons were already starting.

"I don t know who's more excited, the students or the teachers," said Kari Miller, principal at Hillsboro.

Second-grade teacher Kaitlyn Nicholson is more excited than most, because Friday wasn't her first day of teaching this year...it was her first day of teaching ever.

"This is what I've wanted to do since I was a little girl," Nicholson said.  "I couldn't picture myself doing anything else.  I used to teach to my teddy bears and my brothers."

Fresh out of the University of Alabama's school of education, Nicholson turned down opportunities all over the southeast to come to Williamson county,
 
"I heard about Williamson County from everyone, even my professors at the University of Alabama who were telling me how wonderful Williamson County was," Nicholson said.

That growing reputation is partly because the Williamson County School District had the highest TCAP scores in the state last year

"We had some excellent scores," said Suzie Cooksey, who teaches 8th-grade language arts.  "We kind of rocked the test.  That was our whole theme for Hillsboro School last year was to rock the test and we did it."

While students and teachers expect to pick up exactly where they left off last year, this year has a few key changes that parents need to know about.
 
"This year, Williamson County has the great new BYOT program which is bring your own technology," Cooksey said.

For the first time, Williamson County students will be able to bring laptops, iPads, smart phones, and E-readers.  Teachers plan to use them as tools, preparing them for the jobs of the future.

"I think it's wonderful because our goal as teachers is to make them successful in the future in actual careers," Nicholson said.
Changes for Williamson Co. Students - Eric Alvarez