The popularity and use of handheld technologies cannot be denied in today's society. "300,000 first generation iPads were sold before midnight on their first day of sales and an additional 500,000 first generation iPads was sold by the end of that week" (Waters, 2010). The demand forced the iPad's sales to be delayed in Europe (Banister, 2010). Three hundred applications or "apps," the computer term used for a problem which lends itself to processing or solution by a computer, for these devices are being added every day (Banister, 2010). "Apple sold five million iPhone 5's, the first three days it was placed on the market" (Combined Wire Service, 2012). Internet service is now affordable to every socioeconomic group. "In fact today 41% of teens in households earning less than $30,000 per year use their cell phones to go online" (Hill, 2011, p. 23). The use of handheld technology has changed the way our students' minds operate and problem solve (UsersExperiencesWorks, 2011). Even with handheld technology use spanning across all generations of society and changing how we collect, gather, and disseminate information, their use in our educational system is minimal. "70% of schools in the United States did not allow cell phone use during the school day" (Morgan, 2010-2011, p. 141). This qualitative multiple site case study examined four New York State public schools and how school leaders guided their districts through the process of implementing handheld devices into instruction. The phenomenon of change these districts and school leaders experienced were compared to the change theories of Kotter and Cohen (2002) and Bridges (2009). Eleven public school leaders were interviewed for this study, and the data were utilized to answer five research questions. The research questions reviewed the skills of leadership associated with the integration process, the barriers to integration, the strategies used to overcome these barriers, and the factors that led the leaders to initiate the implementation. Skills, such as the ability to form and articulate a vision and the interpersonal skills of communication and collaboration, were determined to be essential leadership skills for the implementation process. Barriers of fear and infrastructure were areas that had to be addressed prior to expanding the implementation past the pilot programs. The strategy of embedded professional development had to be applied to assist staff to overcome their fears. All of the districts were able to see the benefit of the handheld devices in the area of student engagement and increasing opportunities for their students to be college and career ready after graduation. After comparing the integration processes of the four districts, the qualitative data supported the conclusion that a public school leader who chooses to implement handheld devices into their instructional setting should consider the change steps of Kotter and Cohen as a template for the implementation process. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]