With high hopes for test scores, Canby School District invests in iPod touches and iPads | OregonLive.com

With high hopes for test scores, Canby School District invests in iPod touches and iPads | OregonLive.com

With high hopes for test scores, Canby School District invests in iPod touches and iPads

Published: Saturday, January 01, 2011, 7:00 AM Updated: Saturday, January 01, 2011, 7:32 AM

By Nicole Dungca, The Oregonian
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View full sizeDoug Beghtel/The OregonianHannah Evans practices math problems on a school-issued iPod touch in teacher Kelly Turcotte's fourth-grade class at Canby's Philander Lee Elementary. While some schools have banned cellular phones and mobile Internet devices, the Canby School District is embracing portable media players.

CANBY -- With a furrowed brow and a deep breath, Dallis Engel pressed down on the screen of her iPod touch.

Then, she began to read.

"My brother William is a fisherman," she said, using a finger to trace words in Patricia MacLachlan's book, "Sarah, Plain and Tall."

The 9-year-old stumbled over pronunciations and skipped words as an application recorded her voice. When she finished the passage, she glanced over at her teacher, Kelly Turcotte, and explained her next step.

"I have to listen to it and make sure it's perfect," she said. "If you sound like a robot, you have to do it again."

In the Canby School District, it's a familiar scene. While schools in the nearby North Clackamas School District and others across the nation have banned personal cellular phones or mobile Internet devices, Engel's fourth-grade classroom at Philander Lee Elementary is