Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Report: LA Schools' wifi networks may not be ready for tests | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC

Report: LA Schools' wifi networks may not be ready for tests | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC:

Report: LA Schools' wifi networks may not be ready for tests

Baldwin Hills iPad - 8

Maya Sugarman/KPCC

As the board of the Los Angeles Unified School District considers a request by Superintendent John Deasy to buy 67,500 more iPads so students can take new digital state tests in the spring, a committee found that even if the fleet of testing tablets is purchased, most schools wifi networks may not be ready.
Documents released by the district Monday show only 208 of the district's 800 schools have the network capacity to support every student and teacher having an iPad. By the time testing begins in April, 59 more school sites will be fully wifi ready.
The other schools will have to wait – but because students can cycle through testing, some may be able to get by on limited existing networks. Some elementary schools need only a handful of computers online on any given testing hour; other schools will 


With shortage of computer science classes, students in Bell code after school
These Bell High School students meet after school twice a week to practice basic coding and cyber security. The high school canceled it Computer Science course this year.; Credit: Annie Gilbertson/KPCC CyberPatriot is possibly the geekiest high school club in history. Sponsored by the Air Force Association, a dozen teens from the city of Bell meet after school to learn to code. Like most of the c
Long beach elementary parents decide to pay for extra music education
Students play a drum at the Very Special Arts Festival in downtown Los Angeles, October 18, 2013.; Credit: Mary Plummer/KPCC Parents at a Long Beach school are taking their students' music instruction into their own hands and paying for two days of music instruction per week, according to the Long Beach Press Telegram. The move will double the amount of music instruction currently available.  In