Los Angeles Schools’ iPad Purchase Costs Millions and Runs Into Major Snags
Educational technology is often imagined as the answer—how we’re going to launch our children into the future. If all our kids just had computers—or iPads— we would be sure to have moved into the twenty-first century. None of that old-fashioned stuff that used to fill the school day.
This past week, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD)—the nation’s second largest school district with 650,000 students—received a report it had commissioned from the American Institutes for Research (AIR), to evaluate the first phase of its purchase and distribution of iPads for all students. In what is a 95 page report, AIR concludes that getting the technology, getting the iPads to work, getting the iPads used, and getting them used to teach to the Common Core Standards are very different things.
The Los Angeles iPad purchase is a $1.3 billion effort that has been controversial for several reasons. First the school district used restricted capital improvement and construction bond money to purchase the iPads and curriculum. A second issue is that Superintendent John Deasy has been shown to have had close ties to Apple, maker of the iPads, and Pearson, creator of the curriculum installed on the machines. Some speculate that the project has turned Deasy into a liability for the district and that he will soon be out of a job.
To begin its 95 page report, AIR supplies a succinct explanation of the aims of the iPad purchase as well as a short description of steps the Los Angeles Unified Schools took to train its staff to begin implementation:
“The Common Core Technology Project (CCTP) is the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD)’s signature investment in technology, with plans to deliver technology devices to every teacher and student in the district. The CCTP aims to transform learning throughout the district by providing interactive and engaging learning environments, supporting implementation of the Common Core State Standards with digital curriculum materials and assessment, and closing the ‘Digital Divide’ by ensuring that all students have access to 21st century technology.
American Institutes for Research (AIR) is conducting an external evaluation of the project…. It addresses the period from August 2013 through June 2014. In August 2013, the district deployed iPads to an initial wave of 47 ‘Phase 1′ schools. The devices were preloaded with curriculum content designed by Pearson Education to be aligned with the Common Core State Standards. External vendors (Pearson and Apple) and LAUSD staff provided two-to three-day professional development sessions in summer 2013, as well as in-school training for teachers throughout the year. LAUSD hired 14 Virtual Learning Complex Facilitators to prepare leadership teams at each school to support the integration of Common Core Technology Resources in alignment with Common Core State Standards. The district also assigned 14 Microcomputer Support Assistants to provide technical support focusing on configuration of devices, wireless connectivity, and hardware or software malfunctions.”
AIR identifies technical glitches and set-up of the devices as a major problem during this first phase of the roll-out: “The challenges of deployment on this scale meant that project staff not Los Angeles Schools’ iPad Purchase Costs Millions and Runs Into Major Snags | janresseger:
