Teachers and administrators in Los Angeles responded to an anonymous survey about the district’s commitment to spend $1 billion to give iPads to all students and staff.
36% of teachers were enthusiastic, compared to 90% of administrators.
Howard Blume of the Los Angeles Times contrasts their reactions:
“It would seem Robert J. Moreau, a computer animation teacher who struggled for grants to set up a lab, would be among the first to applaud the $1-billion iPad program in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
But he’s not.
“It’s outrageous, appalling, that we are buying these toys when we don’t have adequate personnel to clean, to supervise,” said the Roosevelt High School instructor. “Classrooms are overcrowded, and my room has not been swept or mopped in years except by me and the students…. It would be great if the basics were met. I can’t get past that.”
Revere Middle School Principal Fern Somoza, meanwhile, praised the effort to provide every administrator, teacher and student in the nation’s second-largest school district with the Apple tablets.
“The good-old days are today,” Somoza said.”
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-ipads-survey-20131202,0,2314290.story#ixzz2mI1RvQyf
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I question the validity of the response from site administrators. I know that at least one group of principal’s had to give their names when expressing their individual opinion about Ipads for their respective sites. Fear of backlash or professional retaliation can account for the responses as much as anything. The LA Times can not be counted on to ask any hard or meaningful questions, such as how the data was collected.
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I have to argue with the assertion that the LA Times will not ask hard questions relative to the iPads.
Recently, it seems the LA Times has found its backbone with regard to covering LAUSD (I wish the editorial page would catch up). I heard the LA Times’ Howard Blume on NPR insisting that the public was entitled to know what went on in a closed session school board meeting and we have seen bold coverage resulting from shoe-leather journalism and what could only be tedious investigative reporting covering lengthy meetings and volumes of meeting minutes. It might be the only thing we can be grateful for about this boondoggle.
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Living in the climate of fear exacerbated by Deasy’s firings, most teachers will not particpate in this kind of survey where their names must be appended to their answers.
There is no scientific way to survey LAUSD personnel unless there is total anonumuty.
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typo correction…anonimity…
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anononmickeymousity…….. sorry I could not resist. I will atone for my sins.
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Diane, great post, as always. I do hope that you will respond to today’s NYT’s editorial on teachers. Seems to me like there are lots of non-evidence-based assertions in that piece. Would love your thoughts.
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Link to that editorial?
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Read like a deformer’s script to me. As you state, many non-evidence-based assertions, for the most part bashing teachers and those GDed unions.
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Thanks!!
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I empathize with the computer animation teacher. Pouring money into tech tools and not teachers and other staff is the result of someone’s bread getting buttered on both sides. It really is an egregious abuse of power. At what point will the educators in the trenches have meaningful input into how money is spent?
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Taking/giving a poll is a no-brainer; doing it right, well, that’s a horse of a different color…
See Dr. Mercedes Schneider aka deutsch29 on an AFT poll on teacher support for CC:
Link: http://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2013/05/08/weingarten-wants-me-to-want-the-common-core-state-standards/
Link: http://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2013/05/24/hart-weingarten-and-polling-about-common-core/
Link: http://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2013/05/30/hart-weingarten-and-power-point-deception/
See also her comments on polling about standardized tests and Common Core:
Link: http://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2013/08/21/the-ap-and-gallup-polls-a-commentary/
Although torturing numbers & stats is not a crime against humanity, it is a crime against the ethical treatment of figures.
There oughta be a law…
😎
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