Larry Cuban, experienced educator and historian emeritus of education at Stanford University, reviews the iPad mess in Los Angeles and wonders:
What were they thinking?
Why so little forethought to the cost and utility of the iPads?
Why is Los Angeles paying Apple more than the retail cost of similar devices?
What does research show about the relationship between such devices and test scores?
Why so little disclosure about the ultimate cost?
Cuban might have also wondered why Superintendent Deasy goes out of his way to insist that this huge expenditure is about civil rights, even though it may mean that many poor African American and Hispanic students attend overcrowded classes in buildings that the district cannot afford to repair.
But at least they have iPads!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
And one question I’d add to the mix is : What about research that calls into question the wifi-ization of classrooms and schools based on potential health impacts? Certainly students’ health and wellbeing is not what motivated this.
The issue of WiFi and the potential for brain cancer particularly in small children, K – 4, is being overlooked it would seem by this Deasy- led charge to force CC study and testing using the overpriced iPads.
In the early 2000s, the LAUSD BoE recognized the input of major scientists as to these dangers, and they put WiFi on hold, not using it in classrooms. Somewhere in the following decade, the inmates took over the asylum that seems to be our second largest school district in the nation, and now we see this seemingly ‘sweetheart deal’ with Apple being pushed by a Superintendent who teachers gave a 91% ‘no confidence’ vote only months ago.
Here is a quote from a colleague sent to me minutes ago.
“I have a great deal of information on this and it is an urgent situation with LAUSD ready to sink a sizable sum into refurbishing infrastructure to accommodate the iPads. Some countries have banned wifi in schools because the threat is simply too great to risk it. Doctors, scientists and local activists have addressed this concern with the board on many occasions, which we have documented. But these concerns have fallen on deaf ears,.”
I published a long list of citations on this site some weeks ago by scientists all having focused on the danger of radiation to developing brains of children. Hope some folks read their studies which make a monumental point….do NOT have children use WiFi, nor have cells anywhere near schools.
Ellen Lubic
Would she/you provide that list of citations re: wifi? Would be very useful.
I just sent a full science report, including many credible citations, to Diane Ravitch asking that she feature this report. It has info as recent as 2013 and although it is a British report on the affects of WiFi (and radiation) on children’s (and others) health, it clearly speaks to our issues in our US school districts, and in particular to those at LAUSD where time is of the essence for the BoE to make better decisions about iPads.
Any one who would like some of the reports on the dangers of WiFi, microwave, cells, and radiation, written by a well known British educator and based on in-depth research, please contact me at
joiningforces4ed@aol.com
I am happy to forward a plethora of info plus many valid citations so you can add to the research. It is too much to print as a comment.
Ellen Lubic
I’m sure you-all have seen this. I almost fell off my chair. A story about kids in existing public schools and how they have been abandoned by the lawmakers and leaders (both federal and state) who are supposed to be their advocates:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/22/education/subtract-teachers-add-pupils-math-of-todays-jammed-schools.html?smid=tw-share
It is absolutely shameful that the biggest losers in the financial crash and subsequent “austerity” push were public school kids.
When do ed reformers advocate to restore funding for existing public schools instead of chasing teacher evaluations and school grading systems and all this other expensive garbage?
Wouldn’t it be great if these kids had adult advocates in state and federal government?
One of Jeb Bush’s lobby shops on “blended learning” talks about “efficiency” being one of the goals.
I’m thinking this abstract marketing language translates to cheap online classes replacing live classes for working class and middle class kids. Lobbyists are writing the laws mandating online classes in public schools. I bet they’re absolutely salivating at a new market in public schools.
If the ed tech lobbyists capture my lawmakers (a given at this point) I’m thinking about demanding a live teacher for my kid rather than an online class.
In Ohio they’re selling this hard in low income rural areas (just as it’s being sold in low income urban areas) so get to a school board meeting, pronto, because you can be sure the marketing people are gearing up as we speak.
“Individualized learning” seems to be the advertising phrase they’ve all settled on. Bush and Duncan are repeating it over and over like crazed parrots.
I’ve said this before, but the fact that Apple didn’t donate these IPads, or at least sell them at a steep discount when they make them for next to nothing with cheap labor in China’s Foxconn sweatshops and offshore their vast profits to avoid paying taxes, speaks miles as to what is wrong with this country. Add that to the fact they were loaded with profitable curriculum material devised by for-profit companies is disgraceful. This should be a big scandal, but probably won’t get much beyond Diane Ravitch’s blog. It reminds me of when George Bush, Jr. was pushing NCLB and his brother, Neil Bush, Jeb Bush, Barbara Bush, their Saudi buddies, and other investors were selling commercial unproven reading programs to various states, particularly in the South.
sharsand2013
I have seen nothing that Apple should be ashamed of. There is plenty that LAUSD decision makers should be ashamed of. There is no scandal except for Deasy et al.
Bernie…although some frree market, business minded, people would see no shame in the incremental contract for 650,000 iPads for LAUSD students, at way above actual retail cost, with no connector nor keyboards nor storage nor insurance, figured in….this is certainly not acceptable in any business model I have come across where true competition is supposed to be the key. Even the Peason portion here is flaky, if not downright dishonest. Who buys something that has not yet even been created? Hey, John Deasy does.
And yes, the scandal has been created by the Broad Academy-trained CEO and Supt. Deasy, and his partner in this outrageous decision, Jaime Aquino. There is enough blame to go around at LAUSD and the BoE deserves to be pilloried as well.
Your analogy to the Bush family profiting on Neil’s text book misadventure, which made them even more multi millions on the backs of US public schools and taxpayers, is close. As always, follow the money.
As to Apple and the iPads, for such a smart California company, Jobs (his wife) and his salesmen cleaned up on this deal, which many think was a ‘sweetheart’ payback (kinda similar to the quid pro quo of the consulting gig awarded by Deasy to his ‘9 unit/4 month’ PhD-gift mentor).
Nonsense. Deasy and his colleagues as buyers who were free to choose among vendors are 100% responsible for the decision whatever its ultimate effectiveness. Apple’s responsibility is to maximize the long term return to shareholders while being law abiding and ethical.
Deasy may or may not have personally benefited from the decision but do you have evidence to suggest that he has or will?
Bernie.
Suggest you direct your anger not at me, but rather ask questions of Deasy and the BoE. Do you ever attend Bd. meetings, or contact the members to let them know your opinions?
This wonderful blog site fulcrum for educators and others to talk among ourselves is only part of the game….it takes us talking to the policy makers to create any worthwhile change.
From your posts I know that you and I have differing world views on the economy and how it is run. In case anyone missed it, I am a Keynsian and generally disagree with those who persist in seeing anything “free” and unfettered about the marketplace.
Ellen
I consider myself a Keynsian as well. There are free and fair markets–fair markets don’t exist–Ayn Rand free markets exist for the betterment of the super-wealthy; nothing trickles down, it just goes overseas. That’s why we have increasing poverty here, and instead of excellent education, we have profiteers selling untested educational programs to school districts. Everyone cannot be a entrepreneur, but they can work for a decent wage for someone else–that’s what we don’t have–good jobs with good pay with reasonable security and benefits. So we’re in a vicious circle; the super-wealthy take more and more of the pie and actually believe they deserve it–which they don’t–it’s being made at the expense of the rest of us. Education is the backbone of a society–and they don’t care–they only care that they make profit off the education system and everything else. We need an excellent public school system from pre-school through college. I am a capitalist–believe in it fiercely, but not at all costs, not at the costs of every other human on the planet–not at the cost of stripping every nation of their natural resources, necessary public services, and so on.
These billionaires would be smart to put their money in wonderful recreation centers in poor areas–drug-free, gun-free buildings where children can come in for after-school programs in the arts, pre-school programs for mothers who have to work, indoor pools, basketball courts, tutoring center, and all kinds of things where kids feel safe. If this was done seriously and children had a place to go where they felt safe with great and sufficient supervision and instruction by caring adults, you’d see a big difference in one generation. But that’s not what the wealthy want.
The truth is we cannot say what the dealmactually is because Deasy never tellls the truth. The cost includes the app for CCSS ith aaparently runs about $100 per student per year. In fact, LAISD purchased the rights to it at $60’million but they say Pearson will nt bebreadybuntil 2015 . Though LAUSD says Pearson is not out of line,I beg to differ. They may use the thing six minths, if it survives, and I suspect it won’t. Ot is interesting to note that Apple is well known for its outstanding service and the products it makes are superior. Well worth the extra money because they last andd they do not become obsolete, the programs do, but they are never as dodgy as Windows. I am bitter about the Chinese slaves , if it is true. But I do not think Jobs was reallynpart of the ed reform movement. If anyone has info on that Ian eager to oearn more.
He is dead now, so who knows what direction this company wilmgo in. I just know that Apple used to be very generous to colleges and schools because Jobs understood that these products were going to become part of these childrens’ lives as consmers. Before he died Jobs seemed to understand that technology will be crucial in scchools and his public attitude was very altruistic. He certainly wwas not imposing his will on teachers’ tenure or pushingbtests. He did let schools pilot Apple products and i knowwe say there is no propf, but the ipad can sabove schools a fortune. They make sense, but not in the way they are being used– or supposed to be used. Teachers left tontheir own devices are having a feild day with these things. TEACHERS’ lessons are very fresh and engaging.. Their coasses are lively and relevant.
Teachers and ipads are awinning combination. I am going tomrefrain from assailing Apple until we know more. Apparently the support staff they sent as part of that package is nowhere to be seen, is it possibke that Deasy, an ally of Gates set Apple up tombe the scapegoat when this thng went awry?
I cannot bellieve the would be so poorly prepared. I know for a fact Apple would never risk its reputation by allowng LAUSD to turn that roll out into a fiasco. Notably the insinuation is thatnthe ipads cost a billion dollars.,that not even close to the expense.
More than half that money is supposed to pay for the schools’ infrastructire to become wireless which is how the bond oversight committee can see their way to using that bond measure money since it is tchnically a structural thing and there are allusions to it in the law.
As several posts mention, this wifi plan is deeply flawed and largely unnecessary. The board banned wifi in 2009 because of compelling evidence of carcinogenic threats to youngsters,. However, cancer at wifi schools is pretty prevelant among teachers who are situatiped close to the radio waves. Since wifi is banned in Australia and Canada , it is terrifying to realize that this danger has been concealed by a capitaist agenda. Deasy and the board have heard from doctors, scientists and activists this year, all pleadbg with them to rethink this wifi horror. There are stacks of evdence tat make it coear, this is a risk we cannot take in good conscious, it is also unnecessary.
I have the evidence thanks to a heroic teacher, who deserves to get a gold metal but if Deasy catches wind off his efforts , he will get a pink slip and his name stained with ugly accusations of being a child pornographer or pervert.
It is uconsionable that Deasy and Duncan can be so criminally indifferent to the safety of our children. There are better ways to get internet access. Frankly, having a hub at schools where tech teachers and TAs charge, synch, and upload lessons, grades, texts, etc makes much more sense. It is cheaper and swifter to implement thisl You can learn , read and write stuff without being on line. While providing regular maintance to these units and managing the inventory closely, schools can also prevent the inevitable distractions the temptation of internet will present. They whole reason for the ed techin Deasy’s rhetoric as wel as Duncans has this narrow preoccupation with tests. And it is toobad because these gizmos are great for school in every other sense.. Being able to upload tests on line may appear effecient and economica l and maybe offers a way to avoid cheating ( by adults) ,though frankly, I do not think they care about that or these NCLB tests would all be worthless, disqualified because they have no integrity. Never mind the 50% margin of error and cultural bias.
Thie online tests are is a problem because wifi systems at LAUSD were tested recently and proved sketchy.LAN lines on desktops are stable by comparison and an option, . The conections are not very reliable! Which means a kids could lose his work in a flash. How frustrating and futile is that? Teachers have a litany of complaints about Pearson programs anyway. They are prone to crashing, not to mention genrated by test banks in a sloppy fashion, often wrong and misleading. As Diane has noted, there is really no way to assess critical thinking skills or creativity with a scantron test. Since the ed reformers are not interested in payng for labor it requires to evaluate essays and other efforts computers can’t, it is clear CCSS is a huge scam, a scandal that makes watergate look minor., in fact it has unfolded as CTC is quietly embroiled in an enormous investigation that involves Pearson, teachers being unfairly investigated because they are veterans or whistlblowers. It is also related to TFA as well as other intern programs and “administrators” installed by Eli Broad who are not properly credentialed. Many of these folks are just mercenaries. Some of the people involved in the trillion dollars of boon doggrel are unuon leaders, city officials, CTC officers and lawyers as well as our usual susoects. It is one thing to run an elaborate con that will bankrupt thousands of schools, probably LA too. But to expose children to cancer goes betyond the pale. Of course, I am not sure why it surprises me. TheBelmont Learning Center, now Roybles is a methane tragedy perched on an earthquake fault.. Eli Broad made billions in that caper. Also there will be no asbestos removal now because LAUSD will be focused on the wifi that will take a decade for the courts to catch up to. How many kids must die before these swine are held accountable?
I admore woof a great deal, bernie, but i think you are right on this. It seems to me that Deasy cannot be trusted . He lies . Thebstory is always changing. Dont ypu think its strange that other schools are not statubg the same costs or having issues like lausd? Deasy dod own stock in Apple, but sold it. His relationship with Gates is the bigger concern, who would love to topple Apple?
They were not thinking, they were managing. Our educational leadership class have become good at telling, allocating, and inspecting, but do poorly at interpreting, educating, and coaching — the skills of instructional leadership. A concern I have is the continual marketing of the technique of the day/year places us in a position of continually responding to the thoughtlessness of the newest technique or seeking out evidence of newest failed race to the top idea. In other words, professional educators find themselves arguing within an institutional framework that knocks down the latest technique/policy of the day, but does little to advance an instructional agenda of how to teach math or English or any subject better and to redesign schools that are more conducive for learning instead of credentialing. I understand the importance of the political battle so many of these blogs describe, but wish we were spending more time on how to make my grandson’s classes more interesting and intellectually engaging.
I’m surprised there has been no response from Apple. Whatever profits they are making on this is not with the tarnishing of the Apple/iPad brand. They don’t need this contract.
When Apple sells shiny things, they like them to stay shiny so they can hold them up to future customers.
The iPad is a little tarnished in LAUSD.
I agree with you. However, being mum has not hurt them. There was an early acrimony but ot soon slipped off. Apple hates bad publicity but a lot of schools are very happy with their deals and the costs they report is infinitely more reasonable, youbcan bet they are watching this closely.,i suspect they will happily allow LAUSD to end the contract.
“What does research show about the relationship between such devices and test scores?’
That question there shows the vacuity of thinking involved in much of the discourse on public education these days. That we give one second of thought about test scores is one second too many. Test scores, the banality of test scores!!!
I do not believe it will have a direct influence on test scores unless they are compromised by unreliable connections.mhow are they going to keep kids from surfing wikipedia for answers? They cant!
Maybe as ALEC stealthily swept over the land like a creeping algae, it discovered how to pull in all those dissatisfied with politics, their own lack of education, their religious freedoms, their insurance, their hatred of taxes, and their fear of “socialism”. They have made “privatization” sound like a solution to all their problems. After all free public education is by definition a “socialistic” endeavor, and by their misguided definition, must be evil. So they buy into it. They have no idea about what is happening until it is just too late.
If their is one thing I don’t like, it is deception. People are so afraid of European social order and the other “isms” that they fail to see that the abuse of “capitalism” is equally bad for the common man. But ALEC and friends have blurred their thinking and cast a spell upon them. The lure of cheap labor via TFA has caused many do hope for a cheap answer to all their problems, since we teachers are stupid, lazy and greedy. After all AFT chooses brilliant, energetic, young temps to keep those costs down.
It is a question of the importance of education, what it should provide, and who should provide it.
It is interesting to note the attitudes expressed by people from different areas of the country compared to the education levels of the adult voting population… ALEC knew where to go to find support.
The worst part is the use of funds (from a bond measure generously supported by the taxpayers) that were supposed to be for maintaining and improving the physical infrastructure. We have tiles falling from the ceiling, students eating outside in the rain – covered by a rented canopy – students crammed into bungalows that were purchased when class size was limited to 20, but now have to accommodate 24+, window blinds that are 50 years old and never cleaned, and one plant manager who tries desperately to keep it all going. My heater sounds like truck is parked and running in the room, but it produces heat so its not a priority. So by taking the money away, our buildings fall into even worse disrepair, necessary costs coming from the general fund which diminishes the number of people hired to serve the kids.
As time goes on, we learn more and more about the failures associated with the iPad deal. Deasy declined, likely on purpose, to send out a survey to determine how many devices are presently in the schools that could be used for testing, even though the need to take the field test on computers was announced years ago. He almost got away with it until the issue came up at recent meetings. Now, at the eleventh hour, schools received the survey not long before vacation. It’s complicated for principals with varying degrees of technical expertise to carry out this huge task in such a short time.
Deasy will no doubt try to use the inability to complete the survey in a timely fashion as an excuse to push the board and the Bond Oversight Committee to quickly purchase more iPads in time for testing. Will it work? Only time will tell.
At the first meeting of the board in January, two board members, Tamar Galatzan and Monica Garcia, will be presenting a resolution to do just that.
Those two Deasy cheerleaders will do nothing to lessen the burdens on staff at school sites as we know too well
Apple may have done nothing illegally, after all , with the help of ALEC (the American Legislative Council) and smart lobbyists and tax attorneys, they and thousands of other public corporations have found loopholes to avoid paying taxes by handing anti-tax laws to legislatures–state and federal. But, there is such a thing about caring about others, once the American way, particularly children and their education–after all, many of these same corporations have set up charter schools claiming they are only interested in improving the education system for children–which is certainly fudging the truth in many cases, since the big shots make quite a bit off of taxpayer dollars and have a very definite political, religious, and economic agenda. So, yes, Apple has done nothing wrong–it’s become the American plutocratic way of milking the system for every last penny and then claiming poverty is everyone else’s problem and they had nothing to do with it. Apple started paying a dividend this year, but rather than paying taxes, they took out a loan to pay the dividend..The point being, at some point, don’t you think the CEO’s would say, California is struggling with their budget, we are sitting on so much capital we don’t know what to do with it, why don’t we be real heroes and donate the IPads. I don’t think it’s naive on my part to hope that would happen. But, it’s no longer the American way–it’s all about greed and profits–to hell with people. And just not Apple–across the “board.”
sharsand2013:
I do not think the CEO of Apple should bail out California or base business decisions on which customers are struggling with their budgets. Apple should pay whatever taxes it is obligated to pay and should abide by all relevant laws.
What evidence do you have that Apple is “milking the system” any more or less than any individual is milking the system? Whatever Capital Apple is sitting on belongs to the shareholders, not the CEO.
Deasy and the LAUSD should not buy stuff that it cannot afford, especially on a lifetime cost basis. They hold the purse strings, they make the decisions.
Shar…you win today’s prize for hitting it on the button. But no where in our free market laws of the land does is say that American business, based on the Austrian School, must be ethical. The whole raison d’ etre of ALEC is to infuse esoteric information to all of the members on how to best use our laws to squeeze the most profit from Americans…and anyone else.
Once again CAVEAT EMPTOR…sadly, Deasy and LAUSD do not know this Latin phrase, or just choose to ignore it, perhaps for their own enrichment…or not. Must is just plain stupidity.
Ellen
typo…meant ‘maybe it is just plain stupidity.’
Interesting. 20 years ago Cuban was one of the biggest critics of the push for technology in schools. He put the blame for its failure squarely on teachers unwilling to accept change.
I guess he has finally figured out there was maybe something else going on in those classrooms besides fuddy duddy teachers.
While I am glad to hear him being increasingly critical of many aspects of the edreform movement, he continues to be an academic, who I wish would have considered some of those questions about teachers, technology, and real classrooms back in the day when his voice was devastating to those trying to innovate with technology…
We should admire those who can change and grow, as we ourselves do as teachers unless we are failures as teachers that is,. technology. Is scary too, but we shoukd be glad for it or we would not have access to the truth at all in the plutocracy .
I’m coming at this debate from many different angles: a former special education teacher in Illinois, now retired–a supervisor of student teachers, a teacher of prospective teachers at the university, a masters degree in diagnostic and remedial reading among other certificates, and helping to run a remedial reading at Northeastern Illinois University, and also, and most importantly a grandparent of children who attendpublic school in Long Beach.
There’s something very wrong with the entire concept of excessive profit in education. My daughter-in-law, son, and grandchildren, spend an awful lot of time fundraising just to keep their science lab and arts and drama programs running. The fundraising is non-stop because they want a public school that offers arts, music, drama, creative thinking, science, real history (not rewritten history), math, writing, etc., but california, like just about every other state, continues to cut programs and teachers — AND YET THERE’S MONEY FOR EXPENSIVE IPADS WITH COMMON CORE PEARSON, etal MATERIAL BUILT IN.
Once graduated from high schook, THE NEXT PROBLEM FOR MY CHILDREN, GRANDCHILDREN, AND MOST OF AMERICA, WILL BE FOR THEM TO PAY THE EXORBITANT EXPENSES FOR COLLEGE WITH HUGE PROFITS FOR THOSE WHO RUN THE SCHOOLS, OFTEN WITH TAX-FREE ENDOWMENTS, AND IN A TIME OF HYPOTHETICALLY LOW INFLATION, HEARTLESS BOARDS AND BUREAUCRATS WILLING TO PUT STUDENTS AND FAMILIES IN DEBT FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES. THE SAME PICTURE CONNECTS FROM PRE-SCHOOL ALL THE WAY THROUGH COLLEGE–and oh yes, once they leave college, unless they have the ability to become entrepreneurs, and most don’t, and since all our jobs have been shipped overseas, they will have no jobs to pay back the loans. STOP PRIVATIZING EVERYTHING–STOP FREE- TRADING EVERYTHING–STOP THE GREED –AND GIVE OUR CHILDREN OUTSTANDING FREE PUBLIC EDUCATIONS WITHOUT GOUGING–. THAT’S THE REAL AMERICAN WAY.
And lastly, we have no money for public schools in Chicago, and throughout the state, except in wealthy areas, but somehow the money is there for disastrous charter schools like UNO, and others where the CEOs haul in their profit from taxes they don’t contribute to but somehow partake in. IT’S WRONG.