Archives for category: Technology, Computers
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Los Angeles: Teachers, Administrators Divided About $1 Billion for iPads

By dianeravitch
December 2, 2013 //
12

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

Categories Los Angeles, Technology, Computers

Yes, There Are Some Grown-Ups in Los Angeles

By dianeravitch
December 2, 2013 //
7

I just can’t figure out how it makes sense for Los Angeles to spend $1 billion on iPads when it has so many other pressing needs. I can’t figure out how the district expects to buy another generation of iPads in 3-4 years. I can’t understand how the district justifies taking this money from a school construction bond fund approved by the voters for repairs and construction, not iPads. How is this sustainable? Set aside the fact that the district is paying more than retail and that the lease on the Pearson content expires in three years: Is this purchase responsible stewardship of district funds?

Happily, the bond oversight committee seems to be asking similar questions. In this post, we learn that the committee asked for answers to these questions:

“TO BE CLEAR: The oversight committee did not say “No way/No how.” We simply ask for more justification and detailed cost estimates and a delivery timeline.
● We also request a through program review and evaluation of Phase 1 and then Phase 2: What are the educational goals? Are we meeting them?
● We requested a review of all the Pearson software content no later than March 1. Show me the content.
● We want to see a plan for maintenance, replacement and continuation of the Common Core Technology Program when the Apple/Pearson contract expires in 2016.
● We want to see the legal questions definitively answered (They are still working on that Parent Responsibility Form…and what about taking them home?) …as well as the strategy for bond finance of short term assets.
● We want to see the impact of the iPads project on the facilities build and repair program: What won’t be doing if we buy all these iPads?”

Categories Los Angeles, Technology, Computers

Anthony Cody: Common Core and RoboGrading

By dianeravitch
November 26, 2013 //
12

Anthony Cody wonders in this post whether the Common Core standards are designed to facilitate computer grading of student essays.

Cody includes a commentary by Alice Mercer, who describes a writing task on the Common Core test. She reaches the startling conclusion that the standards were written to accommodate computer testing, which explains the limitation on background knowledge.

She writes:

“Even if my assertion that the standards were written to accommodate testing, and more specifically machine scoring of writing are wrong, these are still lousy tasks that are very low-level and not “rigorous” or cognitively demanding.”

Cody, reflecting on Mercer’s observations, writes:

“This reveals one of our basic fears as educators and parents about the Common Core and associated tests. The project is an attempt to align and standardize instruction and assessment on an unprecedented scale. The future, according to the technocrats who have designed these systems, involves computer-based curriculum and tests, and frequent checks, via computer, on student performance. And as this report in EdWeek indicates, there is great deal of money to be made. Los Angeles Unified has already spent a billion dollars on iPads, and one of the chief justifications was to prepare for computer-based assessments such as these.”

Categories Common Core, Technology, Computers, Testing

E.L. Doctorow on Technology in Our Lives

By dianeravitch
November 24, 2013 //
6

Every once in a while, I read something that sticks with me and reverberates in my mind. That was my reaction when I read E.L. Doctorow’s remarks at the National Book Awards. These are words to savor, chew on, and ponder.

“Victor Navasky, publisher emeritus of The Nation magazine, introduced E. L. Doctorow, the recipient of the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. Mr. Navasky recalled that Mr. Doctorow once said: “There is no room for a reader in your mind. You don’t think of anything but the language you’re in.”

“Edgar, I have news for you,” Mr. Navasky said. “You may not have us in mind, but you are in a roomful of your grateful readers.”

Mr. Doctorow took the stage and cooled the mood down with a somber speech on technology, government surveillance and the Internet. (Somewhat uncomfortably, Amazon.com and Google were sponsors of the event.)

“Text is now a verb,” Mr. Doctorow said. “More radically, a search engine is not an engine. A platform is not a platform. A bookmark is not a bookmark because an e-book is not a book.”

“Reading a book is the essence of interactivity,” he added, “bringing sentences to life in the mind.”

Categories On-Line Education, Technology, Computers

The L.A. iPad Fiasco Gets Worse

By dianeravitch
November 23, 2013 //
134

Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times pointed out the endlessly escalating costs of Superintendent John Deasy’s decision to buy an iPad, loaded with Pearson content, for every child.

The initial cost estimate was $1 billion for hardware, software, and content. The money was mostly taken from a 25-year school,construction bond issue. So, instead of repairing schools, students will have iPads for Common Core testing.

Hiltzik points out that in three years, the lease on the Pearson content will expire and must be purchased again for another $60 million.

Also, the iPads will be obsolete in 3-4 years and must be replaced.

Someone is making a lot of money and it’s not the teachers.

Hiltzik points out the obvious and asks this question:

“The aspect of technology-based teaching that never gets the attention it deserves is the cost of ownership. Tablets need to be fixed or replaced, for hundreds of dollars a shot. And as the LAUSD has discovered, software isn’t forever. Think of the teachers and real pedagogical tools that could be paid for with $60 million a year, and how much added value they’d provide to students.
Here’s a question for LAUSD Supt. John Deasy, who has pronounced the iPad program “an astonishing success.” Does he still think so? Feel free to deliver your answer via iPad-compatible digital video, Mr. D.”

http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-ipad-adventure-20131120,0,942881.story#ixzz2lRXgWDqZ

Categories Common Core, Los Angeles, Technology, Computers

What Happened When LA Gave iPads to Anti-Technology Waldorf School?

By dianeravitch
November 20, 2013 //
29

Waldorf schools do not use technology until sixth grade. They want their students to experience nature,

“A strict, private Waldorf school might not have even accepted the devices. For more than 100 years, Waldorf schools have emphasized child development over skill development.

“Instead of plastic dolls with detailed faces, for example, young children in a Waldorf environment play with toys made of natural materials, such as wood, silk, wool and cotton — that are unformed enough to stimulate the imagination. Schools encourage creative play and artistic expression; students often stay with the same teacher three years or more.

“Some parents who subscribe to Waldorf methods don’t let their children use technology at all; others limit screen time.”

Yet, the Ocean Charter School, a Waldorf school, was gifted by the Los Angeles Unified School District, with an iPad for every student, whether they want it or not. After al, they will need the iPads for Common Core testing. Curiously, the devices cost $768 each, more that the retail price.

The iPad giveaway is a pilot run on the district’s $1 billion planned purchase.

The part that puzzles me most is the cost. If the cost for Los Angeles alone is $1 billion, what will be the cost for the nation? $50 billion? $100 billion? No wonder the big tech corporations are thrilled with the Common Core.. And since the devices and the content will be obsolete in three years, how many more billions will leave America’s classrooms to pay for new technology?

Categories Common Core, Los Angeles, Technology, Computers, Testing

L.A. Teacher Asks: Will Deasy’s iPad Deal Bankrupt Los Angeles Schools?

By dianeravitch
October 31, 2013 //
30

Superintendent John Deasy made a deal to buy an iPad for every student in the district, at a cost of $1 billion.

The money will mostly be drawn from a 25-year construction bond issue approved by the voters on the assumption that the money would be used to repair the city’s schools. The iPads will be obsolete in 2 or 3 years, but voters will be paying the cost for 25 years.

The iPads are loaded with content from Pearson. The license for the Pearson content expires in three years, at which time the district will have obsolete iPads without content.

Meanwhile, as this teacher writes,

“More and more people are realizing that this iPad deal could ultimately bankrupt the district since the general fund is at rock bottom and has left our district with 40-50 kids in a class, no librarians, less counselors and less custodial and office services. The only pot of money big enough to fund the resupply of iPads and updated software is the general fund, and those costs don’t even address the massive numbers of extra support staff and professional development needed to keep the tech project going.”

Categories Los Angeles, Technology, Computers

NC: The Great Tablet Mess

By dianeravitch
October 29, 2013 //
10

A reader in North Carolina updates us on the great tablet fiasco, the recriminations, and the eternal question: who is making a lot of money? Hint: not the teachers.

The reader writes:

Add to this fiasco ANOTHER one from North Carolina. (Greensboro’s NEWS AND RECORD has created a page for the great Tablet Deal Gone Wrong):

http://www.news-record.com/news/schools/collection_9555d386-2551-11e3-a120-0019bb30f31a.html

Scroll to bottom article discussing current Guilford County Schools Sperintendent Maurice Green’s connection to Peter Gorman, current senior vice-president for AMPLIFY and former superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools ( i.e. Green’s former boss). Green kept mum about the connection.

Key excerpt below from:
http://www.news-record.com/news/schools/article_9c78ebb8-bd9a-11e2-9fc2-0019bb30f31a.html

Gorman joined Amplify after serving as superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools from 2006 to 2011. Green was his deputy superintendent before leaving in 2008 to lead Guilford County Schools.

“It raises an eyebrow,” said Linda Welborn, school board member. “I could see the concern and possibly the perception from other people that are aware of the connection.
“Had I known, I probably would have asked more questions.”

Welborn and board members Ed Price and Darlene Garrett said staff should have mentioned that history when they recommended Amplify for the four-year contract.
But Price and Welborn said Amplify seemed worthy of the contract because it had the lowest bid and met the district’s criteria.

“The fact that (Gorman) worked there, that in and of itself would not have stopped me from voting for them if they had the best deal,” Price said.

“I do not question Mo Green’s integrity, and I don’t think he would have done something just because of his past relationship with Peter Gorman.”

Nora Carr, the district’s chief of staff, said Green purposely excluded himself from the review process so as not to influence the staff’s decision.

“He certainly made every effort to remove himself from the process so that the team could make decisions that were based on facts and the individual strengths of the proposals,” said Carr, who also worked for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools before coming to the district in 2008.

Carr said business connections in the education sector are common. Green had a previous work history with an employee of another company that bid on the PACE project, she said.

And he developed relationships with executives at Apple, which provided iPads to Montlieu Academy of Technology.

Green and school board Chairman Alan Duncan also used to work for the same law firm.
“Education is a small world,” Carr said. “If we ruled out every company that had a connection with us, we would have a very small pool to draw from.”
Still, some board members were not satisfied with the review process — either because the project team did not include teachers or because details weren’t provided on the other vendors.

Garrett, who voted against the Amplify contract, said she wanted to hear presentations from other companies.

“We should have had more information,” Garrett said. “We should have asked for it, but I think we were in a rush to approve it.”

The school district won a $30 million federal Race to the Top grant in December and is on a tight schedule to put digital devices in the hands of most middle school students this fall. The initiative is part of national efforts to improve student learning through digital technology.

But some people wonder who stands to benefit more from the trend — the students or the companies selling the technology.

“There is the concern that once you’re locked in there, what happens after the four years?” Welborn said about the devices. “This new age of electronic teaching is going to be huge money.”

Categories Education Industry, For-Profit, North Carolina, Technology, Computers

Deasy Resignation Drama Diverts Attention from iPad Fiasco

By dianeravitch
October 28, 2013 //
23

Benjamin Herold of Education Week has written an excellent overview of the confusion surrounding Los Angeles’ iPad purchase for every student in the district.

The cost–anticipated ultimately to be in excess of $1 billion–is one concern at a time when classes are overcrowded, and many schools are in need of repair, and thousands of teachers were laid off.

The uncertainty about how the iPads will be used, whether at home or in school; the uncertainty about the quality of the Pearson content; the certainty that the license on the Pearson content will expire in three years; the confusion about whether it was proper to divert funding from a 25-year construction bond to purchase tablets…..all of this and more should be closely scrutinized.

Instead, the district and its leadership will be bogged down in an extended discussion of John Deasy’s future; whether he resigned or only threatened to resign; whether the business community and the mayor can prevail; whether Deasy will ultimately make the board powerless by asserting that his power base is stronger than theirs, even though they were elected by the people.

One happy note: Pearson is happy with Los Angeles’ decision to give Pearson control of the content of the iPads.

I hope you can gain access to the article behind Education Week’s paywall. Here is a sample:

But the new software from the publishing giant Pearson that has been rolled out in dozens of schools is nowhere near complete, the Los Angeles Unified School District is unable to say how much it costs, and the district will lose access to content updates, software upgrades, and technical support from Pearson after just three years.

The situation is prompting a new round of questions about an initiative already under withering scrutiny following a series of logistical and security snags.

The Common Core Technology Project, as Los Angeles Unified’s iPad initiative is formally known, is among the first attempts in the country to marry digital devices with a comprehensive digital curriculum from a single vendor. The ambitious effort makes the 651,000-student school system a bellwether for districts seeking a soup-to-nuts solution that implements the new Common Core State Standards, increases students’ access to technology, and moves away from paper textbooks.

“I think it’s the front end of a wave,” said Karen Cator, the CEO of the Washington-based nonprofit Digital Promise and a former director of the U.S. Department of Education’s school technology office.

But just weeks before the Los Angeles school board decides whether to authorize the initiative’s second phase—expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars—implementation problems related to the new digital curriculum are rearing their head.

Pearson’s Common Core System of Courses, meant to eventually become the district’s primary instructional resource in both math and English/language arts for kindergarten through 12th grade, currently consists of just a few sample lessons per grade, resulting in widespread frustration and confusion among classroom teachers.

In addition, the amount the district is paying to Pearson remains a mystery, leading to increasingly pointed questions from the school system’s divided school board, which called a special meeting to discuss the overall iPad initiative next week.

 

Categories Los Angeles, Pearson, Technology, Computers

A New Business Opportunity for Entrepreneurs

By dianeravitch
October 26, 2013 //
14

A reader spots a niche business:

“How about the idea of online early childhood? Learning to play with virtual toys with virtual friends?”

Categories For-Profit, Technology, Computers
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