海角大神

The fall school聽session is barely聽underway and already the nation鈥檚 second-largest聽district is聽getting an F from educators and community members alike.

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is taking flak for what many say are predictable missteps in聽its ambitious $1 billion聽plan to give an聽iPad to every student in the district.

As 26 of 47 schools in the first phase have begun handing out tablets, students have devised ways around security measures designed to prevent unfettered online access. Further, after some 69 iPads went missing during聽a spring聽trial run, families have begun issuing complaints that the policy on liability for loss, theft, and damage is unclear.

Teachers also have voiced concerns about the time involved in checking the iPads in and out of the classrooms.

In response, LAUSD officials have called a temporary halt to the full program.聽They also have聽announced an interactive community hearing to be broadcast Thursday over local television to allow families to聽question school officials directly.

鈥淲ith a program of this magnitude, I would expect many legitimate questions,鈥� says LAUSD spokesman Tom Waldman, noting that more than 600 campuses serve the district鈥檚 650,000 students. 鈥淭here are sure to be some initial wrinkles to iron out,鈥� he adds.聽

However, educators who have tracked school districts around the country聽suggest that Los Angeles聽appears to be making聽avoidable mistakes.

鈥淭he computers are easy to hack, have no keyboards, which the students need, and come with no specific insurance plan should they be lost or stolen,鈥澛爏ays Larry Sand, president of the California Teachers Empowerment Network, an online advocacy group.

District officials聽belatedly committed additional funds to provide wireless keyboards for the tablets. But,聽says Mr. Sand, 鈥渢his was obviously a poorly thought out idea.鈥�

Formally known as the Common Core Technology Project (CCTP), the tablet rollout is being promoted as聽鈥渁 major capital investment in technology-enabled classrooms.鈥� The district says the project is helping to ready schools for Common Core State Standards, protocols adopted聽by 44 other states.

Noting what he calls the digital divide between many students, Mr. Waldman says the project 鈥渋s聽especially targeting the economically disadvantaged students in our district.鈥�

But this equation between technology and achievement for disadvantaged students has led some school districts astray, says Donna Celano, a professor of communication at La Salle University in Philadelphia.

鈥淓xpensive programs giving home computers and other information technology does not result in any significant achievement gains for low-income children,鈥� she聽adds via e-mail. In addition, she says, her own research indicates that 鈥渕ere access to technology is not enough, when real differences stem from differences in literacy achievement.鈥�

Technology educators聽often exist in 鈥渁 self-reinforcing聽community that is聽often distant from the everyday realities of the rank-and-file practitioners of K-12 education,鈥� says Renee Hobbs, professor and founding director of the Harrington School of Communication and Media, at the University of Rhode Island.聽

She notes that she聽has been an active participant at education and technology conferences for two decades, and聽says the atmosphere of excitement聽over the possibilities of innovation can聽sometimes overshadow a more measured approach to curriculum needs.

鈥淭hese technology directors are fascinated by the newest gadgets, and they just love them,鈥� she says, adding that if you get a whole roomful of them, 鈥渢hey just seduce one another.鈥� While that dynamism and enthusiasm is聽what it takes sometimes to move a new idea through entrenched bureaucracies, Professor Hobbs says, 鈥渋t can interfere with real strategic planning and the kind of baby steps聽really needed.鈥�

District officials would do better to involve the students themselves, suggests educator Jerusha Conner, from Villanova University in Philadelphia.

鈥淗ad students been included in reform discussions with聽LAUSD administrators,聽it seems likely not only that they would have anticipated and therefore helped to prevent the unintended consequences of this initiative, but also that they might have helped district officials understand the drawbacks of software blocking technologies,鈥� she says via e-mail.

鈥淭he agency and ingenuity of students should not be underestimated, as they were in this case,鈥� she adds, 鈥渂ut harnessed so that students become critical partners in developing and implementing the reforms that students themselves聽see as聽needed, sustainable, and聽most conducive to their learning and development.鈥�