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What’s the reaction to the Phase 1 rollout of LA Unified’s iPad program?

By one very unscientific measure, not so bad.

At the request of Monica Ratliff, who chairs the board’s Common Core Technology Committee, the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles, the group representing school principals and assistant principals, surveyed schools among the first 47 receiving iPads. A questionnaire was sent to 45 principals and assistants, and the overall score from the 24 who responded was a 3 on a scale of 1 to 4, with 4 the highest.

Small sample size, but with everything else . . .

“The one caveat is that it was a very short-term survey because the board’s iPad meeting was coming up, then it was moved back,” said Judith Perez, president of the association. The board’s iPad review meeting is now set for Tuesday, a week later than originally scheduled.

Here were some of the other takeaways from the survey as the association reported in its latest bulletin:

• 60 percent of respondents said they were slightly or moderately prepared to integrate iPads into the curriculum, while 40 percent were very prepared.

• 76 percent felt the rollout was very or moderately smooth.

• The noticeable increase in student engagement was mentioned several times as the best aspect of the iPad program while issues identified as the worst dealt with security, the inability to take them home and incomplete lessons.

Previous Posts: School Board Seems Surprised by Its Own iPad Deal; LA Times Gets iPad Story Wrong, the Rest of Us Follow; LA Unified iPads Could Cost Another $100 Each