Education Week - April 21, 2021 - 5

the same about elementary school students.
That dramatic change is sure to impact teaching, learning, district operations, and school budgets long beyond
the pandemic. Districts that purchased devices for most
students will have to decide if they want to stay 1-to-1 for
the long haul. If so, they will have to continue to repair and
replace devices, which creates ongoing costs. Teachers are
also likely to shift their approach to instruction to incorporate the sudden windfall of new learning tools, which could
put greater pressure on school districts to provide better
professional development on how to effectively integrate
the devices into learning.
" What most school districts did was they dropped
everything, and they bought things whether they had
budget for it or not, " said Keith Krueger, the CEO of the
Consortium for School Networking. Many used one-time
federal funds to cover the cost, he added: " An awful lot
of stuff has been purchased and will be purchased over
the coming months. That is good news in addressing an
emergency situation, and a long-term challenge when
you think of the total cost of ownership. "
If districts want to keep their new 1-to-1 device-to-student ratio long-term, " you have to have a plan for how
you're going to replace them. [Some devices] may have
been not intended to be going back and forth between the
school and home, " Krueger said.
And then there is a big fairness question question:
Should districts even ask for devices back if a family
doesn't have one of its own?
Urgent action item was getting devices to
students for at-home learning
A year ago, getting devices in the hands of kids, especially those who did not have access to one at home or had
to share one with siblings and parents, became an urgent
action item for many districts. In fact, 74 percent of educators surveyed by the EdWeek Research Center said their
districts had invested " a lot " in devices since the pandemic
started, with nearly another quarter saying their district
had invested at least " some " money.
Another 87 percent of educators expected their districts
to invest " some " or " a lot " in new devices during the 202122 school year. And 42 percent of educators said their district had purchased devices for every student.
Districts also had the challenge of figuring out which
students needed devices the most. Nearly half of educators-47 percent-said their districts purchased devices for
kids that didn't already have one issued by the school system,
while 46 percent focused on students at certain grade levels.
Another third said their districts provided devices to students who didn't have access to a device at home. Sixteen
percent said their districts bought devices for low-income
students, while 17 percent said their districts purchased
devices for kids in special education.
At some point in the pandemic, Wake County realized
it needed to have a nuanced take on what it meant for a
student to " need " a device, Gaddis said.

Some kids literally had no computer or tablet in the house
that would allow the student to learn online. Others might
be in families, all sharing one device. Still others might be
families who felt most comfortable if their child's technology had the district's stamp of approval.
" I think everybody has struggled in the pandemic in
terms of what 'need' is, " Gaddis said.
Schools weigh whether to continue offering
1-to-1 computing

" The whole
pandemic had
been like a big
proof of concept
for 1-to-1. Now
it's taking all of
those learnings
and putting
them into
[practice]. What
does 2021-22
look like? "
MARLO GADDIS

Chief technology officer
for Wake County schools
in North Carolina

Other districts that bought new devices weren't necessarily planning to go 1-to-1. They will now have to figure
out whether to continue the practice, and what that would
mean for teaching and learning.
Before the pandemic, the Beaverton school district near
Portland, Ore., used technology as a teaching tool, but
1-to-1 computing was not a signature feature of its classrooms, said Steve Langford, the chief information officer.
Elementary schoolers, for instance, had access to iPads,
but not one device for every student. Instead, kids used the
devices to collaborate in small groups or for academic intervention or enrichment. At the middle and high schools,
each student had their own device they could take home
with them. But teachers didn't use the devices-Chromebooks-for every lesson.
" It was never this all-day, always online vision, " Langford
said. " It was more how does technology accelerate some
learning and provide some new opportunities for engagement. Once COVID happened, we had to quickly say, 'OK,
now we're going to be interacting through a screen and
that's going to be true for an 18-year-old and a 5-year-old. "
The abrupt shift has created some new logistical headaches. For instance, Beaverton found that it needed some
Spanish-speaking technical-support staff, to help parents
when their kids' district-issued devices malfunctioned.
The creative solution: The district trained a handful of bus
drivers and other support staff to serve as bilingual help
desk staff. All of them are fluent in Spanish and English
and were already receiving pay even though they weren't
actively transporting students.
The district, though, isn't convinced it will continue with
a heavy emphasis on 1-to-1 computing once students return to school buildings full time. " We are wrestling with
that right now, " Langford said. " If our future is that kids
K-12 are going to take home devices, then we need to make
some decisions and preparations right now, " including
how to fund the continued use of the devices.
More than a third of the district's 18,000 iPads were
bought at least six years ago and are near the end of their
usable life. If Beaverton is going to continue supporting
1-to-1 computing, those iPads will need to be replaced.
Plus, teachers will need further professional development
on the best instructional approaches for 1-to-1 computing environments, and parent concerns about their children having
too much screen time will need to be addressed.
" There's instructional impact, there's operational
impact, and then there's financial impact to those deci-

Technology Counts 2021 | 5

Education Week - April 21, 2021

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