How many K-12 schools have adopted 1:1 iPads?

November 6, 2015 7:42 AM

I am working on a paper for graduate school and I'm having no luck finding a key piece of information: how many K-12 schools in NJ (or, failing that, the entire US) use iPads/tablets in 1:1 classrooms?

Please note that this is a massive research paper and I'm not asking the hive mind to do my homework for me! It's just that I've scoured my sources and I can't find this information anywhere. I'm bummed because it would really strengthen the introductory part of the essay. Numbers from the 2014-2015 school year would be especially helpful.

posted by katie to Education (9 answers total)

The chance that this is being tracked is slim to none.
Moreover every elementary school I know of has them now.
posted by k8t at 7:59 AM on November 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

It is very unlikely that information exists in one resource, as k8t notes.

You would have to go district by district and find the information that way.

Also, 1:1 iPads and having iPads in the classroom are VERY different. As are 1:1 programs where students take the device home vs. having devices to use during class time.
posted by guster4lovers at 8:14 AM on November 6, 2015

Response by poster: Yes, I'm specifically researching 1:1 scenarios. My specialty is secondary education; I doubt there are many elementary schools using iPads in a 1:1 style for safety and other reasons. Most elementary teachers I know have a cart of tablets they use as necessary.
If the info just doesn't exist, that's fine (even a relief in a way! I'm a pretty experienced researcher and my husband is a librarian, and we've had no luck finding data on this issue.). Still, I figured it was worth asking.
posted by katie at 8:21 AM on November 6, 2015

I agree that this info won't exist as a single stat somewhere and you'll need to dig it up. I'd start by seeing if any newspapers wrote about something like this happening anywhere. Then you could go through district budgets or board meeting minutes to see if anything like this was approved. The problem is, you won't immediately know if it's an iPad per child without also getting enrollment data, so it would be up to you to cross reference that data. Another pitfall is maybe they got them in 2012 and still use them, so the 2014 budget wouldn't help you.

The easiest thing to do, if you're willing to try a different kind of "research," may be to call every district superintendent or board president and explain who you are and that you're working on an academic research paper and you're looking for districts that provide an iPad per student. Once you get some confirmation or ideas of what districts to look at, then you can go through budgets and meeting minutes for the cited sourced info. Depending on how many districts are in NJ, this could be a little time-consuming as a detour, so just assess whether you really need to know about every 1:1 iPad program, or whether one good anecdote could work. (I don't know anything about academia writing -- not sure if anecdotes or narrative are useful to you.)
posted by AppleTurnover at 10:22 AM on November 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

I know that three years ago the Baylor School in Chattanooga TN required every student to have an iPad. Baylor School iPad initiative
posted by tman99 at 11:21 AM on November 6, 2015

I found a pretty detailed article about the 1:1 program in my area, which yes, includes an ipad for each elementary student: link. This article about a different school system lists some software that they use -- maybe the software makers keep the data that you seek.
posted by xo at 11:36 AM on November 6, 2015

Maybe do a linkedin search for "Education Development Executive" "Apple" and reach out to whomever looks like they are involved with marketing.
posted by Sophont at 1:15 PM on November 6, 2015

You may be able to find stats on Maine. We have a laptop program that is 10+ years old that provides a device for every child in grades 7-12. The original contract was for Apple laptops. When the contract was last negotiated three years ago, many districts opted out of the standard cheap laptop that was selected and purchased iPads instead.
posted by Sukey Says at 11:48 PM on November 6, 2015

St. Paul (MN) Public Schools recently rolled out take-home iPads for all students. Maybe in their documentation process they found out how many other school districts had already done the same. You might be able to call and ask nicely to be put in touch with whoever is in charge of this program.
posted by lakeroon at 7:01 AM on November 7, 2015