Eight schools were selected in July to pilot a digital device program that could eventually put laptops in the hands of all public school students, but students at only two of the schools are learning on the devices.
The state Department of Education bought more than 6,700 devices for students and teachers at all eight schools, but teachers at the remaining six schools requested additional time for training before their laptops are delivered.
The slow start could suggest legislators were justified in calling for a small-scale pilot and providing less than a third of the costs the department had requested to implement a program statewide.
The department had wanted $29 million for its plan, but lawmakers budgeted $8.2 million for the initial program, citing concerns about the department’s ability to manage a statewide rollout and the potential for burdening teachers at a time when the state is undergoing multiple school reforms.
Board of Education member Amy Asselbaye said she has been hearing concerns from lawmakers about the progress. "Some of them felt like when the department requested full funding for a statewide rollout that maybe the DOE really wasn’t ready, and this project, where it is now today, shows that the DOE wasn’t really ready for full funding," Asselbaye said at a board meeting Tuesday.
The department said that if the Legislature had not imposed a requirement to spend the $8 million before the end of the fiscal year, it could have gone out for bid requests for bundled services and provided more training for teachers.
"The biggest thing that would have changed if we had had a little bit longer time … would just be a request-for-proposals process that packages devices with support and training and all of the other pieces that we have to kind of pull in piecemeal now," said Stephanie Shipton with the department’s Office of Strategic Reform, which is overseeing the project. "I think that would have been much more helpful. Because the funding came with a one-year clock and reporting requirements back to the Legislature, it really pushed us to rush through."
Going the "piecemeal" route, the department spent most of the appropriation — $7.85 million — to buy the devices and software. The department used its own funds to cover $600,000 for professional development and $450,000 for management software, including tracking services.
Shipton said the department allowed the schools to choose the brand and type of device they preferred, which board Chairman Don Horner said worried him.
The schools all opted for Apple MacBook Air laptops, except for Mililani Mauka, which requested iPads for its kindergarteners. The department said it paid $824 on average for the laptops and an average of $491 for the iPads.
If the program is expanded and all schools are able to pick MacBooks, it will be an expensive enterprise, Horner cautioned.
Board member Keith Amemiya questioned whether cheaper devices could have been purchased to spread the money across more schools.
The schools, chosen in part because their campuses have the needed technological infrastructure, are Keaau Elementary and Pahoa Elementary on Hawaii island; Mililani Mauka Elementary, Mililani Waena Elementary, Moanalua Middle, Nanaikapono Elementary, Nanakuli Elementary and Nanakuli Intermediate and High.
The two Hawaii island schools have been using their laptops since August.
Students do English or language arts assignments on the computers, which are linked to each other and the teacher’s and have a filtered Internet connection for research. So far, they aren’t being used for math.
The Oahu schools are expected to get their devices in the spring.
"The remainder of the schools said that they would prefer to wait and spend the first semester digging in to the professional development," Shipton said.