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Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Report: LA Schools' wifi networks may not be ready for tests | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC

Report: LA Schools' wifi networks may not be ready for tests | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC:

Report: LA Schools' wifi networks may not be ready for tests

Baldwin Hills iPad - 8

Maya Sugarman/KPCC

As the board of the Los Angeles Unified School District considers a request by Superintendent John Deasy to buy 67,500 more iPads so students can take new digital state tests in the spring, a committee found that even if the fleet of testing tablets is purchased, most schools wifi networks may not be ready.
Documents released by the district Monday show only 208 of the district's 800 schools have the network capacity to support every student and teacher having an iPad. By the time testing begins in April, 59 more school sites will be fully wifi ready.
The other schools will have to wait – but because students can cycle through testing, some may be able to get by on limited existing networks. Some elementary schools need only a handful of computers online on any given testing hour; other schools will 


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