NC - Technology in Education News

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Guilford County Schools suspended its tablet program October 4 and on Tuesday it released numbers to go along with the decision. The District asked for the return of 15,000 Amplify tablets that had been distributed to 18 of 24 middle schools.

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Fifteen-thousand tablets are locked up inside Guilford County Schools after the district had safety concerns with the products. Now that the district has temporarily shut down the tablet program, more details about how the district chose the company Amplify are emerging.

Last Tuesday, the Wake County school board pulled off the agenda - without explanation -a vote on using $538,790 in federal Race to the Top funds to purchase tablets from Amplify Education Inc. for East Cary Middle School.

Emails between Guilford County Schools and Amplify Inc., the supplier of 15,000 now-scrapped middle school tablet computers, show Amplify advising Guilford County Schools on how to write the request for proposals (RFP) that resulted in the company's proposal being picked over 10 others.

The 15,000-plus tablets Guilford County Schools purchased for most middle school students still sit unused for almost two weeks. About 10 percent of those tablets have broken screens. The devices did not include the right kind of glass. And, perhaps the final straw for local leaders, at least three students turned in chargers that partially melted at their homes.

CCSS skill mastery can be acknowledged with a digital badging system. Badge accumulation can occur in a non-linear fashion; some students may earn different badges than others. This strategy, known as embedded assessments , is common in gamified classrooms. Embedded assessments are built into the overall learning experience.

MISSION :: Our mission is to provide leadership and support to educators across the State of North Carolina to build and reinforce the Common Core State Standards and North Carolina Essential Standards, to implement the North Carolina State Board of Education goals, and to inform, clarify and disseminate state and federal policies and laws.

News & Record readers shared their thoughts or experiences with the Amplify digital tablets that Guilford County Schools pulled from classrooms this week. "My daughter's tablet was damaged during normal classroom use because of the inadequate cover. It fell over on her desk while it was propped up when another student accidentally bumped her desk.

State, School System(LEA) and School Performance

Will students get the tablets back? Why have there been so many problems? Has there been any breach of contract? "That is one of many issues we are looking into and speaking with Amplify about," Chief of Staff Nora Carr said in an email about the school system's contract with the Brooklyn-based education technology company.

Teachers, parents and community leaders have all weighed in to help create the Common Core State Standards. The standards clearly communicate what is expected of students at each grade level. This will allow our teachers to be better equipped to know exactly what they need to help students learn and establish individualized benchmarks for them.