

After iPad initiative failure, school supe says LA can’t buy computers for all - hindsightbias
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/02/after-ipad-initiative-failure-school-supe-says-la-cant-buy-computers-for-all/

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owly
I know, let's throw money at it! ;) Imagine if they had taken the same amount
of cash, hired a bunch of motivated CS people to do an after-school program
with Raspberry Pi. Topics like "build a robot that draws" etc.

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dalke
It's not clear to me that an after-school program with Raspberry Pi, or other
CS-based funding, will lead to educational improvements. You premise is
similar to One Laptop Per Child, which hasn't been successful despite a lot of
money and motivated CS effort being thrown at it.

One obvious question is to ask is if a $3000/year raise, for 10 years, for all
of the teachers in the district, would give better educational outcomes.

For all I know, paying for a full-time school nurse might give better
outcomes. (Checking now,
[http://achieve.lausd.net/Page/3709](http://achieve.lausd.net/Page/3709) says
nurses in LA schools get about $55K/year, so that's 21 years of salary funding
for a nurse per school, so 10 years if I include overhead. There's also the
need for a room and supplies, but then again there already are some school
nurses.)

