10/15/2010 ESCONDIDO: Escondido school district r…

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ESCODIDO: Escondido school district recognized for iPod

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Students with personal devices in class outperform others in test groups

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ESCONDIDO: Escondido school district recognized for iPod program

By GARY WARTH - gwarth@nctimes.com North County Times - Californian | Posted: Tuesday, May
11, 2010 8:15 pm | (6) Comments | Print

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Nick Morris The Image Group Phot Milton Chen, director of the George Lucas
Foundation, watches as 9-year-old Eliza Pedro demonstrates how she utilizes and iPod Touch in her
studies Friday morning at Central Elementary School in Escondido. (Photo by Nick Morris - For the
North County Times)

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A relatively small investment in technology appears to be paying big dividends in the Escondido Union
School District, which has earned a prestigious county award for its use of iPod Touches in a program
credited with improving test scores.

"We're seeing it across the board," district technology and media services director Kathy Shirley said
about the positive results of the iPods. "In all the classrooms where we have a one-to-one environment
(one for each student), the kids are outperforming the control groups."
The K-8 district has provided students with about 1,600 personal iPods, including at least 1,000 iPod
Touches. Similar to iPhones but unable to make phone calls, iPod Touches are small, personal,
electronic devices that can be loaded with various applications, commonly called apps, that included
various learning tools.
Shirley said the district has been using iPods for about four years, but just last year started a pilot
program that provided them for two full classrooms.
"Once we saw the achievement gains in the two pilot classrooms, we decided to broaden it as much as
we could," she said.
As of late last fall, 26 classrooms, mostly in elementary schools, were using iPod Touches in a one-
to-one environment.

In a test group of fifth-graders who are learning English as a second language and are classified as
high-poverty, student test scores in reading skills surged during a six-week period between last
December and January, Shirley said. Several students jumped from far-below basic skills to above
proficiency in some categories, she said.
In another study, students using iPod Touches for math skills showed the equivalent of two years of
growth in six months.

On May 20, the county Office of Education is scheduled to present the district with the Impact Award
from the Classroom of the Future Foundation for its commitment to technology. The award, which
comes with $10,000, is the highest of four given annually by the foundation.

Shirley credits district Superintendent Jennifer Walters and the school board with committing to fund
technology as a priority.

"We put a line item in our budget to keep pushing forward, even in tight budget times," she said. "If we
just completely grind to a halt and let this whole budget crisis paralyze us, then by the time we're out
of this, we're three or four years behind in any kind of innovation."

The district this year allocated $300,000 for the iPod program. With the devices costing $200,

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Shirley said an entire classroom can be outfitted for $12,000, including a cart for the devices and
other items.
At Central Elementary School, teacher Heather Peterson said she saw a difference in her classroom
last year when it had just six iPod Touches to share. Since getting enough for the entire class four
months ago, she said, she has seen the students more engaged and enthusiastic about their lessons.

"It's really fun for me as a teacher and exciting for the students," said Peterson, who has taught 19
years.
Shirley said the iPods are effective in part because they personalize learning.

"If I need an application for fractions and he needs an application for multiplication, we can customize
the iPod for different content," she said. "And that's something that's really hard to do in teaching when
you've got the same textbook for every kid."

For students in Peterson's class, the iPods simply make learning fun.

"My favorite app on here is playing Words with friends," Destiny Agundez, 10, said about a vocabulary
game on the iPod. "You can battle with other people in your class."

Destiny boasted about being at level 109 in Pop Math, another iPod app that has helped her learn
multiplication and division.

Seated next to her, Lizzie Bohnstedt, 9, was eager to talk about the Mother's Day essay she had written
on her iPod blog.

"Not only does it teach you how to write and stuff, but people can see it and say, 'Wow, look at what
they can do at school,'" she said about posting her blog online.

Student Debbie Vidrio said the devices have helped her with reading and math.
"When we get in the fifth grade, we're going to be really smart," she said.
Student Diane Vargas said using the iPod has helped her improve her test scores.

"I had trouble in the past, but now everything is much easier when I practice my skills using the iPod,"
she said.

Milton Chen, senior fellow and executive director emeritus for the George Lucas Educational
Foundation in San Rafael, visited Peterson's class last Friday to see how students are using the
devices. He first heard about the district's program after meeting Shirley in a conference last year in
China.

"There are so many apps they can use to give them a basic understanding of reading and math skills,"
said Chen, who sees the iPods as a much less-expensive alternative to other technology. "And it's a lot
more fun. It's just so engaging for the kids. I'm very interested to see some research about this."

Call staff writer Gary Warth at 760-740-5410.

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Copyright 2010 North County Times - Californian. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Posted in Escondido on Tuesday, May 11, 2010 8:15 pm Updated: 9:06 pm. | Tags: Escondido,
Inland, Nct, News, Education
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