Dive Brief:

• Unlike the notorious botched iPad rollout in Los Angeles Unified School District, North Carolina's Guillford County Schools has been able to rectify a bad experience it had with a 1:1 initiative.
• After its $16 million Amplify tablet deployment ran into issues, the district placed its contract on hold so it could work out the kinks — a move that allowed the program to be stronger the second time around.
• According to eSchool News, the key takeaways from Guilford's experience include being proactive instead of reactive, commiting to transparency, learning from mistakes, turning challenges into opportunities, and building trust with community stakeholders.

Dive Insight:

Unlike LAUSD, Guilford did not let its program's problems fester. The district was also willing to recognize when things were going in a direction that wasn't beneficial for students and nip the issues in the bud.

That said, it's important to note that the 1:1 approach is still pricey. The price tag on the district's effort to push out personalized learning is currently around $35 million.

There are also bigger questions of whether or not 1:1 is the right move for every school. A recent study out of Northwestern University found that students who shared iPads performed better on an end-of-year exam than those in 1:1 classrooms or with no iPads at all. The study highlights the power of collaboration and raises questions about whether or not administrators should be pushing so furiously for a 1:1 learning environment.