Schools

Big Differences in Ratio of Students to Computers at San Ramon Valley Schools

Classrooms across California average 4.7 students per school-owned computer. San Ramon Valley Unified is slightly higher than that, although hand-held devices aren't included in the data.

Measured by the number of students for each computer, access varies significantly from school to school in the San Ramon Valley, according to 2011-12 statistics from the website Ed-Data.

Overall, at the elementary school level, the San Ramon Valley Unified School District averages 5.6 students per school-owned desktop or laptop computer.

At the middle school level, it's 4.8 students per computer.

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At the high schools, it's 5.5 students per computer.

The state average is 4.7 students per computer.

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The range is greatest in the district's elementary schools:

  • For elementary schools, Tassajara Hills has the lowest student per computer ratio at 2.4. Sycamore Valley is at 3.2 students per computer while Live Oak and Coyote Creek are at 3.7. On the other end, Creekside Elementary has 38 students per computer while Vista Grande has almost 27.
  • At the middle schools, the gap is not as wide. It ranges from 2.6 students per computer at Gale Ranch to 9.2 students at Charlotte Wood.
  • At the high schools, it ranges from 4.3 students per computer at Monte Vista to 7.5 at San Ramon Valley.

Del Amigo Continuation High actually had the best ratio in the district at slightly under 1.0. There were 48 computers for the 41 students there at the time the data was gathered. There are now about 100 students at the school. Some of the computers listed are in a computer lab on campus.

Terry Koehne, a spokesman for the San Ramon Valley school district, said the overall numbers are a bit misleading.

They don't include handheld devices such as iPods and iPads. Those devices are at all schools. In fact, at some elementary schools, every fifth-grader has one.

"We've had an intense focus on getting hand-held devices into our schools," he said.

Koehne said schoolchildren use the devices for research and for downloading applications for subjects such as math.

The students also become more familiar with electronic equipment that is important in the 21st century.

"The devices are part of the kids' everyday reality," said Koehne. "What are we preparing out kids for? Our future or our past?"

Some schools now encourage middle and high school students to use personal cell phones, tablets and e-readers during school hours for classwork, according to an MSN Money report.

The same article said nearly three-quarters of teachers surveyed for the Pew Research Center Internet & American Life study said they or their students use cell phones during class or for homework.

How would you rate the availability of technology at San Ramon Valley schools? Are we doing enough to prepare students?


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