Apple has donated some 9,000 iPads to the Teach For America organization, a group that puts new college grads into low-income, under-achieving schools across the country, according to a report from Fortune magazine. The effort is related to an initiative launched during the spring when Apple told customers replacing their original iPads with an iPad 2 that they could donate them through their local Apple Store.
Teach For America is, in our eyes, a great project. The organization described itself as working towards, “growing the movement of leaders who work to ensure that kids growing up in poverty get an excellent education.”
There are currently some 9,000 teachers in the program working in 38 states, and it’s to these teachers that Apple has offered the free iPads. On August 1st, the organization sent a notice to its members saying, “What could an iPad do for your classroom and your students? Well, we’re asking you to help us answer this question.”
One teacher, Katie Remington, found an immediate use, saying after the first day that, “So far, I’ve figured out it can make them finish their work fast for ‘iPad time.’”
Registration for the program ended on August 31st, and Apple began distributing the devices over the last two weeks. Fortune noted that former Apple CEO and current chairman Steve Jobs’s wife, Laurene Powell, serves on TFA’s board of directors, which is likely how Apple got involved with the group.