Texas District Sees iPads Easing Its Digital Divide

New iPad 2 screens glow as Joseph Cantu, 15, bottom right, looks over his device with fellow students in a geometry class at McAllen Memorial High School on Feb. 27 in McAllen, Texas.

—Nathan Lambrecht/The Monitor/AP

By The Associated Press

A Texas school district is trying to close its digital divide by distributing thousands of Apple tablet computers in a move that could make it the largest iPad program for students in the United States.

The McAllen Independent School District began distributing 6,800 devices last week—mostly the iPad tablet computers, but also hundreds of iPod Touch devices for its youngest students.

By this time next year, the district says, every one of its more than 25,000 students from kindergarten to 12th grade will receive an iPad or iPod Touch. The district believes it's the largest effort of its kind, and while Apple Inc. would not confirm that, other districts the company noted as having made large investments have not made ones...