Technology Counts - March 14, 2013 - 10

E-Rate Assistance Needed

BEYOND SCHOOL WALLS
Some ed-tech
leaders say the
federal program’s
current policy
not to reimburse
districts for out-ofschool broadband
access is a barrier
to innovation
and better use
of digital tools
for learning

By_Michelle R. Davis

s schools incorporate
more blended learning
and take-home digital
assignments, many
students face a challenge: how to do their work, which
requires Internet access, outside of
school hours and school buildings.
The reality is that even in today’s
technology-driven world, many students still don’t have computers or
Internet connections at home, and
those who do have access are often
hampered by the poor quality of
their online connections.
To complicate matters, the federal E-rate program, which helps
districts pay for Internet connectivity, doesn’t apply outside of school
hours, off school property.
The irony is that the Federal Communications Commission’s National
Broadband Plan pushes for students
to get connected, and the fcc has
urged the adoption of digital textbooks. But the E-rate program still
does not reimburse schools for outof-school broadband access, even for

How to Get FASTER
CONNECTIONS

low-income students.
Some educational technology
leaders see that policy as a barrier
to innovation and better use of digital tools for learning.
“We’re trying to extend the learning day beyond the duty day of 7:30
to 4:30,” says Steven D. Clagg, the
chief information officer for the
39,000-student Aurora, Colo., public
schools. “A lot of learning needs to
happen outside those hours.”
The $2.3 billion E-rate program—
established in1996 with the goal
of ensuring that all schools and
libraries, particularly those in lowincome areas, have communications
services—helps districts pay for
many technology-related expenses,
including telecommunications
services, Internet access, and network maintenance. The more lowincome students a district serves,
the higher the level of the federal
reimbursement.
Though the program recently
began permitting districts to receive reimbursement for the use of
technology outside of school hours,
that use must take place on school

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

wired and wireless networks inside of schools.”

STATEWIDE NETWORKS
Determine how much
broadband your district is
purchasing. Try to upgrade to
the speed recommended by the
State Educational Technology
Directors Association, which is
at least 100 megabits per 1,000
students/staff.

Use an Internet speed test.
A test like the one available from
the group EducationSuperHighway
can determine the speed of your
online connections in classrooms
and buildings. Old equipment can
slow the speed of the Internet as
it reaches the end user.
Maximize use
of federal E-rate dollars.
This may require a much closer
examination of your application
for E-rate money and of how
your district is now spending
that aid.

EDUCATION WEEK

>> MARCH 14, 2013

To get schools up to speed, some
states, such as Idaho, Maine, Nebraska, and Utah, have developed
statewide broadband networks.
Such networks bring equity
across a state with rural and
urban, high- and low-income areas,
says former Gov. Beverly Purdue of
North Carolina, who helped establish her state’s broadband network,
one of the most comprehensive
in the country. Each of the 115
school districts in the state is
connected to the network, which
is managed by MCNC, a nonprofit
organization based in Research
Triangle Park, N.C.
“We can level that playing field
through solid connectivity, so digital content at all levels can be ac-

Utilize state-supported
broadband networks.
Many states have created
networks—often in collaboration
with colleges and universities—
that allow school districts to
receive discounted broadband
connections.

property. For example, a school could
keep a computer lab open for student and community use and receive
E-rate funding for it. But a school
could not receive federal support for
students’ home Internet connections
in a 1-to-1 computing program.
Still, federal officials are pilottesting new ideas.
In 2011, the fcc launched a 20site project called Learning on-theGo, or logo, to study the issue. The
project provided about $10 million
for schools to experiment with the
use of wireless Internet access off
campus.
In Aurora, the money allowed the
district to expand an online creditrecovery initiative for students at
risk of not graduating. The money
paid for netbooks for the students
to take home, and the district
worked with Internet-service provider Verizon to give the students
a data plan.
The pilot funding allowed the
program to expand from 148 to 212
students. During the 2011-12 school
year, when the online credit-recovery
pilot program took place, 25 students

cessed by the student,” Purdue says.
Since 2008, the North Carolina
network has provided districts
with 100 megabits of broadband in
cooperation with private network
providers. MCNC provides the
backbone of the network, and private providers connect it to the district, says Joe Freddoso, the president and ceo of MCNC. The state
pays for the network and what the
district would be reimbursed for
by the E-rate program; the state
also pays for much of what is not
reimbursed.
Aggregating all the districts allows MCNC to get better rates,
and for-profit providers are happy
because each district now receives
100 megabits, a boost from what
many previously contracted for,
Freddoso says.
The connectivity initiative has
been a boon to districts such as
the 2,500-student Thomasville city
school system, where nearly 90 percent of students qualify for free or
reduced-price lunch, says Mike Ingram, the district’s director of technology and Title I.
The state broadband network
allowed Thomasville to install a
districtwide wireless network and
implement a 1-to-1 computing initiative at its high school; the program is set to expand to middle
school in the next school year.
Even with the 1-to-1 program and
some online testing, Ingram reports
the district has had “no problems
whatsoever with connectivity.” He
calls the state network “the single
best project the state has ever done.”
But in other places, state net-

graduated, and 16 more graduated
the following summer, Clagg says.
The pilot “allowed us to pay for
devices that go off site,” he says.
“We have an equity issue, and a lot
of our kids don’t have Internet access at home, or computers.”

2,500 NETBOOKS
California’s 44,000-student Riverside Unified district, located about
60 miles east of Los Angeles, was
also a pilot site for the fcc initiative. It used its federal money, along
with matching funds from Internet
provider Verizon, to give 2,500 netbooks to middle school students
across five campuses, with unlimited data plans that allowed students to download digital content
and access the Internet as needed,
says Jay McPhail, the director of
K-12 instructional technology.
The result was increased online
visits to all of the district’s online
learning management systems and
electronic educational resources.
The pilot project also uncovered

works are disappearing.
Kansas last year decommissioned
its state broadband network, says
Melinda Stanley, the state education technology coordinator. The
network had provided a high-speed
line for districts throughout the
state.
Now, all districts have to renegotiate contracts with Internetservice providers, Stanley says,
and it’s likely some districts will
be forced to take a step backward
with broadband, particularly in
areas where there may be only one
service provider.
A report released in February by
the Kansas Department of Education found that 53 out of the state’s
208 districts said their Internet-service providers limited the amount
of broadband they could purchase, and 69 districts indicated
they were challenged finding
secure, efficient, and affordable
Internet access.

TECHNICAL SUPPORT
But it’s not all about broadband.
Marwell of EducationSuperHighway says that aside from
securing high-speed broadband,
one of the biggest problems districts have is finding someone to
manage the network internally.
“Schools don’t have the expertise they need to effectively design and implement a network,”
he says. “Creating a network and
buying broadband is a lot more
complicated than buying pencils.”
In North Carolina, the connectiv-

Technology Counts - March 14, 2013

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