Some states are taking more aggressive steps than others to improve technology use in schools.
From the prairie lands of the east to the black hills of the west, technology is the great equalizer among schools in South Dakota. spThanks to a multiyear initiative to use technology to help surmount the challenges often faced by the state鈥檚 small, rural schools, Advanced Placement courses were offered for the first time this spring鈥攙ia the Internet鈥攊n 26 districts. An astonishing 110,000 Internet connections are available to a school population of only 130,000 students. And each summer, teachers throughout the state are invited to attend an intensive, monthlong program designed to help them integrate the state鈥檚 new high- tech tools into their lesson plans.
Many of South Dakota鈥檚 efforts to wire schools, establish online programming, and train teachers are similar to approaches that various other states have taken as they try to narrow the digital divide that separates the haves from the have-nots in educational technology. Still, when viewed collectively, state-by-state approaches to equalizing access to technological resources鈥攁nd the results gained from those efforts鈥攁re far from uniform.
鈥淲e鈥檝e made a lot of strides nationally in narrowing that gap,鈥� says Norris E. Dickard, a senior associate at the Washington-based Benton Foundation, which tracks issues of equity in access to technology.
But, he adds, 鈥渢he bottom line is that states are all over the board.鈥�
States such as Delaware, Maine, Mississippi, and South Dakota have all made big commitments to the universal deployment of educational technology, says Keith Krueger, the executive director of the Consortium for School Networking, based in Washington.
鈥淚t鈥檚 almost an inverse logic,鈥� Krueger says. 鈥淒ata show that some of the rural states are leaders in connectivity, and some of the bigger states are surprising in their absence鈥� of Internet connections in schools.
According to Mississippi officials, for example, all of the state鈥檚 schools are now linked to the Internet and to one another through a statewide network that also connects them to state agencies, community colleges, and universities. The final school to be linked to the network was hooked up in December of last year.
鈥淩ural states recognize how important [connecting to the Internet] is,鈥� says Helen Soul茅, the director of technology support and training in the Mississippi Department of Education. 鈥淚t can be a lifeline for a community.鈥�
States Vary on Access and Content
Of course, setting up the necessary infrastructure is only a part of the equation that enables students to have equitable in-school access to technology. Ensuring that schools have affordable access to telecommunications services, including the Internet, is another.
To that end, the states have played a more aggressive role in coordinating the federal E-rate program, says Arthur D. Sheekey, the coordinator of learning technologies for the Council of Chief State School Officers in Washington.
鈥淚鈥檝e seen a direct correlation,鈥� Sheekey says. 鈥淭he states that have assumed a leadership role seem to have a higher participation in the E- rate program.鈥�
In Mississippi, Soul茅 says, state efforts to negotiate uniform rates for all districts through the state鈥檚 primary telecommunications provider, BellSouth, has meant that rural districts are paying less than $500 a month for T1 lines that would otherwise likely cost between $1,200 and $2, 000 a month. Such lines allow for faster Internet service than telephone connections. 鈥淎 T1 in Jackson and a T1 in Coffeeville cost the same amount ,鈥� Soul茅 says. 鈥淪o school districts are not punished for being farther away from the larger cities.鈥�
As states report increasingly smaller student-to-computer ratios, many are also turning their attention to creating or offering computer- delivered academic programs or materials. Perhaps not coincidentally, says Sheekey, that development has dovetailed with the trend in states toward more high-stakes testing of students.
鈥淵ou really have to extend that learning beyond school, because there often isn鈥檛 enough time during school hours,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t begins to raise implications for states鈥� seeing to it that the learning goes beyond the schools.鈥�
In Florida, for example, the state has spent more than $16 million over the past three years to develop the Florida Online High School, an accredited diploma-granting institution that offers 56 courses. Roughly 5, 000 students鈥攊ncluding some who are being schooled at home鈥攁re now taking at least one class through the high school; many come from rural areas and wouldn鈥檛 otherwise have access to Advanced Placement or other specialized courses the school provides online. 鈥淥ne of their major motivations for doing this was equity in access,鈥� says William R. Thomas, the director of educational technology for the Atlanta-based Southern Regional Education Board.
Thomas says he knows of very few states that aren鈥檛 working to provide students and schools with some form of computer-based academic programming, but that none has made a commitment on the scale of Florida鈥檚.
鈥淭here鈥檚 Florida, and then there are 49 states,鈥� Thomas says. Still, he notes, 鈥渢he vast majority of states are in the process of addressing digital-divide issues, and this is one way they鈥檙e going about it.鈥�
In Search of After-School Equity
As states strive to make online, anytime learning opportunities available to more students, many states have also had to consider that the digital divide they have worked to close during school hours is suddenly thrown open again when students go home.
According to a survey conducted in 1997 by the U.S. Department of Education, 80 percent of high school students from families with annual household incomes of at least $75,000 reported using a computer at home. For students from families with annual household incomes in the $10,000-to-$ 15,000 range, only 18 percent of students reported using a computer at home.
Ultimately, 鈥渨e have almost bridged the digital divide in schools in terms of buildings and classrooms connected to the Internet,鈥� says Dickard of the Benton Foundation. 鈥淭he big divide comes when [students] walk out school doors.鈥�
To that end, states are adopting a variety of approaches to try to give students more equal access to computers in the after-school hours. Lawmakers in Maine, for example, were considering this spring a proposal by Gov. Angus S. King Jr. to provide school-owned laptop computers to all 7th and 8th graders in the state. Other states, including Florida, Illinois, and Virginia, have committed resources to the development of after-school community computer labs that students can use if they don鈥檛 have computers at home.
The Illinois board of education, for example, has partnered with Powerup鈥攁 McLean, Va.-based organization devoted to bridging the digital divide鈥攁nd a consortium of high-poverty school districts just south of Chicago to establish after-school computing centers in 45 schools. The state committed $1 million to the program this fiscal year.
鈥淚f we鈥檙e going to resolve this achievement gap between students of color and white students, and high-poverty and low-poverty students, we have to give them access to the same educational opportunities,鈥� says Lugene Finley Jr., the chief technology officer for the Illinois state board. 鈥� And technology does that. It can be an equalizer when you provide the tools.鈥�
Michigan legislators, meanwhile, have made teachers the focus of some of their efforts to bridge the digital divide, committing $110 million last year to furnish each of the state鈥檚 roughly 90,000 full-time teachers with his or her own laptop or desktop computer. School districts themselves will either lease or own the computers and provide them to teachers as long-term loans.
Teachers and districts have to go through a basic application process to qualify for the program. The 176,000-student Detroit school system, for example, recently applied for鈥攁nd will likely receive鈥攃omputers for more than 6,000 of its teachers.
鈥淭he educators we鈥檝e spoken to were at first in disbelief,鈥� says Jamey T. Fitzpatrick, the vice president of development and education policy for the Michigan Virtual University, a nonprofit organization coordinating the computer-distribution program for the state. 鈥淔or a number of them, this is giving them an opportunity to have something they wouldn鈥檛 otherwise have access to.鈥�
