Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

It's Never Enough

  • By Jerry Enderle
  • 10/01/17

“It’s never enough.” Most of us have thought this, and even voiced it in frustration at some point when we were feeling overwhelmed. But once in a while it is simply a fact.

In mid-September, the EducationSuperHighway, a national non-profit focused on upgrading the Internet access in every public-school classroom in the U.S., released its “2017 State of the States” report. Since they began publishing annual reports in 2014, the number of U.S. students in K-12 public schools who have access to high-speed Internet at school has increased by 5.1 million — to more than 39 million. They also report that 94 percent of school districts nationwide now meet the minimum 100-kilobits-per-second (kbps)-per-student goal set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2014. So, overall, 39.2 million students, 2.6 million teachers, and 74,000 schools are now achieving the minimum connectivity goal that gives students equal access to digital learning opportunities. That sounds pretty good, right?

But, the fact is, it is not enough. Around 6.5 million students are still without access to high-speed Internet — a divide that is particularly wide in the 1,587 rural K-12 schools that don’t yet have the infrastructure necessary to provide this high-speed access, which in other parts of the country has revolutionized the way teachers teach and students learn.

According to Evan Marwell, CEO of EducationSuperHighway, the governors and state leaders across the country have played a crucial role in bringing high-speed learning opportunities to every classroom. In fact, he says that 46 governors have committed to upgrading access in their state’s public schools. Many have taken advantage of nearly $200 million in state matching funds for special construction that can help connect the hardest-to-reach-schools.

As of this report, eight states have successfully connected 100 percent of their schools to high-speed learning opportunities, opening a new chapter for each and every student.

So, in this case, “It’s never enough” may better serve as a mission statement. If we are to accomplish the goal of providing all students in the U.S. with high-speed Internet access by 2020, it is going to take a concerted effort. That is certainly a worthwhile cause.

(You can read the full report at stateofthestates.educationsuperhighway.org.)

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

Featured

  • Round Rock ISD Completes New Early College High School

    Round Rock ISD near Austin, Texas, recently announced that construction is complete on a new, 46,500-square-foot campus for Early College High School, according to a news release. The new facility will allow the school’s students and staff to move from portables into a permanent building and increase its enrollment to 500.

  • NWEA Report Recommends K–12 Natural Disaster Recovery Strategies

    The Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA), a K–12 assessment and research organization, recently announced the release of a new playbook for schools and communities recovering from extreme weather events, according to a news release.

  • Image courtesy of Kahler Slater

    UW–Madison Announces Completion of Morgridge Hall

    The University of Wisconsin–Madison recently announced that construction is complete on Morgridge Hall, a new academic building, according to a news release. The facility opened September 3 at the start of the fall semester, consolidating the School of Computer, Data & Information Sciences into a single facility for the first time.

  • Spaces4Learning Trends & Predictions for Educational Facilities in 2026: Part I

    We asked, you answered, and the results are in! Last year, we put out a call for submissions to collect our readership’s opinion on trends and predictions for K–12 and higher education facilities in 2026.