• How Much Progress Have Public Schools Made in Connecting to the Internet?
• What Is the Ratio of Students to Instructional Computers in Public Schools?
• How Are Public Schools Connected to the Internet?
• To What Extent Are Public Schools Making the Internet Available to Students Outside of Regular School Hours in 2000?
• How Are Public Schools Preventing Students From Accessing Inappropriate Material on the Internet in 2000?
• Related Information
• References and Related Reports

By the fall of 2000, almost all public schools in the United States had access to the Internet: 98 percent were connected. In comparison, 35 percent of public schools had access to the Internet in 1994 (table 1). Unlike in previous years, there were virtually no differences in school access to the Internet by school characteristics (e.g., poverty level¹ and metropolitan status) in 1999 or 2000.

The increase in Internet access over the years may have been aided by the allocation of funds through the Education rate (E-rate) program. The E-rate program was established in 1996 to make services, Internet access, and internal connections available to schools and libraries at discounted rates based upon the income level of the students in their community and whether their location is urban or rural.² As of February 28, 2001, $5.8 billion has been committed to E-rate applicants throughout the nation.³

Another key measure of Internet access in schools is the proportion of instructional rooms connected to the Internet.⁴ Since 1994, when 3 percent of instructional rooms had computers with Internet access, public schools have made consistent progress in this area: in fall 2000, 77 percent of instructional rooms were connected to the Internet, up from 64 percent in 1999 (table 2). However, in 2000, as in previous years, there were differences in Internet access in instructional rooms by school characteristics. For example, in schools with the highest concentration of students in poverty (75 percent or more students eligible for free or reduced-price school lunch), a smaller percentage of instructional rooms were connected to the Internet (60 percent) than in schools with lower concentrations of poverty (77 to 82 percent of instructional rooms). A similar pattern occurred by minority enrollment. In schools with the highest minority enrollment (50 percent or more), a smaller percentage of instructional rooms had Internet access (64 percent) than in schools with lower minority enrollment (79 to 85 percent of instructional rooms). Despite these continuing differences, however, the percentage of instructional rooms with Internet access increased between 1999 and 2000 in these schools—from 38 to 60 percent in schools with the highest concentration of poverty, and from 43 to 64 percent in schools with the highest minority enrollment.

By the fall of 2000, the ratio of students to instructional computers in public schools had decreased to 5 to 1, the ratio that “many experts consider … a reasonable level for the effective use of computers within the schools” (President’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology 1997, p. 14). The ratio improved from a national average of 6 to 1 in 1999 (not shown in tables).

Similarly, the ratio of students to instructional computers with Internet access in public schools improved from 9 to 1 in 1999 to 7 to 1 in 2000 (table 3). However, differences by school characteristics persisted. For example, the ratio of students to instructional computers with Internet access was still greater in schools with the highest concentration of students in poverty than in schools with the lowest concentration of poverty (9 to 1 compared with 6 to 1). Nonetheless, in schools with the highest concentration of poverty, the ratio of students to computers with Internet access improved from 17 to 1 in 1999 to 9 to 1 in 2000.

Table 1.—Percent of public schools with Internet access, by school characteristics: 1994–2000

Table 2.—Percent of instructional rooms with Internet access in public schools, by school characteristics: 1994–2000

Table 3.—Ratio of students to instructional computers with Internet access in public schools, and percent of public schools allowing students to access the Internet outside of regular school hours, by school characteristics: 1998–2000

Over the years, changes have occurred in the type of network connections used by public schools and the speed at which they are connected to the Internet. In 1996, dial-up Internet connections were used by almost three-fourths (74 percent) of public schools having Internet access (Heaviside, Riggins, and Farris 1997). By 2000, schools tended to use faster dedicated-line Internet connections, such as 56Kb, T1/DS1, fractionalized T1, T3/DS3, and fractionalized T3 lines (table 4). Seventy-seven percent of the nation’s public schools that were connected to the Internet used dedicated lines, 11 percent used dial-up (not continuous) connections, and 24 percent of schools used other (continuous) connection types, including ISDN, wireless connections, and cable modems.⁵ There were differences by instructional level; secondary schools (86 percent) were more likely to use dedicated lines than elementary schools (74 percent).

Table 4.—Percent of public schools with Internet access using the following types of connections, by school characteristics: 1998–2000

Making the Internet accessible outside of regular school hours allows students who would not otherwise have access to the Internet to use this resource for school-related activities like homework. In 2000, 54 percent of public schools with access to the Internet reported that computers with access to the Internet were available to students outside of regular school hours (table 3). Secondary schools were more likely to make the Internet available to students outside of regular school hours than elementary schools (80 percent compared to 46 percent). Similarly, large schools (1,000 or more students) were more likely to make the Internet accessible to students outside of regular school hours than medium-sized and small schools (79 percent compared with 53 and 49 percent, respectively). In addition, schools with the highest minority enrollment reported Internet availability outside of regular school hours more frequently than schools with the lowest minority enrollment (61 percent compared with 46 percent). Of the 54 percent of schools making the Internet available to students outside of regular school hours, 98 percent made it available after school, 84 percent before school, and 16 percent on weekends (figure 1).

Figure 1.—Percent of public schools allowing students to access the Internet outside of regular school hours giving students access after school, before school, and on weekends: 2000

Given the diversity of the information carried on the Internet, student access to inappropriate material is a major concern of many parents and teachers. In 2000, almost all public schools with Internet access (98 percent) had “acceptable use policies” (AUPs) and used various technologies or procedures, such as blocking or filtering software, an intranet system, honor codes for students, or teacher/staff monitoring, to control student access to inappropriate material on the Internet (not shown in tables). Across all types of schools, between 95 and 100 percent had AUPs. Of those schools with AUPs, 94 percent reported having student access to the Internet monitored by teachers or other staff members (figure 2). Three-fourths (74 percent) used blocking or filtering software, 64 percent had honor codes, and 28 percent used their intranet. As these numbers suggest, most of the schools (91 percent) used more than one procedure or technology as part of their policy (calculated from table 5). Fifteen percent of public schools used all of the procedures and technologies listed above; 29 percent used blocking/filtering software, teacher/staff monitoring, and honor codes; and 19 percent used blocking/filtering software and teacher/staff monitoring (table 5). In addition, 95 percent of public schools having AUPs used at least one of these technologies or procedures on all Internet-connected computers used by students (not shown in tables).

Figure 2.—Percent of public schools with acceptable use policies (AUPs) using the following technologies or procedures: 2000

Table 5.—Percent of public schools with acceptable use policies (AUPs) using various combinations of procedures and/or technologies to prevent student access to inappropriate material on the Internet: 2000

This survey is part of an overall NCES effort to track the availability and use of technology in schools. The references below contain the source information about publications for the series of public school surveys on advanced telecommunications and Internet access. In addition to collecting information from public schools, NCES surveyed private schools about advanced telecommunications in 1995 and 1999. NCES has also collected information on teachers’ use of technology. A report on this topic was released in summer 2000.

¹Throughout this report, poverty level is measured by the percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.

²The poorest applicants receive the largest discounts (90 percent), and rural communities receive up to a 10 percent additional discount.

³The E-rate program funding commitment data were found at the Web site of the School and Libraries Division (SLD), Universal Service Administrative Company (http://www.sl.universalservice.org/whatsnew/).

⁴Instructional rooms include classrooms, computer and other labs, library/media centers, and any other rooms used for instructional purposes.

⁵Percentages add to more than 100 because schools may use more than one type of connection.

References and Related Reports

Bare, J., and Meek, A. (1998). Internet Access in Public Schools (NCES 98–031). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Heaviside, S., and Farris, E. (1997). Advanced Telecommunications in U.S. Private Schools, K–12, Fall 1995 (NCES 97–394). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Heaviside, S., Farris, E., and Malitz, G. (1995). Advanced Telecommunications in U.S. Public Schools, K–12 (NCES 95–731). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Heaviside, S., Farris, E., and Malitz, G. (1996). Advanced Telecommunications in U.S. Public Elementary and Secondary Schools, 1995 (NCES 96–854). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Heaviside S., Riggins, T., and Farris, E. (1997). Advanced Telecommunications in U.S. Public Elementary and Secondary Schools, Fall 1996 (NCES 97–944). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Heaviside, S., Rowand, C., Hurst, D., and McArthur, E. (2000) . What Are the Barriers to the Use of Advanced Telecommunications for Students With Disabilities in Public Schools? (NCES 2000–042). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Levin, D., Hurst, D., and Burns, S. (2000). Computer and Internet Access in U.S. Private Schools and Classrooms: 1995 and 1998 (NCES 2000–044). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

President’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology, Panel on Educational Technology. (1997). Report to the President on the Use of Technology to Strengthen K–12 Education in the United States. Available: http://www.ostp.gov/PCAST/K-12ed.html

Riley, R., Holleman, F., and Roberts, L. (2000). eLearning: Putting a World-Class Education at the Fingertips of All Children. U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology. Available: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/os/technology/reports/e-learning.html

Rowand, C. (1999). Internet Access in Public Schools and Classrooms: 1994–98 (NCES 1999–017). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Smerdon, B., Cronen, S., Lanahan, L., Anderson, J., Iannotti, N., and Angeles, J. (2000). Teachers’ Tools for the 21st Century: A Report on Teachers’ Use of Technology (NCES 2000–102). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Williams, C. (2000). Internet Access in Public Schools and Classrooms: 1994–99 (NCES 2000–086). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

   

Data sources: The following surveys, all conducted through the NCES Fast Response Survey System: “Survey on Advanced Telecommunications in U.S. Public Schools, K–12,” FRSS 51, 1994; “Survey on Advanced Telecommunications in U.S. Public Schools, K–12,” FRSS 57, 1995; “Advanced Telecommunications in U.S. Public Schools, Fall 1996,” FRSS 61, 1996; “Internet Access in U.S. Public Schools, Fall 1997,” FRSS 64, 1997; “Internet Access in U.S. Public Schools, Fall 1998,” FRSS 69, 1998; “Internet Access in U.S. Public Schools, Fall 1999,” FRSS 75, 1999; and “Internet Access in U.S. Public Schools, Fall 2000,” FRSS 79, 2000. For technical information, see the complete report: Cattagni, A., and Farris, E. (2001). Internet Access in U.S. Public Schools and Classrooms: 1994–2000 (NCES 2001–071). Author affiliations: A. Cattagni and E. Farris, Westat. For questions about content, contact Peter Tice. To obtain the complete report (NCES 2001–071), call the toll-free ED Pubs number (877-433-7827), visit the NCES Web Site (http://nces.ed.gov).