How prevalent is Internet access in private schools and classrooms?

The percentage of schools and the percentage of instructional rooms ³ with connections to the Internet are two measures commonly used to provide an indication of Internet access in schools. In 1998, 67 percent of private schools were connected to the Internet, up from 25 percent in 1995 (Table 2). This 67 percent of private schools connected to the Internet enrolled 81 percent of all private school students (not shown in tables). In 1998, 89 percent of public schools had access to the Internet (Rowand 1999), representing 91 percent of all public school students.

The availability of Internet access in private schools varied somewhat by school characteristics. In 1995, Catholic and nonsectarian schools were more likely than those with other religious affiliations to have Internet access, while in 1998 Catholic schools were more likely than both non-sectarian and other religious schools to be connected to the Internet. In 1995 and in 1998, secondary schools were more likely than elementary and combined schools to have Internet access (Table 2). Rural private schools were less likely than private schools in other locations to be connected to the Internet in 1995. In 1998, however, rural private schools were about as likely as private schools in other locations to be connected to the Internet.

Table 2 shows that the percentage of instructional rooms with access to the Internet in private schools increased, from 5 percent in 1995 to 25 percent in 1998. In that same year, 51 percent of public school instructional rooms were connected to the Internet (Rowand 1999). In 1998, 41 percent of instructional rooms in nonsectarian schools were connected to the Internet, compared with 27 percent of instructional rooms in Catholic schools and 18 percent of instructional rooms in other religious schools. Ten percent of instructional rooms in private schools with 50 percent or more minority enrollment had Internet access, compared with 27 to 32 percent of instructional rooms in schools with less than 50 percent minority enrollment.

Other ways to look at the availability of Internet access in private schools are the number of private school students per computer with Internet access and the number of private school students per instructional computer with Internet access. In 1995, there were about 99 private school students per computer with Internet access (Table 3). By 1998, there were 12 private school students per computer with Internet access. In 1998, the ratio of students to instructional computer with Internet access was 15 to 1 (Table 3).

³Instructional rooms include classrooms, computer labs, library/media centers, and any other rooms used for instructional purposes (e.g., gymnasium).

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