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Internet Access in U.S. Public Schools and Classrooms: 1994 - 2000


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?



List of Tables and Figures

Full Report (PDF)
line How are public schools preventing students from accessing inappropriate material on the Internet in 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).

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