Internet Access in U.S. Public Schools and Classrooms: 1994-2001, Index

Introduction

Selected Findings

School Connectivity

Students and Computer Access

Operating Systems, Memory Capacity, and Disk Space

Special Hardware and Software for Students with Disabilities

The Internet as a Way to Communicate with Parents and Students

Technologies and Procedures to Prevent Student Access to Inappropriate Material on the Internet

Related Information

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List of Tables

Full Report (PDF)

Internet Access in U.S. Public Schools and Classrooms: 1994 - 2001

Since 1994, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has surveyed public schools to estimate access to information technology in schools and classrooms. In the fall of each academic year, a new nationally representative sample of approximately 1,000 public schools has been surveyed about Internet access and Internet-related topics.

Although some items, such as those on school and classroom connectivity, have been constant on all surveys, new items have been added as technology has changed and new issues have arisen. For example, an item on types of Internet connections was added in 1996 and has remained part of the subsequent surveys, with some modifications. The fall 2001 survey included items on access to the Internet outside of regular school hours; technologies and procedures used to prevent student access to inappropriate material on the Internet; special hardware and software for students with disabilities; operating systems/platforms, memory capacity, and disk space on instructional computers; school Web sites; and laptop loans to students.

This survey was conducted by NCES using the Fast Response Survey System (FRSS). FRSS is designed to administer short, focused, issue-oriented surveys that require minimal burden on respondents and have a quick turnaround from data collection to reporting. Questionnaires for this survey were mailed to a representative sample of 1,209 public schools in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Data have been weighted to yield national estimates. Detailed information about the survey methodology is provided in appendix A, and the questionnaire can be found in appendix B.

In addition to national estimates, selected survey findings are presented by the following school characteristics:

instructional level (elementary, secondary);

school size (enrollment of less than 300, 300 to 999, 1,000 or more);

locale (city, urban fringe, town, rural);

percent minority enrollment (less than 6 percent, 6 to 20 percent, 21 to 49 percent, 50 percent or more); and

percent of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch (less than 35 percent, 35 to 49 percent, 50 to 74 percent, 75 percent or more), which is used as a measure of poverty concentration at the school.

It is important to note that many of the school characteristics used for independent analysis may also be related to each other. For example, enrollment size and instructional level of schools are related, with secondary schools typically being larger than elementary schools. Similarly, poverty concentration and minority enrollment are related, with schools with a higher minority enrollment also more likely to have a high concentration of poverty. Other relationships between analysis variables may exist. Because of the relatively small sample size used in this study, it is difficult to separate the independent effects of these variables. Their existence, however, should be considered in the interpretation of the data.

All specific statements of comparison made in this report have been tested for statistical significance through chi-square tests, trend analysis tests, and t-tests adjusted for multiple comparisons using the Bonferroni adjustment and are significant at the 95 percent confidence level or better. However, only selected findings are presented for each topic in the report. A detailed description of the statistical tests supporting the survey findings can be found in appendix A.

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