Proposal would bring nation’s classrooms into digital age with federal E-rate funding boost

The federal E-rate program could see a $1.5 billion increase if the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approves a proposal set forth by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler on Nov. 17.

The increase would come as a result of an increase in fees in consumers’ monthly phone bills. According to a program fact sheet ^[1], individuals would see an increase of roughly 16 cents per month, or $1.90 a year.

Under the proposal ^[2], the annual E-rate program cap would increase from $2.4 billion to $3.9 billion.

Today, more than 40 million students do not have high-speed broadband access in their classrooms.

Sixty-eight percent of all school districts said not a single school in their district can meet high-speed internet connectivity goals today. That number jumps to 73 percent for rural districts, which have an even more difficult time accessing fiber networks (41 percent versus 31 percent of urban and suburban public schools).

“While the connected home is commonplace, the connected classroom and library is not,” Wheeler said in a press call to announce the plan.

(Next page: Details about the proposed E-rate increase)

Commissioner Ajit Pai issued a statement ^[3] opposing Wheeler’s plan, saying that “instead of imposing a greater burden on families struggling to make ends meet in this lackluster economy, the commission should pursue fiscally responsible reforms.”

The proposal is essential to help students build critical 21st-century skills that will carry them through college and into the workforce, said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education, during a call to discuss the FCC’s proposal and a new report revealing inequities in high-speed internet access among low-income, minority, and rural schools.

Stakeholders rallied around the FCC’s ramped-up efforts, noting that the E-rate has needed a face-lift for some time if U.S. students are to be able to compete with their global peers:

“The proposal is a meaningful, critical commitment and long-term investment in America’s students and educators. By promoting digital equity and strengthening the nation’s education broadband infrastructure, the objectives identified expand the digital capacity in our schools and directly pay dividends for decades,” said Keith Krueger, CEO of the Consortium for School Networking. “Chairman Wheeler deserves immense credit for his continued leadership on this endeavor, and we support immediate action.”

“Connecting schools and libraries with high-speed internet access and Wi-Fi is critical to our education system. Students across the country need high-capacity broadband access to compete and learn in an increasingly digital and global economy,” said LEAD Commissioner and Co-Founder of TPG Capital Jim Coulter.

“Chairman Wheeler’s proposal is a big win for America’s kids. The much-needed E-Rate funding would help connect all our schoolchildren to high-speed internet and updated technology, and close the gaps in access for rural students, low-income students, and students of color,” said James P. Steyer, LEAD Commissioner and Founder and CEO of Common Sense Media. “Bringing high-speed internet to our schools and libraries is not only an investment in our students–it’s an investment in our economy and our national competitiveness.”

“ALA applauds Chairman Wheeler for his strong leadership throughout the modernization proceeding in identifying a clear path to closing the broadband gap for libraries and schools and ensuring a sustainable E-rate program. The critical increase in permanent funding that the chairman described during today’s press call will help ensure that libraries can maintain the broadband upgrades we know the vast majority of our libraries are anxious to make. Moreover, the program changes that were referenced today—on top of those the commission adopted in July—coupled with more funding is without a doubt a win-win for libraries and most importantly for the people in the communities they serve,” said American Library Association President Courtney Young.

School districts in states undecided on Common Core remain focused but nimble as spring 2015 assessment deadline looms

Receiving a mandate to support Common Core assessments can be challenging enough for a district IT team, but what happens when your state is yo-yo’ing on Common Core and debating whether it will continue to embrace the standards or implement its own approach? That’s precisely what Sheryl Abshire, CTO at Calcasieu Parish Public Schools in Lake Charles, La., is grappling with right now.

The Common Core argument in Louisiana is highly charged and political in nature, but in a nutshell, the state’s commitment to adopting the new standards has been challenged on several fronts. For example, originally backed by Louisiana’s governor and state superintendent, a PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) testing contract was recently cancelled and an overall feeling that Common Core was “not right for the state” began to prevail, says Abshire.

“That came as somewhat of a shock for practitioners, both in terms of the technology and the curriculum itself,” says Abshire, who has been in public education for more than 40 years. Over the last few years, she and other K-12 IT experts have put a lot of time and energy into prepping their schools for Common Core assessments. In 2013, for example, many parishes field-tested the PARCC assessment and examined key points such as bandwidth capacity (e.g., will certain applications need to be shut down to free up bandwidth for the testing?), desktop computer availability, and potential demand/usage by students.

(Next page: Ready, but nimble)

Louisiana also completed a major infrastructure and hardware survey to determine the readiness of all districts in the state. Every district received a ranking, according to Abshire, whose district was deemed “ready,” according to the survey. “We passed because we put the time and effort into building infrastructure and upgrading hardware,” she says, “to be able to deliver on the promise to adequately assess student learning without any technological barriers.”

Ready, but nimble

Suddenly forced to be “ready but nimble,” the same practitioners are in flux as the state’s leaders decide whether to move forward with the statewide initiative…or not. With the governor recently filing suit against the U.S. Department of Education over the issue, Abshire and her colleagues could be in this position for some time.

“Districts and educational leaders are basically asking, ‘Are we going to do Common Core or not?’” Abshire states. “The State Department of Education says ‘yes,’ and the politicians feel otherwise.”

As the various factions that have chimed in on the Common Core issue remain at odds, Abshire says the leadership teams and thousands of trained educators and practitioners are attempting to prep for the spring 2015 Common Core assessment deadline. “It’s a hotbed of controversy that’s put the educational system between a rock and a hard place,” says Abshire. “The question is, what do you rip out–a Common Core-aligned curriculum? Then do you teach like you did two years ago, knowing that it’s not aligned to the assessment?”

On a positive note, Abshire says the K-12 technology component has been addressed and is in place and ready to use regardless of the outcome of the current political argument and lawsuit. At both a state and local level, she says districts have spent roughly three years building out the necessary infrastructure and hardware capacity needed to tackle the job. “We’re in pretty good shape in this state because we were being proactive as opposed to reactive,” says Abshire.

One proactive move that the state made early on was to assign technology facilitators to schools based on enrollment. Those schools that didn’t meet the minimum enrollment numbers were assigned “lead teachers” (aka, tech contact teachers) who are paid via stipend to support the school’s technology infrastructure. Teachers also have access to an extensive “help” website that, for example, gives them fast access to support when they need to get a cartful of inoperable laptops up and running.

“For the most part, that support is provided by remotely accessing different machines and fixing them,” Abshire explains. “If it’s a hardware issue, where the power supply is gone or a hard drive is toasted, then a ticket is issued and the equipment is brought into our district office for repair.”

Prepping for more uncertainty

As far as what the future holds, Abshire says the issue is up to the “will of the state and what it decides to do.” With parents also getting on board against Common Core in the state, she says trying to remain responsive to the community while also preparing to support the Common Core has been a real challenge for her department. “In many ways, school districts are compliant organizations that are run by rule and policy,” says Abshire. “Our state still has Common Core as the adopted standards for the state, so that’s what we’re working towards.”

To schools’ IT directors challenged by similar problems in their own states, Abshire sees continued infrastructure, capacity, and network reliability testing as a smart move. “Make sure you can deliver online testing in a way that’s not only reliable and dependable, but that also truly tests student knowledge,” says Abshire. “That’s why we’re doing all this in the first place, and ignoring this underlying goal would be a crime.”

This challenge is evident in education research, as well. Two reports from the Center on Education Policy ^[4] (CEP) focus on Common Core-aligned assessments, curriculum, and professional development and highlight states’ progress and challenges.

When it comes to Common Core-aligned assessments developed by assessment consortia PARCC and Smarter Balanced, states are working to implement Common Core curriculum, but school leaders aren’t yet sure if the assessments developed by the consortia will offer an improvement over existing assessments or will offer enough data to influence instructional practice.

The CEP reports also reveal that more than 80 percent of districts in states adopting the Common Core are already teaching with Common Core-aligned materials. Two-thirds of districts said most of their teachers and principals received at least some Common Core-related professional development as of the 2014-2015 school year.

App name: Brainly

What is it? Got a problem with homework? Get the Brainly app and ask questions about what’s causing you trouble.

Best for: Students

Price: Free

Requirements: iOS 7.0 or later; varies with Android device

Features: Now, when you have a problem with a homework assignment or subject, you can use your smartphone to get help with your homework, quickly and for free.

Link: iTunes ^[5], Android ^[6]

Partnership with Kajeet Education enables district’s mobile broadband expansion

Through a partnership with wireless service provider Kajeet, Georgia’s Fayette County Schools are offering mobile broadband coverage to students in the district’s Title I schools.

Partnering with 47 districts in 20 states, Kajeet is keeping students connected to online textbooks, apps, emails, documents and websites, as well as their teachers, with its Kajeet SmartSpot ^[7] solution to ensure that students have a level playing field for academic success.

“The pen and paper days are gone in school, but when kids needed paper and pencil, we provided the materials,” said Clarice Howard, Title I Coordinator for Fayette County Schools. “Today all students need access to computing devices. Through Title I funds, our district provided devices for those who couldn’t afford them, and, with the need to extend the learning day, it’s our responsibility to level the playing field for these children by providing equipment for connectivity after school.”

(Next page: How Kajeet’s SmartSpot extends broadband access for students)

On average, one-third of American public school students–approximately 16 million children–do not have broadband at home. As learning goes digital and states mandate online testing, teachers and principals are faced with the growing problem of disconnected, and disadvantaged, students who are being left behind because of having no internet access at home.

Fayette County is a bring-your-own-device district, but it has students who cannot afford their own technology. Working with Title I parent liaisons within the elementary and middle schools, those families are identified and provided school-loaned equipment, and now, filtered mobile broadband to ensure every child has what they need, Howard said.

“Title I is all about equity and access in education for disadvantaged students,” said Bob Harmon, CEO for the National Title I Association. “Digital equity is a critical area of need in today’s world. Congratulations to Fayette County Schools in Georgia for moving forward in a big way!”

“Broadband connectivity is now necessary for children to function, let alone succeed, in school,” said Kajeet CEO and Founder Daniel Neal. “We applaud districts like Fayette County for identifying those students who need connectivity and bridging the disparity between the ‘broadband haves’ and the ‘broadband have-nots’.”

To ensure secure connectivity outside of the classroom and not just at home, schools issue the Kajeet SmartSpot solution, a portable MiFi mobile hotspot combined with the innovative Kajeet Sentinel® cloud portal, providing customizable filtered internet access to keep students focused on school work and provide educational connectivity.

The Kajeet mobile broadband solution allows districts and schools to fully customize and filter the websites students can visit, as well as the times of day or night appropriate for student use. Teachers and administrators can manage access hours and filter out non-educational content. This keeps students on-task and controls costs. As part of the Kajeet solution, teachers and administrators receive reports with learning analytics to help improve student achievement.

To help strengthen the relationship between the District Title I and education technology leaders, Kajeet, in partnership with Consortium for School Networking and the National Title I Association, released a toolkit titled: “Rethinking Educational Equity in a Digital Era: Forging a Strong Partnership between District Title I and Technology Leaders ^[8].”

Material from a press release was used in this report.

Partnership between game developer and ed-tech company grants free gaming access for 2014-2015 school year

Nonprofit developer GlassLab will partner with education technology company Clever, so that schools using Clever Instant Login can access GlassLab’s SimCityEDU: Pollution Challenge!, for free, for the 2014-2015 school year.

Clever provides school districts with simple and secure integration with their student information system (SIS) and offers students and teachers single sign-on access to their favorite applications.

Designed in partnership with Electronic Arts, Inc. and assessment experts from ETS and Pearson, SimCityEDU teaches students about the factors affecting the environment in a modern city while providing formative assessment information about students’ ability to problem solve. By explaining and fostering a greater understanding of relationships in complex systems, SimCityEDU reinforces the core skills deemed critical by states for college and the 21st century workplace.

“We know teachers want to use games in their classroom, so we’re always searching for ways to make it easier for them to do that. Clever makes it even easier to use SimCityEDU in any classroom in the country. We’re thrilled to be working with a partner that values ease-of-access as much as we do, and excited to reach even more educators and classrooms with Clever,” said GlassLab Executive Director, Jessica Lindl.

Districts can add SimCityEDU to their Clever Instant Login account and students and teachers will be able to log in to SimCityEDU with one click, no longer wasting time with multiple usernames and passwords.

“SimCityEDU is a new learning game both teachers and students are clamoring to get their hands on. We are thrilled to help make it easy and secure for schools to adopt and use it as part of this next wave of digital learning innovation,” said Clever CEO Tyler Bosmeny. “Since both Clever and SimCity EDU are free to schools, together we are helping to usher in new learning options for schools that may have been previously unavailable.”

In November of 2013, GlassLab released SimCityEDU: Pollution Challenge!, the first of a new generation of educational games built to meet the needs of today’s students and teachers by creating dynamic new game-based tools that make the most of classroom technology and engage students while providing teachers with real-time assessments of Common Core skills that they can trust for guiding instruction. Glasslab’s team draws on the talents of a world-class group of individuals from a variety of backgrounds. Most come from commercial game development, educational technology, or academic research in learning and assessment, and all share a passion for doing work that improves learning outcomes while maintaining a high level of student engagement.

For more information about SimCityEDU, visit www.glasslabgames.org/games ^[9].

Material from a press release was used in this report.