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ALMOST 1 MILLION TEXAS STUDENTS LACK HOME BROADBAND

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“ALMOST 1 MILLION TEXAS STUDENTS LACK HOME BROADBAND

 

AUSTIN, TX – Connected Texas released its report, “Broadband and Education – Connecting Students in Texas” in conjunction with the Texas Broadband Symposium being hosted by the Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) in collaboration with Connected Texas.

“Our report shows how critical it is for students across the state to have quality access to broadband both at school and at home,” said Connected Texas Executive Director Don Shirley. “Digital literacy skills and the role that technology plays in delivering education go hand in hand; whether students need to go online to receive their school assignments, or in an effort to conduct research to complete their school assignments, having access to modern technology is the driving force behind the preparation of a twenty-first century digitally literate student.”

Among the findings from the report:

  • Only 8 percent of Texas households with K-12 students do not own a computer, but more than 950,000 students in the state do not have broadband at home.
  • Students living in homes with annual household incomes below $35,000, rural students, and Hispanic students are less likely to have home computers or broadband service at home.
  • Not all students use the Internet at school – one in four rural parents of K-12 students in Texas (25 percent) say their child does not use the Internet at school.
  • The top barrier to broadband adoption among Texas parents of K-12 students is the parents’ own lack of digital literacy skills.
  • One in five Texas parents of K-12 students (20 percent) say their children’s school provides students with laptop or tablet computers;
  • Hispanic parents, those with annual household incomes below $35,000, and those living in rural parts of the state are more likely to report that their children’s schools provide computers to students.
  • Over one-half of parents of K-12 students whose schools provide computers say that they have helped their children’s grades, and six out of ten parents who do not have broadband at home agree that having Internet service at home would make it easier for their child to do homework.

For this report, Connected Texas conducted a random digit dial telephone survey of 1,200 adult heads of households across the state, as part of the State Broadband Initiative (SBI) grant program, funded by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The SBI grant program was created by the Broadband Data Improvement Act, unanimously passed by Congress in 2008 and funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009.”

Stephen

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Posted on: October 17, 2014, 6:06 am Category: Uncategorized

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