Karon Tarver
Lesson 12

Online education is increasingly becoming a reality for many K-12 institutions throughout the state of Texas. The primary impetus for the growth in connectivity and the educational realization of Internet and video conferencing as part of the school day has been the provision of funding through grant and discount programs. In Texas, the Telecommunications Infrastructure Funding Board (TIF) has figured prominently in allowing K-12 institutions become networked, supply student workstations, and connect to the Internet. The grant program of Telecommunications In Education (TIE) has also had a dominant role in providing competitive funds allowing districts to partner in training students and or teachers and staff in acquiring today's necessary technology skills in basic applications. Another important program allowing K-12 to become participants in 21st Century technology has been the national E-Rate program of the Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) of the USAC. This program subsidizes K-12 on-going technology costs, as well as, basic telephone services, long distance services, and internal connections based solely on economic need of the student population of schools. The result in the explosion of student accessibility to Internet connectivity has forced K-12 to also focus on the resulting challenges of increased need of band-width and equipment obsolescence, teacher training and retraining, and student protection from inappropriate resources. These are the issues that I based my online research on.

Site 1

BANDWIDTH CONSTRAINTS BEGIN TO CONCERN SCHOOLS

Susan Stellin, an editorial writer for the NY Times, says that increasingly schools are demanding high-speed bandwidth in order to reap the full benefits of the Internet. She writes: "although schools have made significant progress in the past few years merely by getting connected to the Internet, they are certainly among those who would like to upgrade to faster access." Citing the most recent NCES statistics which indicated that more than 95 percent of public schools and more than two-thirds of school classrooms are connected to the Internet, she suggests that few schools will be satisfied with the performance of their networked linkages. "[S]chools are reaching the limits of what their network infrastructure can handle -- which in turn may limit the types of applications educators can take advantage of for teaching and administrative tasks." Some school districts are looking ahead to the time when they'll have access to the Internet2 networks which are being used by many of the nation's universities. See:
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/11/technology/11EDUCATION.html

Site 2

The Federal Communications Commission released rules implementing the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) Thursday, April 5. See:
http://www.iste.org/news/apr_06_cipa/cipa-order-final.pdf

Rules will be applied beginning with Year 4-which commences July 1, 2001.

Schools and libraries must certify, during Year 4, that they are either in compliance with the filtering and blocking requirements or that they are "undertaking such actions, including any necessary procurement procedures, to put in place" the required measures.

- Schools and libraries must certify one of these no later than October 28,2001.

- No discounts will be allowed until one of the certifications is received.

- Certifications will be made on modified versions of Form 486, and must be filed with USAC within 10 days of the commencement of the service. Certifications will consist of a simple check-box .

- All applicants in a consortium must submit separate signed certifications. These certifications will use a new form, 479. Certification from a representative of a consortium is not allowed.

- Rules are issued assuming constitutionality of the legislation (that is, FCC assumes that any legislation passed and signed is constitutional until ruled otherwise).

Site 3

The 2001 Texas StaR Chart a Tool for Planning and Assessing School Technology and Readines (StaR). See
www.tea.state.tx.us/technology/etac/txstar

This site provides tools to evaluate the current state of a K-12 institution's technology in four main areas:

1) Teaching and Learning
2) Educator Preparation
3) Administration and Support Services
4) Infrastructure and Technology

The benchmarks identified in this tool is aligned with the Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology and is intended to assist school districts in the following ways:

• To create and/or update the district's Technology Plan.

• To set benchmarks and goals. Districts may use the chart to identify current education technology profiles, establish goals, and monitor progress.

• To create individualized assessment tools. Education administrators and policymakers may use the Texas STaR chart as the basis for technology assessments and to evaluate varied perspectives of different staff and clientele.

• To apply for grants. The Texas STaR chart will help schools identify their educational technology needs as they apply for grants.

• To determine funding priorities. Education administrators and policymakers can use the Texas STaR chart to determine where to allocate funds.

• To use the Texas STaR Chart for a historical perspective. Districts can complete the survey on-line and then use the profile annually to gauge the district's progress. The data can be reported to school boards, community, campus or district planning committees to gauge progress and align with national and state standards.