Rural schools have unique assets, challenges |
On Board Online • September 23, 2019
William Miller
NYSSBA President
This is a great time of the year to brag a little about life in rural upstate New York. Nothing beats the taste of a homegrown tomato from the backyard garden or the crunch of a fresh-picked McIntosh apple from an orchard down the road.
Rural communities tend to be tight-knit places where people are proud of their history, value civic involvement and enjoy easy access to wonderful lakes, rivers and mountains. While 8 of 10 Americans live in urban areas, a 2018 Harvard study showed that, in the words of The New York Times, "most rural Americans are pretty dang happy and hopeful."
But for all of the advantages of living in a rural area, it can have its shortcomings - especially for the 19% of students who attend public schools. More specifically, lack of access to broadband internet service disadvantages students in rural areas, compared with their peers in more connected parts of the state. NYSSBA Governmental Relations staff testified on this topic before a committee of the Legislative Commission on Rural Resources on Sept. 17. (Read the testimony at bit.ly/2kODEGd .)
Let's face it, a lot has changed since the days when the only tools we needed to complete our homework were our textbooks, pens and paper - and, maybe, a handheld calculator or a typewriter. Now, an estimated 70% of American teachers regularly assign homework that requires a broadband connection, and nearly all high-school students say they have to do internet-based homework at least a few times a month.
A gaping digital divide has developed between students who can do online research, collaborate with classmates on projects and submit their schoolwork assignments from home and students who cannot.
Some studies suggest that teens who lack access to a computer at home are less likely to graduate than students who do have computers and internet service. According to the Pew Research Center, 17% of teens say they often or sometimes cannot complete their homework assignments because they lack reliable access to a computer or an internet connection.
Our students without broadband internet access at home are striving to succeed on a very uneven playing field.
One-to-one programs that offer a school-issued laptop or tablet for every student are great - but if students' families still don't have reliable internet access, the value is diminished. And even when broadband is available, that doesn't mean it's affordable.
Luckily, a number of state and federal funding initiatives are helping to narrow the gap in some communities. The New NY Broadband Program, launched in 2015, has supported expansion of service to millions of homes and businesses in under-served areas of the state. Federal funding totaling more than $55 million has boosted that effort this year. Many school districts have used funding from the Smart Schools Bond Act to improve their digital infrastructure.
Despite these programs, more work needs to be done. Officials in the Bradford Central School District in Steuben County, for instance, estimate that about half of their students do not have home internet connections reliable enough to do their homework.
Sometimes that's because the internet line stops short of their driveway, and sometimes it's because the cost far exceeds the family budget, according to Superintendent John Marshall.
So, Bradford is pursuing an innovative strategy to expand home broadband service that I think is worth watching closely. The district is working with a local telecommunications provider to extend fiber cables into parts of town with highest density of students, and wireless transmitters will be mounted atop those poles to provide signals specifically for the students' Chromebook computers.
It's exciting to see our rural schools innovating to tackle this challenge and making the most of the state and federal programs designed to help us. We are making great progress, but our work won't be done until no student is left behind in this race for sufficient bandwidth.
In today's connected world, the stakes are high for our students.