It is very difficult to get the nation’s president to mention a specific issue in his annual State of the Union speech. But when he does, it helps your issue get some public attention and press ink. So when President Obama uttered the word "broadband" in last Tuesday’s State of the Union address, the collective community of broadband advocates ears pricked up.
Obama said: "Last year, I also pledged to connect 99 percent of our students to high-speed broadband over the next four years. Tonight, I can announce that with the support of the FCC and companies like Apple, Microsoft, Sprint, and Verizon, we’ve got a down payment to start connecting more than 15,000 schools and twenty million students over the next two years, without adding a dime to the deficit."
What exactly did the FCC, and companies Apple, Microsoft, Sprint and Verizon do to get this nice shout out from the Commander-in-Chief? Some sleuthing ensued by some California broadband advocates. . .
It appears the source of this mention is the ConnectEd initiative, a plan of the White House in conjunction with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). A summary of the ConnectEd initiative can be found here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/connected_fact_sheet.pdf
There’s three parts to ConnectEd:
The first part is upgraded connectivity. The ConnectEd initiative is to connect, within five years, 99% of America’s students to the digital age through next-generation, high speed digital connections at speeds no less than 100 megabytes per second and with a target of 1 gigabyte per second to America’s schools and libraries. The President has called on the FCC to modernize and leverage the current E-rate program as to connections. For rural students, the FCC is to leverage the expertise of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) within the Department of Commerce to deliver the connectivity to states, districts and schools.
When the President announced the ConnectEd program in North Carolina in June of last year, he referred to only 20% of our nation’s classrooms having access to true high-speed Internet in their classrooms. He noted South Korea has 100% of its classrooms wired to high-speed Internet.
"In a country where we expect free Wi-Fi with our coffee, why shouldn’t we have it in our schools?" the president said. The reference to Wi-Fi might be where wireless providers Sprint and Verizon Wireless might come in . . . We await announcements.
Second, ConnectEd will train teachers to use technology to improve student outcomes. The Department of Education will work with states and school districts to better use existing funding through Title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to strategically invest in this kind of professional development to help teachers keep pace with changing technological and professional demands. Contemplated are better-trained teachers in technology, digital textbooks, computer-based assessments of student learning, and on-line learning communities including with world renown teaching experts.
Last June, Obama called on the FCC to use the existing E-rate program to direct the government to provide the necessary technology and training for teachers to use it and urge the communities to support the program. In July, then interim FCC Chairman Mignon Clyburn took initial steps to look at the E-rate program to see what funds could be leveraged given the somewhat limiting statutory language. And recently while on a California swing through Oakland and Silicon Valley, new FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said digital literacy was important, and talked about "applying business-like management practices" that will make existing E-rate funds go farther.
Finally, the ConnectEd initiative draws on private-sector innovation, bringing "feature-rich" and "price-competitive" educational devices to provide content aligned with college and career ready standards being adopted and implemented by States across the nation. Districts are urged to buy in volume to achieve greater cost savings. Exposing students to global opportunities with new technology is hoped to bring students more rigorous and engaging classes, new learning resources, rich visualizations of complex concepts, and foreign language instruction. ConnectEd is also hoped to support creation of more digital educational content.
This third piece is the part of the initiative where Apple and Microsoft come into play. Both Microsoft and Apple has distinguished themselves with generous programs in schools and libraries using their laptops, tablets, software, and other products and services.
After the president’s State of the Union, Apple released the following statement: “We are proud to join President Obama in this historic initiative to transform America’s schools. Apple has a long history in education, and we have pledged to contribute MacBooks, iPads, software and our expertise to support the ConnectED project. We look forward to announcing more details with the White House soon.”
A Verizon spokesperson said it shared "the President’s vision for broadband as a transformative technology for students and educators, and looked forward to discussing how Verizon can help ensure America’s teachers and students have the tools and skills to succeed in the 21st century information economy."
We look forward to further public announcements by the tech companies and broadband providers of how they will support the ConnectEd initiative. In the meantime, it is newsworthy that the President for put a spotlight on a critical aspect of broadband connectivity for our students, schools and rural communities.
