With the nationwide school closures caused by the coronavirus pandemic, districts are seeking more technology support to connect every student online and continue teaching and learning with the help of digital devices. This data brief provides school leaders with a national picture of the E-rate program, which can help schools to decrease by as…

Launched in June 2016, the Smithsonian Learning Lab (SLL) provides access to the digital resources from across the Smithsonian's 19 museums, 9 major research centers, and the National Zoo, to be used as real-world learning experiences. It is designed to aid students in building lasting knowledge and critical skills that take learners from simply…

COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization and a public health emergency by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in March 2020 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2020). In the following months, families in the U.S. experienced financial hardships such as job and income loss, increasing food insecurity, and loss of…

Because digital devices and the Internet have become so essential, digital inequality can exacerbate educational and economic inequality as well. Therefore, it is critical to understand how low- and moderate-income families in the U.S. are engaging digital technologies and how they perceive the opportunities--and potential risks-- that these…

The data in this survey offer a unique perspective from low- and moderate-income families with school-age children in the United States. They reveal many of the nuances and complexities of digital life among lower income families today. Because lower-income parents are not usually the focus of studies on technology and learning, this report offers…

After more than ten years of asking rural Minnesotans about their access to high-speed Internet service, it is possible to draw a few conclusions: (1) It is fairly well accepted now that broadband access has become a necessity for functioning at full capacity in today's world; (2) The digital divide isn't what it used to be; (3) Broadband no…

What are the most popular practices and tactics for electronic student recruitment at the undergraduate level? To find out, Noel-Levitz conducted a Web-based poll in April of 2012 as part of the firm's continuing series of benchmark polls for higher education. As a special bonus, selected findings from a parallel study of prospective students are…

Since 2006, blogging has dropped among teens and young adults while simultaneously rising among older adults. As the tools and technology embedded in social networking sites change, and use of the sites continues to grow, youth may be exchanging "macro blogging" for microblogging with status updates. Blogging has declined in popularity among both…

This report is intended to inform the European Commission's DG Information Society and Media in developing its policies for the period 2010-2020. It is targeted to policymakers with expert knowledge of the field. The report summarises the work conducted in the study: "Policy Options for the Ubiquitous Internet Society". It builds on…

Latinos comprise 14% of the U.S. adult population and about half of this growing group (56%) goes online. By comparison, 71% of non-Hispanic whites and 60% of non-Hispanic blacks use the internet. Several socio-economic characteristics that are often intertwined, such as low levels of education and limited English ability, largely explain the gap…

Under the Federal Communication Commission's (FCC's) e-rate program, schools and libraries can receive discounts from vendors on the cost of eligible telecommunications services, Internet access, and internal connections (the equipment needed to deliver these services). The discounts range from 20 to 90 percent, with higher discounts given to…

The revolution in telecommunications technology will be a driving force in the future economic growth of rural areas. Federal and state universal service policies requiring delivery of service to rural areas were major factors in how the telephone system evolved during the 20th century. In the 1990s, telephone penetration rates were similar for…

This document provides data from a nationally representative sample of private elementary, secondary, and combined schools in the United States and District of Columbia in the fall 1995. Twenty-five percent of private schools had access to the Internet. By comparison, 50% of public schools were on the Internet. Access to the Internet varied by…

This report provides comprehensive data on the level of access by Americans to telephones, computers, and the Internet. It also provides valuable information about where Americans are gaining access and what they are doing with their online connections. These data, from the U.S. Census, provide a factual foundation for key policy initiatives to…

In fall 1995, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) conducted a survey of advanced telecommunications in private schools to provide baseline data on computer and Internet availability, and allow for comparisons with public schools. To revisit the issue of computer and Internet availability in private schools and measure changes since…