A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

This is a Working Document
The Seven Priorities of the U.S. Department of Education (July 1997)

Priority Six:
Every Classroom will be Connected to the Internet by the Year 2000 and All Students will be Technologically Literate

Importance of Priority Six

As the nation moves toward the next century, a student's ability to learn to higher standards will be inseparable from his or her ability to access and understand technology. The livelihood of all Americans will depend on their ability to harness and use knowledge to adapt to the available jobs, which, in turn, will depend in large part on one's technological literacy. As early as the year 2000, approximately six out of every ten jobs in America will require computer skills currently possessed by only 22 percent of the labor force.⁽¹⁸⁾ And yet today, although 65 percent of schools are wired to the Internet, only fourteen percent of classrooms are connected and only one of every five teachers now use it. ⁽¹⁹⁾ Additionally, the availability of quality software to help teach to rigorous standards is limited.

Technology has evolved to the point where enormous amounts of information can be archived, sorted, searched, and transmitted in a second or less. The potential effects on education are inestimable. Districts will have access to a variety of content providers around the world. Many teachers may evolve from subject matter experts to facilitators of learning. And students will be able to carry an entire library worth of knowledge in their backpack, free to explore the vast store of human experience and information, in their own way and in their own time.

If the Department succeeds in meeting its technology goals, all students for the first time -- in the poorest schools, in the most isolated rural schools and in the wealthiest schools -- will have access to the same universe of knowledge, in the same way, at the same time. This not only will give the promise of transforming education, but could have important implications for the nation. Just as technology can be a great democratizing force, it can also exacerbate inequities in our society. If it is distributed unequally based on income or geography, if only some teachers gain the expertise they need to help their students use technology effectively, if some homes have access to computers but others do not, then the gap in educational opportunities and educational outcomes only will widen. The Administration's current technology efforts are designed both to fulfill the promise of technology and to avoid its negative consequences in the future.

Strategy for Supporting Priority Six

The strategy for supporting priority six focused first on identifying four pillars to guide the goal of technological literacy and then pursuing initiatives to support them.

Step 1: Four Major Pillars to Guide the Technology Literacy Agenda

At the beginning of 1995, President Clinton identified four major pillars to guide the nation's technology literacy agenda:

Connect every school and classroom in America to the information highway;
Provide access to modern computers for all teachers and students;
Develop effective and engaging software and on-line learning resources as an integral part of school curriculum; and
Provide all teachers the training and support they need to help students learn through computers and the information superhighway.

Secretary Riley's 1995 national plan, Getting America's Students Ready for the 21st Century, Meeting the Technology Literacy Challenge, elaborates on these pillars and how the Administration will work with states to advance each one.

Step 2: Identifying Department Initiatives

States and the private sector provide the vast majority of resources currently being invested in technology. This has led the Department to focus its resources on two areas in which it believes it can leverage the greatest changes: infrastructure and equity. The Department has concentrated on bringing technology to the hardest-to-reach and neediest populations, both in the inner city and rural areas through four major strategies:

NetDays. Last year more than 40 states held NetDays, bringing together Americans to connect local schools to the Information Superhighway. In the fall of 1996 alone, more than 250,000 volunteers participated in wiring over 25,000 schools. Another NetDay was held in April 1997 to continue connecting schools and classrooms to the Internet, and the next one will take place on October 25, 1997.
The E-Rate. On May 7, 1997, President Clinton's and Secretary Riley's two-year-long effort to ensure that every school and library has access to the Information Superhighway paid off. Under the "E-rate" plan, the Federal Communications Commissions agreed to grant sharp discounts totaling $2.25 billion annually in telecommunications services to the nation's neediest schools and libraries for discounts on technology installations, connection charges and monthly service costs. The Federal Communications Commission ruling will provide at least a 50 percent discount to nearly 70 percent of all schools, with discounts of up to 90 percent for schools with the largest concentrations of poor children. This new "E-Rate" opens up incredible opportunities for all schools to access technology.
The Technology Literacy Challenge Fund. This Fund is designed to advance state, local, and private sector partnerships in each state to achieve the four technology pillars and spur additional investment in educational technology. Congress appropriated $200 million for the Fund last year, and the President has requested $425 million for FY98. The President also has asked Congress to fund this program at $2 billion over five years.
Technology Innovation Challenge Grants. These discretionary grants, appropriated for $57 million in FY97, are available to partnerships of school systems, colleges, universities, and private businesses to develop creative ways to use technology for learning. This program focuses on integrating innovative learning technologies to improve teaching and learning, with each Federal dollar matched more than 3 to 1 by local and private funds.

Existing Department Programs

Resources from a number of Department of Education programs can be used to help all students achieve technological literacy. For example, through the Star Schools Program, multistate providers of telecommunications services provide instruction in academic subjects, various types of supplemental programming and professional development for teachers. Title I of the ESEA already provides $500 million each year for technology. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act emphasizes assistive technology, and priority six will address how schools can use new technology to better meet the needs of students with disabilities. Other Department programs whose funds can help the next generation of teachers use technology in powerful ways in their classrooms include Goals 2000, Eisenhower Professional Development Program, Tech Prep, and School-to-Work programs.

End Notes:

Department of Labor, SCANS, 1993.
NCES Survey on Advanced Telecommunications in U.S. Public Elementary and Secondary Schools, 1996.

Your comments on this document are invited, please send them to 7priorities@ed.gov.

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