50 degrees of connectivity: How connected is your state?

Superintendents and CIOs can track how powerful the broadband is in their state on a free website that aggregates, analyzes, and visualizes E-rate data.

Connect K-12 is designed to help school district leaders negotiate better internet pricing to reach their connectivity goals, its developers say.

Some 43 states have committed to achieving the FCC’s 1-Mbps-per-student benchmark. For instance, Wyoming, where 72% of school districts have reached that connectivity standard, ranks sixth.

“When you compare Wyoming’s school district connectivity between 2016 and 2020, the progress is incredible,” said Emily Jordan, vice president for Connect K-12. “The state is a model of success that other education leaders across the country can look to and learn from as an example of what can be done to better connect their schools.”

Here’s how state, school district, and service providers collaborated to improve school connectivity in Wyoming: https://connectk12.org/states/WY.

The 1-Mbps-per-student goal is the speed that will allow digital learning to take place in every classroom, Connect K-12 says.

Connecticut’s school districts are outperforming much of the country in providing the internet connectivity needed for digital learning. Some 49% of Connecticut school districts are meeting or exceeding the standard, compared to 47% of school districts nationwide.

Just four years ago, only 32% of Connecticut’s schools had achieved 1-Mbps-per-student. The state has launched the Connecticut Education Network to provide safe and scalable internet connections to districts.

“In Connecticut, we have taken on digital equity as the Brown v. Board of Education of our time,” said Gov. Ned Lamont.

Here are the top 10 states with the highest percentage of schools meeting the FCC’s connectivity goal:

1. Hawaii: 100%
2. South Dakota: 99%
3. Arizona: 99%
4. North Dakota: 97%
5. Utah: 80%
6. Wyoming”: 72%
7. Oklahoma: 66%
8. Maine: 63%
9. Wisconsin: 62%
10. Montana: 61%

Here are the bottom 10:

1. Kentucky: 3%
2. Rhode Island: 6%
3. Maryland: 9%
4. Mississippi: 11%
5. Florida: 11%
6. Ohio: 21%
7. Alaska: 21%
8. Georgia: 25%
9. Indiana: 26%
10. West Virginia: 31%
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