As students and teachers rely more on technology, schools’ broadband internet needs are growing fast.

The State Educational Technology Directors Association recently released The Broadband Imperative: Recommendations to Address K-12 Education Infrastructure Needs, highlighting trends in broadband in educational settings. The report offers ideas to assess infrastructure needs in schools to ensure students and teachers can use technology effectively.

Universal broadband is an achievable goal, but only with federal assistance through the Schools and Libraries Program of the Universal Service Fund, or the E-rate program. E-rate is a $2.25 billion program that provides annual discounts to help schools and libraries supply internet and telecommunications services. This program is especially critical in many rural areas that lack robust high-speed broadband services.

However, NAESP believes more should be done to tackle technology gaps in some districts, to improve internet speed in our schools and to ensure students become technologically literate.

-Emily Rohlffs