Tech Transformation Brochure

Tech Transformation Brochure

• 1.
  RURAL SCHOOL TECHNOLOGYRURALSCHOOL TECHNOLOGY TRANSFORMATION REQUEST Providing Direct Support to Achieve Digital Learning Readiness Historically, small, rural school districts have been an innova ve leader in developing and implemen ng unique solu ons to teaching and learning challenges that face public educa on. Now that we are into the 21st century, we are faced with the challenge of bringing state-of-the-art digital technology to Florida’s rural schools with increasing technology costs.
• 2.
  RURAL SCHOOL TECHNOLOGY APATHWAY FOR MEETING THE TECHNOLOGY NEEDS OF T Rural Partnership Experience of Florida’s Regional Consor a In Implemen ng Technology It is the intent of the Legislature that the delivery of educa on programs and services in the state be improved through digital technology. Nearly 12 years ago, through a federal technology grant, infrastructure was updated to bring par cipa ng rural schools into the digital world. Every school was given a router. Every school was updated with wiring and switches. Every school was provided internet access and collabora ve tools. With the help of the private sector, the pathway to digital educa on was started. Although improvements have been made, they s ll fall far short of the needs of the 21st century classrooms. Bringing a Stronger Founda on using Digital Educa on “Our students must meet high academic standards with strong preparation in science and math in order to be prepared to compete with an increasingly competitive global workforce.” -Governor Rick Scott To strengthen compe veness and create jobs of the future, we need to make sure that students are digitally literate and have the skills and means to fully par cipate in a digital economy. Working together, the Regional Consor a will offer leadership and guidance by providing access to informa on technology that results in the ability to compete in the mainstream economy.
• 3.
  GY TRANSFORMATION REQUEST OFTHE 21ST CENTURY FOR SMALL, RURAL CLASSROOMS Why Do Rural School Districts Need A Separate Appropria on for Technology Infrastructure? The opera on of a small district is restricted by staff limita ons and resources. Yet the requirements that these districts must meet are iden cal to the largest school district in the state. Compared statewide, it costs small and rural districts an average of 25-50% more to enhance or even sustain hardware, so5ware and connec vity required by the State. This Partnership provides the power of collabora on—iden fying and developing essen al services that all school districts can u lize at greatly reduced costs. However, the INEQUITY cannot be overcome without addi onal funding. Adherence to “Florida Standards” guidelines will force school districts across the na on to rethink the way they handle networking and compu ng in a number of mission-cri cal areas. “A person’s circumstances (demographic, geographic, economic, or otherwise) must not be a barrier to full par cipa on in the educa on system.” Closing the Talent Gap, Florida Council of 100 and the Florida Chamber of Commerce, 2010
• 4.
  A Rural SchoolTechnology Crisis The Florida Educa onal Consor a objec ve is to increase access to digital learning readiness for students in rural and small school districts. In our alliance 289 schools, 154,421 students and 8,000 teachers represen ng forty-four percent of all Florida school districts have benefited from past endeavors that have sustained the technology and reaped the benefits for more than 10 years. To con nue mee ng the needs of these districts that by fact and defini on are classified as small and rural, we are asking assistance to reduce the INEQUITY that exists in network infrastructure and connec vity in these schools. We can improve technological compe veness and support the future needs of our students living in a digital world. Putnam County: A Case Study The industry standard to run fiber in the State of Florida is es mated at $26,250 per mile. In Putnam County, there are 223.71 miles of fiber that is needed to deliver 100 Mbps to the schools now, with a plan to get to 1 Gbps to all schools over 5 years. This line item alone represents a cost of $5,872,375. While E-rate may pay for a por on of this cost, even at the current discount rate of 80%, the cost to the district would be $1,174,447 just for the fiber alone. The "internal connec ons" to then route bandwidth throughout the school is another costly item. Similar scenarios are echoed for most of the small, rural districts. This simple analysis gives a clear example of why Florida's rural schools need support to meet the goals of Digital Content, as stated by the Florida DOE. Lisa Graph Here **In reference to the graph above, FAMU, P.K. Yonge and Jefferson School District have met FLDOE bandwidth goals.