DAYTRIPPER ON THE ED-ACIOUS SUPERHIGHWAY: Want to solve a big education riddle with a few clicks of a mouse? Here's the question: How much Internet bandwidth do America's 100,000 K-12 schools actually have? The latest government statistics, which date from 2008, don't distinguish between schools with dial-up access or 100MB networks. San Francisco-based nonprofit, EducationSuperhighway, aims to get 10 or more people at every American school to run a speed test. The nonprofit will collect the data, share it back with the relevant schools, districts and states—and release aggregated numbers. (We want a map!)
The group plans to kick off the speed tests in September when Arne Duncan and his team begin their annual tour of US schools. And your part, you ask? If your site is used by teachers or schools, put a button on your homepage that schools can use to connect to the speed test. Sign up for it right here. It will be ready by September. That's the beginning of a longer voyage of getting bandwidth to those schools. But a map will surely get us started in the right direction.
For more background, click here.
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