Notes below are taken from the newly released Educational Technology in Public School Districts: Fall 2008 report released December 2009 by Lucinda Gray, Laurie Lewis and Peter Tice from the National Center for Education Statistics.

Lots of great statistics to make graphs out of in this report!

1. This report provides national data on the availability and use of educational technology in public school districts during fall 2008. The data are the results of a national district-level survey that is one of a set that includes district, school, and teacher surveys on educational technology.
2. The set of 2008 surveys collected data on availability and use for a range of educational technology resources, such as district and school networks, computers, devices that enhance the capabilities of computers for instruction, and computer software. They also collected information on leadership and staff support for educational technology within districts and schools.
3. Questionnaires were mailed to approximately 1,600 public school districts in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The unweighted survey response rate was 92 percent and the weighted response rate was 90 percent. The survey weights were adjusted for questionnaire nonresponse and the data were then weighted to yield national estimates that represent all public school districts in the United States.
4. Districts reported information on local area networks connecting computers within a school, district networks connecting schools to the district, and connections to the Internet. Ninety-seven percent of districts had a local area network in all schools and 2 percent had it in some schools (table 1). Eighty-one percent of districts provided a district network to all schools and 3 percent provided it to some schools. Of the districts surveyed, 100 percent of those with a district network were connected to the Internet.2
5. Districts reported that 92 percent of public schools were connected to a district network (table 2). Among these schools, the types of connections from schools to districts included direct fiber (55 percent), T1 or DS1 lines (26 percent), and wireless connections (16 percent).3
6. Among the 84 percent of districts with a district network, the types of connections from districts to Internet service provider(s) included T1 or DS1 lines (42 percent), direct fiber (37 percent), wireless connections (18 percent), broadband cable (13 percent), and T3 or DS3 lines (12 percent) (table 3). Direct fiber connections were reported by a larger percentage of city districts than by suburban, town, or rural districts (62 percent versus 49 percent, 46 percent, and 24 percent, respectively). Relatively more rural districts than city districts reported T1 or DS1 connections (51 percent versus 18 percent).
7. Sixty-seven percent of districts had a formal computer replacement plan reflected in long-term budget planning (table 4). An asset recovery program for computers was used by 37 percent of districts for all computers and by 22 percent for some computers. Districts treated older computers that could no longer serve their original purpose by recycling or disposing (91 percent), re-purposing for less demanding tasks (85 percent), and upgrading memory or components to extend useful life (83 percent) (table 5).
8. The percentage of districts that offered access to online district resources to all elementary or all secondary teachers was 92 percent (table 6). The percentage that offered access to electronic administrative tools to all teachers was 87 percent for elementary and 95 percent for secondary. The percentage that offered server space for posting web pages or class materials to all teachers was 82 percent for elementary and 83 percent for secondary.
9. The percentage of districts that offered online access to the library catalogue to all students was 72 percent for elementary and 82 percent for secondary (table 7). The percentage that offered electronic storage space on a server to all students was 62 percent for elementary and 83 percent for secondary.
10. Districts had written policies on acceptable student use of email (84 percent), social networking websites (76 percent), wikis and/or blogs (52 percent), and other Internet use (92 percent) (table 8).
11. Of the districts surveyed, 100 percent kept student data in an electronic data system (table 9). The percentage of districts that used an electronic system to keep each type of student data asked about in the survey ranged from 80 percent for transportation data to 100 percent for attendance data. Eighty-nine percent of districts reported keeping state standardized assessment scores, and 85 percent reported keeping district-wide assessment results in their electronic data systems.
12. Districts reported employing an individual responsible for educational technology leadership who was devoted to this role full time (51 percent) or part time (32 percent) (table 10). Seventeen percent of districts reported no one in this role; more small districts than large districts reported no one with this function (21 percent of districts with an enrollment size less than 2,500 compared to 5 percent of districts with an enrollment size of 10,000 or more).
13. Districts reported offering teacher professional development in topics such as integrating technology into instruction (95 percent), using Internet resources and communication tools for instruction (91 percent), and Internet safety (89 percent) (table 11). Fifty-five percent of districts required teachers to take professional development in Internet safety.
14. Eighty-three percent of district respondents agreed with the statement “teachers are interested in using technology in classroom instruction,” while 58 percent agreed that “teachers are sufficiently trained to integrate technology into classroom instruction” (table 12). Forty-two percent of respondents agreed that “funding for educational technology is adequate,” and 83 percent agreed that “funding for educational technology is being spent in the most appropriate ways.”

Citation:
Gray, L., and Lewis, L. (2009). Educational Technology in Public School Districts: Fall 2008 (NCES 2010–003). National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC.

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