Dive Brief:

• The Consortium for School Networking's (CoSN) third annual "E-rate and Infrastructure" report shows that affordable Internet service and "cost-effective access to related infrastructure" are still barriers for schools, Education Week reports.
• The report surveyed 531 district and tech officials to measure how much progress has been made towards the school connectivity goals set by the Obama administration, finding that 66% of schools have already reached the goal.
• While the E-Rate program has helped, 25% of respondents said that "none of their schools currently meets the FCC's short-term goal."

Dive Insight:

"Despite the fact that there were major changes in the E-rate, the build-out of new fiber networks will not happen overnight," Douglas A. Levin, the president of EdTech Strategies LLC, a consulting group, told Education Week. A reported 46% of respondents said monthly recurring charges were the biggest problem, 34% said it was high upfront costs. The survey showed WiFi connectivity had increased overall in elementary, middle, and high schools alike.

The E-Rate program, with a new influx of $1.5 billion dollars this year, has been offering toolkits and guidelines aimed at making benefits easier for schools to obtain. Rural schools in particular have been targeted, since they have a larger deficiency of internet options.