Dive Brief:

• Twenty-eight schools in Michigan's Oakland Country have linked up through the ONE consortium, which pools resources to bargain with telecom providers.
• By leveraging their collective power, the participating schools are paying less than a third of the statewide average for reliable high-speed Internet. The schools involved are paying $1.40 per MB, compared to the state average of $5 per MB.
• According to eSchool News, ONE works by providing Internet access over fiber it owns, which feeds into connections with telecom providers. The consortium members ultimately share two 10GB connections.

Dive Insight:

Cost-efficient benefits like this are invaluable to schools looking to meet the standard of President Barack Obama’s ConnectED Initiative, which aims to bring broadband to 99% of schools by 2017.

The goal of wireless in schools is two pronged. There is, of course, the benefit of blended learning options that can be found via digital platforms, but there is also the reality that more states have signed on to administer their annual assessments online, making the need for reliable broadband a must.