Dive Brief:

• Affton School District in St. Louis has rolled out a program to give students wireless hotspot devices, supporting students without reliable WiFi outside of school hours.
• The district found that 12% of students in the district went without reliable home wireless access.
• Students check out devices supplied by Kajeet from a school help desk and use them for up to 2GBs of broadband, at which point they bring the device in for a check-up. Students can keep them as long as they like.

Dive Insight:

Access to broadband varies widely across the country, even within schools — especially in rural areas, speeds may be slow and online learning may be difficult or impossible. President Barack Obama has launched several broadband access initiatives to improve infrastructure and extend coverage. But what Affton found was that even where it was possible to have broadband, many families didn’t. Those students struggled to complete work and keep up in class, let alone pursue topics of interest.

But the district also found that simply offering the devices wasn’t enough. Counselors made personal phone calls and checked in with students about whether they could benefit from having a hotspot. The district sent out texts and emails to families’ phones to let them know about the service and educators use the check-ins as a time to both make sure the device is in good shape and to touch base with students on how they’re performing and whether they need additional support.