More Oklahoma classrooms are getting connected to high speed Internet access, and Governor Fallin is hailing it as a success for her Oklahoma Works plan. Education Super Highway’s second annual “State of the States” report indicates 91 percent of Oklahoma school districts meet minimum connectivity goals, up from 85 percent in 2015.
“I am proud of the progress made by our school districts through the Oklahoma Connect and Learn Initiative,” Fallin said. “This initiative is a voluntary program that works with school districts to maximize existing funding to connect schools with broadband, as well as provide students and educators with Wi-Fi access in classrooms. The increased broadband provides access to digital resources and learning opportunities, which will provide students with additional content and academic courses.”
Besides the gains in connectivity, more than 200,000 students gained access to more bandwidth in the classroom, 124 school districts upgraded broadband connections, and 98 percent of schools have fiber connections to keep up with growing broadband demand.
Read the full Education Super Highway report here.
This is a project funded by Obama’s economic stimulus plan, which included a provision to increase broadband accessibility for rural areas of the U.S. It was a joint project of Higher Ed, the and OMES (then OSF).