Adequate bandwidth a national issue in school testing

Many students in high-poverty schools perform poorly on state tests already. With Congress's plan to cut food stamps for the poor, elderly, and disabled, schools nationwide will face much greater difficulties in educating hungry children.

Then add the cost for technology to make Common Core testing possible. Many schools have trouble now connecting to the Internet, and others have many connections but terrible WiFi infrastructure. Systems have been known to crash on the day of testing, forcing students in mid-key stroke of answering an item to exit with an incomplete test that counts against them!

E-Rate was established in 1996 to charge telecommunications companies for long-distance service, including cell lines. That money was to help schools pay for phone lines, broadband Internet, and internal networks. However, technology is not cheap.

Today, there is not enough E-Rate money to address the technology needs of schools. Schools can't rely on E-Rate to fund the equipment they need to get the required bandwidth to the classrooms.

According to Ashley Bateman (Heartland Institute Newsletter), the nonprofit Education Superhighway sampled 15 percent of U.S. schools with these results: 59 percent of schools have enough bandwidth to administer basic computer tests; only 23 percent have enough bandwidth to handle online tests and textbooks; and even fewer will have sufficient bandwidth for the tests by 2017 based on projected usage. 2017-2018 is when no Common Core tests will be available in paper form. Even though the government proposes to increase phone line rates by $5 a year, many schools will face difficulties in providing a workable system by 2017-2018. And for high-poverty schools, a functioning technology system does not feed children who need good nutrition in order to learn.

Again, poverty is the issue that needs to be addressed.

Duane Pitts is a retired English teacher now living in Moses Lake. He taught English for 42 years - eight years in Valdosta, Ga; two years in Colfax; and 32 years in Odessa. As a retiree, he serving as a facilitator by helping teachers and principals learn about the new state teacher-principal evaluation project.