SPEECH BY REED HUNDT CHAIRMAN FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION CONSORTIUM FOR SCHOOL NETWORKING ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA (AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY) MARCH 18, 1996 FULFILLING THE PROMISE OF NETWORKING Thank you, Bill, for that kind introduction, and thank you for inviting me to COSINS' first annual conference on networking schools. And thank you for all your hard work on Snowe-Rockefeller. Never have the challenges facing education been so great. But with passage of the new telecommunications law, never has the potential for improving education for all our children been so promising. We must seize the day. The new Telecommunications Act of 1996 says that for the first time in this country, the law guarantees that all teachers and all children in every classroom in this country have a right to access to advanced technology. Communications technology -- especially computers on networks -- is the road to the future, and is the dividing lane between the haves and have-nots in our society. A recent Department of Education study found that half of the nation's public schools have hooked up to the Internet. But this does not mean the Internet is a tool available to half our classrooms. Nationally, fewer than 10% of schools have local area networks, or LANs, connecting computers to all classrooms. The Department of Education study also found that minority and low-income students are less likely to have classroom access to the Internet than wealthier students. This imbalance of opportunity is made worse by the fact that while over 50% of children from high-income families have computers at home, fewer than 5% of children from low-income families do. That is why it is important that our public schools be the place where all children have a fair chance to learn with and about information age skills. To quote Education Secretary Riley, "Learning on-line must not become a new fault line in American education." If we fulfill the new law's promise, what kind of day would kids have? Well, they'd have a lot better day than when I was a teacher a quarter-of-a-century ago. I'll never forget my first day of class. I had 35 textbooks for the 35 students in the first class. I gave them out at the beginning, attempted to take attendance and maintain order, and then, before an appropriate learning environment was achieved, the bell rang. Everyone ran for the door. And they took the books with them. I had no books left for my other classes. The problem of no textbooks is more common than you'd think. More than 25% of American schoolchildren learn from textbooks that are over 10 years old. Nearly 16% of our teachers tell us that students have no textbooks in their classes. Is it any wonder that 4 out of 10 4th grade students read below the "basic" reading level or over 11% of our kids drop out of high school? And there are enormous differences in the amount of money states spend on education. For example, Connecticut spends about twice what Alabama spends per child per year. You get what you pay for in education as in everything else. There is no more unequal opportunity in the land of the free than the opportunity for public education. But if we get every school and classroom networked, it won't matter whether the school is in a rich or a poor state. All information will be equally accessible to every child. Communications technology may not be a panacea for all the challenges of education. But it can be the great equalizer of opportunity. If computers and high technology were widely available in schools, a typical day might go like this, whether in the inner city or in a suburb: The kids arrive at school and eagerly take their seats in advanced chemistry class. Their school doesn't have a teacher in the building -- she serves the whole county. So they meet her on their computer screens -- or the projector screen on the wall. The children home sick that day -- or the kids with disabilities -- are able to participate because they, too, are hooked up to the network. The children with hearing disabilities read the closed captioning; the blind children work with computers that recognize their voices and with keyboards in braille. Through the school day, kids learn language skills and analytical thinking with the help of a computer. Each works at his or her own pace and also in networked groups. And they move beyond the limited libraries of the school, beyond the textbook shortages, to participate on-line in science experiments through the National Geographic Kids Network. They take advantage of some of Cable in the Classroom's monthly 500 hours of educational programming. But no matter where the kids are, they all have equal access to libraries, databanks, educational courseware, encyclopedias, dictionaries in every language, and just about every resource available on-line. The world of knowledge is at their fingertips, and they can indulge their every curiosity. After classes are over, the teachers use the computers to e-mail messages to parents, or homework to the kids, or to ask for advice from colleagues. The PTA meeting is videoconferenced to all parents, including those away from home. The good day technology brings continues at home when the kids sit down in front of the TV. The shows are appropriate and enriching because the V-chip in the set has helped parents prevent unacceptable shows from being shown. After dinner the parents turn on the computer or the TV-PC to see what the school has sent home. No more excuses about how the teacher's notes didn't make it into the bookbag. No one will say the dog ate the homework. Instead, the dog ate the CD-ROM. Parents might also use the computer to coordinate car pools, discuss a problem at home with a teacher, vote for the new PTA president. What about families that don't want to, or can't afford to, buy a computer? If there's no computer at home, parents can still use one at the local school, library, or community center. I've seen what computers in schools can do. In 1994, I visited Paul Reese's classroom at the Ralph Bunche School in Harlem. The school lets parents use its computers, and parents come in after hours to develop computer and network literacy and accelerate their learning of English. The dream of networking classrooms began with Vice President Al Gore. He first coined the term "information superhighway" over 20 years ago. President Clinton and the Vice President have set the goal of connecting every classroom and library in America to the information superhighway by the year 2000. I was privileged to join the President, the Vice President, members of the telecommunications industry, educators, students and parents in California on March 9, "NetDay '96." Some 20,000 volunteers across the state installed 6 million feet of high-speed cable in schools. We need to duplicate NetDay in every community in this country. There is a growing body of evidence that computers can help improve the conditions under which children learn, and can motivate kids to stay in school. One report I want to draw your attention to is called Connecting K-12 Schools to the Information Superhighway by McKinsey & Company. I urge all of you to read it. The report confirmed that: -- computers excite and engage students to learn; -- computers help kids master traditional academic subjects such as math, science, and writing; -- computers can help enhance kids' ability to think critically; -- computers seem to have even greater positive effects with low achieving and remedial students; and -- computers motivate kids to stay in school. This is particularly important. A college graduate earns nearly twice as much as someone with a high school diploma, and a person without a high school education earns just one-third of what a college graduate earns. For kids who drop out, the race is over before they have even left the starting gate. And because computers now feature synthetic speech, voice activation, and breath activation they can be particularly helpful to the 4 million American children with disabilities. And, of course, using computers promotes computer literacy and networking/ information skills. By the year 2000, less than 4 years from now, 60% of jobs will require these skills. But only 22% of the young people entering the labor market have these skills. Workers who are computer literate can expect to earn 15% more than workers who are not computer literate. But most kids are not getting computer literacy in school. For each of our children to have his or her fair chance to make the American Dream come true, each needs to be taught both with and about the latest technology. Examples of how computers help kids learn abound: -- after the Georgia Carrollton City School District created a computer lab, the 9th grade algebra failure rate plunged from 38% to 3%; -- within a few years of networking computers for school and home use, the students at the Christopher Columbus Middle School went from performing well below New Jersey state averages on standardized tests to above average in reading, language arts, and math; -- students at the Clearview Elementary School, in Chula Vista, California typically scored in the bottom 10% on standardized achievement tests. Two- and-a-half years after computers were introduced, test scores reached the 80th percentile. Passage of the new telecommunications law has presented us with the best opportunity we have ever had to harness high-tech's promise for our kids. But there are a number of equally important elements that must be in place to make it all work. This is what we need: 1. We need schools to be connected to a network to link the computers, video equipment, and other hardware; 2. We need high-quality educational courseware, video programs, and on-line services; 3. We need curriculum development that uses communications technology; 4. We need training programs for teachers so they can learn to use the new technology. Fifty percent of today's teachers have little or no computer experience, much less training and confidence they need to fully integrate networked computers into their classroom teaching. 5. We need ongoing technical support; 6. We need security for all that expensive equipment; and 7. We need parents to be actively involved in what their children are doing and learning. If any of these elements are missing, the system just won't work. Part of the FCC's task in implementing the new law is to create new incentives to put communications technology in every classroom. The five commissioners are suffering from partisan division on issues like children's educational TV and auctions. But I'm optimistic we'll find consensus. And I'm even more hopeful that we won't disagree on the importance or the ways to put communications technology in every classroom. I can't believe our children want adults to disagree about these matters just because we call ourselves Democrats or Republicans. Last week all commissioners agreed to start asking for public comments on how to make sure that all schools, classrooms, health care providers, and libraries get networked. I am pleased today to announce that all commissioners have agreed to create an FCC Education Task Force. The Task Force will help ensure that the best interests of our children are foremost in our minds when implementing the new law. A key purpose of the Education Task Force will be outreach. We need to hear from parents, educators, state governments, the Department of Education, and anyone else with something to contribute to reaching our goals. So let us hear from you. In February, the President proposed a $2 billion, 5-year Technology Literacy Challenge program. It would match local funds with grants for computer and telecommunications technologies in classrooms. And there is the Tech Corps, whose volunteers from the private and public sectors will provide assistance in the classroom and with local planning, technical support and advice, and staff training and mentoring. So, there is a lot to be done, and a lot of help is on the way. But we need sustained interest and enthusiasm, and commitment and leadership on the part of those who can make a difference. I often think of the kids I taught all those years ago. There was so little I could do to help them. There weren't even enough books to go around. But the possibilities computers offer are almost limitless. Our great challenge is to harness their promise and make them work for our children and for ourselves. True, they are no panacea for all that ails us educationally -- but there is solid evidence of the tremendous advantage they can be in the classroom, and in our lives. In our children lies the hope for our future as an educated, competitive, productive, fair, and moral society. We have a great opportunity to do something that has never been done before -- make it possible for all of our kids to have an equal educational opportunity -- to eliminate the gap between the haves and the have nots. It will take a lot of hard work over a sustained period of time. But we owe it to our kids and to each other to get it done. Let's get to work. Thank you. -FCC- NEWS March 18, 1996 REED HUNDT ANNOUNCES NEW FCC EDUCATION TASK FORCE TO ENSURE THAT CHILDREN'S NEEDS ARE MET IN TELECOM ACT IMPLEMENTATION "The FCC has created an Education Task Force "to help ensure that the best interests of our children are foremost in our minds when implementing the new Telecommunications Act," FCC Chairman Reed Hundt said today in a speech to the Consortium for School Networking conference in Arlington, VA. Hundt said, "A key purpose of the Education Task Force will be outreach. We need to hear from parents, educators, state governments, the Department of Education, and anyone else with something to contribute to reaching our goals." He said, "The new Telecommunications Act of 1996 says that for the first time in this country, the law guarantees that all teachers and all children in every classroom in this country have a right to access to advanced technology." Hundt said that the Act, "has presented us with the best opportunity we have ever had to harness high-tech's promise for our kids," and he listed "seven equally important elements that must be in place to make it all work: (1) schools connected to a network to link the computers, video equipment, and other hardware; (2) high-quality educational courseware, video programs, and on-line services; (3) curriculum development that uses communications technology; (4) training programs for teachers so they can learn to use the new technology; (5) ongoing technical support; (6) security for equipment; and (7) parental involvement in what their children are doing and learning." "In our children lies the hope for our future as an educated, competitive, productive, fair, and moral society. We have a great opportunity to do something that has never been done before -- make it possible for all of our kids to have an equal educational opportunity -- to eliminate the gap between the haves and the have nots. It will take a lot of hard work over a sustained period of time. But we owe it to our kids and to each other to get it done," he said. - FCC -