Closing the Technology Gap Closes the Education Gap

Lots of promises were made. Technology would close the educational gap. Students would benefit and money would be saved. Parents would experience new confidence in the quality of education being delivered to their sons and daughters while playing a bigger part in their child’s education.

These promises now are coming true in classrooms in the Lehigh Valley schools of Pennsylvania as the result of recently approved telecommunications legislation supported by members of the Pennsylvania Telephone Association and designed to increase the speed at which broadband services spread into Pennsylvania’s suburban and rural communities.

Imagine engaging a student in news from around the world in stories written at that student’s specific reading level. Imagine the ability to increase continually the reading level of that news story as the student’s reading capabilities advance.

According to Frank Ferrari, executive director of Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit (IU) 21, “By closing the technological divide, we can close the education gap. Individualized reading programs, available only because of broadband technology, streams right to the student’s classroom computer and gives the student instant access to breaking world news while simultaneously challenging their reading skills. With high-speed Internet services, we can help teachers challenge the skills of students on an individual basis. Our goal is to do good things for our students and the new technologies of broadband allow us to accomplish that goal.”

Signed in November, Act 183 promises a more rapid deployment of broadband services, closing Pennsylvania’s technology gap. In addition to individual consumers, major beneficiaries of the rapid expansion of broadband availability will be Pennsylvania’s schools and economic development organizations,” says Richard Hrip, chairman of PTA and vice president of external affairs for Sprint. A critical component of the new law includes discounts for broadband services provided by local telephone companies to schools.

State Sen. James Rhoades, who serves as chairman of the Senate Education Committee and whose district encompasses all or parts of Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Monroe, Northampton and Schuylkill counties, also applauds the passage of the new act.

“Since 1990, I have worked with educators, technology leaders, telecommunications providers and policy makers to chart a course for distance education in Pennsylvania,” says Rhoades. “With this new infrastructure, our schools could share classes and expand offerings to students who would otherwise be isolated from these opportunities by geography.”

“I believe that dedication to technology is key to meeting the demands of our changing economy, of our society, and of the schools and businesses,” adds Rhoades. “I am pleased that new technologies and resources are now available to IU 21 and our schools in the Lehigh Valley.”

Ferrari and his IU team embraced the potential of working with local telephone companies to maximize broadband services quickly. As early as the 1980s, IU 21 began working with Ironton Telephone Co. of Coplay. The last two decades have seen a series of continuing collaborative efforts resulting in constantly expanding benefits for school districts, parents and students.

The Carbon Lehigh Intermediate leadership knows the impact broadband capabilities can have in the classroom. But progress doesn’t stop at the classroom door.

By using high-speed Internet services, the IU helps parents be involved directly with their children during the day. The parent doesn’t have to leave work or the home.

“Armed with advancing technolog, we can now link parents directly with their child to monitor their progress during the day,” Ferrari says. “We know from extensive studies that the more a parent is involved in their child’s education, the better the results for the student. School districts using our services can give parents with Internet access the ability to allow the student and mom and dad to select the student’s classes. The parents and student work together to design the best educational path for the student. Broadband services provided by local telephone companies can make a global connection for area school districts. Recently, students were discussing linguistic variances by geographical location. To emphasize the differences, the local teacher connected an entire classroom to another classroom in Mexico via the Internet. A learning moment made an incredible impact through technology.”

The concept of intermediate units is to provide member school districts with cost savings through economies of scale. “Using broadband technologies, we are delivering on our promises to the districts, the taxpayers and the students at lower costs,” says Ferrari. “As an example, we have almost eliminated the use of films in the classrooms of our Internet-connected schools. Today, the teacher, at a teachable moment, can go to their classroom computer, select and download subject-specific audio visual programs. Students are provided the information at the best possible time, when their curiosity is piqued. The IU and the local school districts are phasing out the costs of storing multiple film copies, shipping the requested films and upkeep of the films,”

In the 80s, Carbon Lehigh IU was the agent for data processing needs of participating area school districts. Ironton Telephone provided the then leading-edge technologies to ship the data more efficiently and quickly.

Carbon Lehigh and Ironton began shipping the information at ever increasing speeds using the ever increasing capabilities of technology. While the collaborative network has been in place approximately seven years, the past two years have demonstrated aggressive expansion, says William George, President of Ironton Telephone. “We relish our role in helping the Carbon Lehigh IU deliver on the promises of technology. We witness every day how closing the technology gap closes the education gap,” says George.

In the late 90s, Carbon Lehigh wanted to integrate distance learning into its offerings. Ironton Telephone leadership saw the IU’s vision and formed strategic alliances with fellow telephone companies and cable companies that served the urban, suburban and rural areas where participating Carbon Lehigh school districts were located.

Ironton Telephone and its joint venture companies helped the IU receive a critical grant facilitating the implementation of distance learning.

Steve Samara is vice president of Pennsylvania Telephone Association. He can be reached at +1 717 238 8311.

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