Broadband Expanding Possibilities for Students in West Virginia and the Nation

[Commentary] During a recent visit to Southside K-8 School in McDowell County (WV), I witnessed how technology allows students to dissect not just frogs online, but starfish and other amphibians as well. As a web-based program, this requires real bandwidth.

Such activities would not have been possible last year when Southside was using two slower 3 Mbps-speed Internet connections for the whole school, which allowed for only a few students to work online at the same time. With the help of a $126 million National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) broadband grant, the school now has access to a fiber-based 100 Mbps connection that allows any Southside student to get online. NTIA’s grant has produced real results in this classroom in McDowell County and throughout West Virginia. It has helped bring a fiber broadband connection to all 750 public elementary and high schools in the state. West Virginia’s broadband project is a good example of NTIA’s efforts to expand access to broadband in schools throughout the country. NTIA’s broadband grant program has provided a head start on meeting the Obama Administration’s goal of bringing next-generation broadband to 99 percent of American students within the next five years.

[Laura Dodson is Director for Comprehensive Communities Infrastructure for NTIA’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program.]