A Misguided Criticism of E-Rate Misses Real Need: Educator PD

[Commentary] A recent article in Politico claims that the federal E-Rate program produced no gains in student SAT results in North Carolina public high schools. With this assertion, the author concludes that federal programs supporting school connectivity nationwide should be eliminated, or at least halted until investments can demonstrate a stronger relationship with student outcomes. But the article’s underlying study doesn’t support such a sweeping conclusion, and the author fails to recognize the key role played by professional development for teachers in improving classroom learning through technology.

The article attempts to correlate SAT performance with federal E-Rate program spending. However, only about half of high school students take the SAT and the majority of test takers are not low-income students. The E-Rate program on the other hand provides subsidies for broadband connectivity to schools and libraries based on the number of low-income individuals served – meaning the author’s chosen measurement of E-Rate “success” is primarily based on the academic performance of students for which the E-Rate program provides little to no support. Higher income students, those more likely to participate in the SAT, are also shown to be more likely to have access to high-speed Internet and other technology outside of the classroom. The article’s underlying report is a contribution to an ongoing research program. Many of these existing studies find the E-Rate program increases Internet access in schools, which thereby enables the use of new Internet-based learning technology, an effect that the North Carolina study does not even assess. One negative finding in a stream of research is not a scientific consensus, and should not be a basis for such a broad Draconian conclusion as the end of a twenty-year Federal program.

[Brendan Desetti is SIIA's Director of Education Policy.]


A Misguided Criticism of E-Rate Misses Real Need: Educator PD