Wireless Infrastructure Plan

This Wireless Infrastructure Plan is one part of the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation’s work for the North Carolina Digital Learning Plan. The full plan, due in the summer of 2015, will address content, pedagogy, human capacity, professional learning, policy, funding, as well as technology infrastructure and devices.

The plan presented in this report builds upon the success of the prior School Connectivity Initiative (SCI), established in 2007, which has provided high-speed Internet access to every K-12 public school in the state. SCI is designed to increase Internet capacity to each school as demand grows, to ensure adequate connectivity for all students to benefit from digital learning. However, many schools lack the internal network infrastructure (commonly referred to as “Wi-Fi”) required to fully leverage the provided Internet connectivity. So while adequate Internet access may reach the school building, it does not reach each student or even each classroom. The goal of this Wireless Infrastructure Plan is to provide a roadmap that outfits every school with the internal network required to support the full use of digital tools and resources within all classrooms and other spaces in which teaching and learning takes place.

Through SCI, schools benefit greatly from the FCC E-Rate program, which has supported Internet connections to schools and libraries for the past 18 years. Beginning in 2015, E-Rate will support inside-the-school wireless networks and the necessary supporting infrastructures for all school buildings in a sustainable way. This is an important change for North Carolina schools, and this plan outlines how the State can maximize the benefit from the $2 billion that FCC has committed to funding internal connections during the initial two years this new program.

This plan provides a technical update about relevant networking technology trends. This is important to guide the planning and purchasing of equipment, so that new systems will remain up-to-date, can be expanded as needed over time, and can be managed by service providers in the future. One of the most important recommendations is to ensure that every classroom is equipped with a wireless access point: the device that allow wireless laptops and tablets to connect to the school internal network. In looking at future technological advancements, this will be necessary to support digital learning at scale.

The E-Rate Modernization Order allows schools to request E-Rate support for internal networks of up to $150 per student (pre-discount) over a five-year period. Based on the $150 per-student allocation, which the Friday Institute considers sufficient, the five-year cost for the approximately 1.5 million students in North Carolina would be $225,000,000. Analysis shows that the E-rate program could provide about 75% of this funding, if the State proceeds in a coordinated and efficient manner.

If the State and LEAs were able to fund about $10 million per year for the next 5 years, North Carolina would receive over $150,000,000 in federal E-Rate Category Two funds. This amount would provide every K-12 public school in NC with an up-to-date internal network that supports all digital learning needs. These funds for internal wireless networks would be in addition to the more than $100,000,000 in Category One E-Rate funding that North Carolina districts are already on track to receive for external connectivity through the existing SCI over the next 5 years.

The FCC regulations allow for a single application on behalf of a statewide consortium, with a central agency developing the application and ensuring appropriate use of the funds.
This report proposes a consortium approach, with the State providing the required funding of about $10 million per year, as was done in SCI. North Carolina has obtained approval from the U.S. Department of Education to apply approximately $4.5 million of funds remaining in the NC Education Cloud Race to the Top grant, to help cover the cost in 2015.

North Carolina policy makers and educators will need to move quickly to optimize return on investment and be among the first consortium applications approved. It is possible that
E-Rate funds will run out, so a coordinated and well-executed plan it required. This is an essential step toward providing equitable, modern, personalized digital-learning to North Carolina’s students, preparing them for college and careers.

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North Carolina Digital-Age Learning Initiative

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North Carolina Digital-Age Learning Initiative

The NC Digital-Age Learning Initiative builds upon the existing foundation of digital learning initiatives to develop a coherent long-term strategy that sets directions and priorities, supports innovation, and provides resources to enable the State’s educators and students to benefit fully from digital-age teaching and learning.

Published

September 22, 2014

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Friday Institute for Educational Innovation