1. Broadband Access in Nevada PK-12 Schools Nevada Broadband Taskforce Meeting June 19, 2014 Presented by: Alan Medeiros, Lyon CSD Dan Slentz, Oasis Online Duane Barton, Elko CSD John Endter, Douglas CSD Kimberly Vidoni, Nevada Department of Education Scott Lomari, Lyon CSD 1

2. Overview Supporting Data Nevada Ready 21 (One-to-One Initiative) Community Partners Rural School Needs Possible Solutions Role of Task Force in Solution 2

3. Data Collection Education Superhighway – State School Speed Test Month, October 2013 Nevada Educational Technology Survey Nevada School District Broadband Survey 3

4. State School Speed Test ~75% of Nevada schools participated Tested the speeds of at least 10 devices per school 4

5. SETDA Thresholds Source: State Educational Technology Directors Association, http://www.setda.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Broadband_Trifold.pdf Broadband Access for Teaching, Learning, and School Operations 2014-15 School Year Target 2017-18 School Year Target An external Internet connection to the Internet service provider (ISP) At least 100 Mbps per 1,000 students/ staff At least 1 Gbps per 1,000 students/staff Internal wide area network (WAN) connections from the district to each school and among schools within the district At least 1 Gbps per 1,000 students/staff At least 10 Gbps per 1,000 students/staff 5

6. Nevada Schools: Online Assessment Readiness 6 Media-rich assessment ready Basic assessment ready Not ready for online assessment At current bandwidth availability, 39% of schools can support media-rich online assessment, while 17% of schools are not ready for any online assessment

7. Nevada Schools: Digital Learning Readiness 7 Digital learning ready Basic connectivity Not ready Emerging reliance Schools’ long-term connectivity goals should focus on developing capacity for digital learning; 28% of schools today are ready for technology-rich digital learning

8. Impact of lower connectivity in rural areas on students Note: Excludes 93 schools with 1000+ students (analyzed separately, ~163k students) Greater proportion of rural schools are not ready 8

9. In urban and suburban areas, concentration of very large schools reduces bandwidth availability per student 9

10. Nevada Ed Tech Survey Annual inventory survey Spring 2014 Smarter Balance Assessment Consortium (SBAC) compliant devices “Red Flag” list 10

11. Nevada School District Broadband Survey Survey broadband connectivity modalities across the state Determine how many students attend schools that are not connected via fiber Esmeralda, Lyon, Pershing, Storey, White Pine are not connected via fiber 11

12. One-to-One Student Computing Nevada Commission on Educational Technology One-to-One Plan ◦ Nevada Ready 21 ◦ In the process of revising Same capacity issues as for online testing ◦ Broadband capacity issues ◦ Personnel expertise issues Communication to stakeholders 12

13. Gaps in Home/School Coverage 13

14. Gaps in Home/School Coverage 14

15. Gaps in Home/School Coverage 3G networks offer download speeds of 600 kilobits per second (kbps) up to 1.4 megabits per second (mbps), with bursts up to 3.1 mbps. Sprint says its 4G WiMax network can deliver average download speeds between 3 mbps and 6 mbps, with bursts up to 10 mbps. The network can deliver upload speeds of up to 1 mbps. ◦ Sprint: Download: 2.14 Mbps | Upload: 0.17 Mbps ◦ Verizon: Download:13.3 Mbps | Upload:5.5 Mbps Fact vs. Fiction – school districts need facts 15

16. Community Partners Provides project sustainability Costs would be spread between partners ◦ Hospitals/Clinics ◦ County Agencies – Human Services, Libraries, Court, Fire, Rescue, Police ◦ Private Companies – ISP’s, Manufacturing, Hospitality, Service, Mining 16

17. eRate Reform New eRate Goals ◦ Increased Broadband Capacity ◦ Create Affordable access to Broadband Proposed Rulemaking ◦ Simplify rules on fiber deployment ◦ Prioritize funds for new fiber deployments ◦ Phase out support services - paging ◦ Allocating funding on a simplified, per-student 17

18. Rural School Needs High Capacity Broadband ◦ Access for 24/7 learners ◦ Access to Distance Education resources ◦ Testing requirements- current and future Distinctions between rural and frontier ◦ Limited broadband availability for rural schools having to use limited wireless backhauls ◦ Nearly Impossible to find/fund broadband connections to frontier schools like Duckwater and Montello. 18

19. Prime Example – Elko 70% of students attend schools connected through fiber Tried to connect other schools ◦ $1 million to run line ◦ ~$14K/month to lease line ◦ For just 2 schools Lack of competition 19

20. Grant Opportunities Nevada Commission on Ed Tech eRate ConnectED 20

21. Possible Solutions Better coordination between K-12 public education, higher education, and state agencies, including maps of state owned lit and dark fiber Nevada Assessment Readiness Team (NV- ART) Superintendent’s Online Testing Summit in August 2014 Nevada Ready 21 Plan includes a committee focused on broadband capacity issues 21

22. Role of Task Force in Solution Help us ensure that ALL Nevada students have school access through fiber Accountability for Internet service providers ◦ They’re installing what they say they’re installing Availability of trained, network experts in all districts 22

23. Questions? 23