As part of the cable industry's commitment to support of distance learning, NCTA – The Internet & Television Association (NCTA), in conjunction with EducationSuperHighway (ESH), yesterday announced the "K-12 Bridge to Broadband" public-private initiative to increase home connectivity opportunities for students during the COVID-19 pandemic. USTelecom and NTCA also are partners in this effort.
According to ESH, a national non-profit, nearly 10 million students, half of whom are of color, lack Internet access. As a result, they risk falling behind as schools, in response to the health risks posed by the novel coronavirus, shift in part or entirely to distance-learning models. The goal of "K-12 Bridge to Broadband," therefore, is to "identify and potentially connect students in low-income families, enabling more students to participate in remote or hybrid learning."
In a press release, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai "thank[ed] NCTA and the EducationSuperHighway for launching this initiative to make it easier for students in low-income families to connect to the Internet."
"K-12 Bridge to Broadband" builds upon, and expands nationwide, recent successful partnerships between cable operators and school districts in cities that include Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, and Des Moines.
Pursuant to the announced framework of core principles, participating cable broadband providers will:
- Create a “sponsored” service offering that school districts can purchase at a discounted rate on behalf of low-income students;
- Work with school districts to identify students lacking access while also protecting participant privacy and the confidentiality of provider records;
- Agree to a baseline set of eligibility standards that covers, at a minimum, households with students participating in the federal Free and Reduced Lunch program;
- Minimize the amount of information families must provide in order to maximize adoption; and
- Agree not to use school-provided information for the targeted marketing of unrelated services.
The "K-12 Bridge to Broadband" builds upon existing cable industry efforts to support distance learning, which include:
- Longstanding broadband adoption programs for low-income families such as Internet Essentials from Comcast, Charter's Spectrum Internet Assist, and Connect2Compete from Cox;
- Voluntary extension of the FCC's Keep Americans Connected Pledge principles through the end of the last school year; and
- Additional steps above and beyond the specifics of that pledge, including providing multiple months of free service to eligible households that include students, increasing speeds, and removing data caps.
Posts
