FARMINGTON — Schools need to step up technology education programs and the Legislature needs to address the lack of Internet access, Northwest Arkansas superintendents were told Thursday.
Richard Abernathy, director of the Arkansas Association of Education Administrators, told superintendents one of the biggest issues facing Arkansas schools in the coming months and years is technology.
He was joined in his comments on upcoming Legislative issues by his father, Rep. Bill Abernathy, D-Mena, and Harvie Nichols, distance learning coordinator of the Western Arkansas Education Services Cooperative in Branch.
Many students coming out of Arkansas high schools are ill-equipped to take online courses as college students, according to Richard Abernathy. Compounding the issue, he said, is the lack of broadband capability to allow students to adequately access the Internet at school.
Megan Witonski, Elkins superintendent, has said that is a major hurdle for rural schools, especially in areas where there is no Internet provider and economically strapped districts can’t afford to buy more capacity when there is a provider.
Elkins hopes to move to a one-to-one computing program for its students but now is limited by the limited Internet access the school has, she said.
Frank Holman, Lincoln superintendent, said some states require high school students to take at least two online courses before high school graduation. Lincoln has been a leader in the use of computers in its instructional program for several years, most recently adopting a one-to-one computer program that provides a computer for all students, kindergarten through 12th grade. The district also transformed its high school into a New Tech institution to focus on science, technology, engineering and math education programs emphasizing project-based learning.
“It’s hard to teach swimming with no water,” said Bill Abernathy. “It’s hard to teach technology without capacity. It’s critical to get capacity for the instructional program.”
Mike VanDyke, director of the Northwest Arkansas Education Services Cooperative, which hosted the meeting, said the cooperative and schools in west Washington County have sufficient bandwidth thanks to the Prairie Grove Telephone Co., which has made the bandwidth available.
As an example, the Pea Ridge School District may only have about half that capacity, he said. VanDyke is the former superintendent in Pea Ridge.
Schools will need more capacity as the state becomes more entrenched in the Common Core education standards. The assessments for measuring Common Core learning will be electronic and schools will need to be able to access those tests, he said.