HONOLULU – Hawaii's public school system is the top ranked school district in K-12 broadband connectivity according to the 2016 State of the States annual report released by Education Superhighway, an advocacy group dedicated to upgrading Internet infrastructure in K-12 public schools.
"In 2014 we accomplished our goal to deliver Wi-Fi to all public schools statewide, which was a huge undertaking by our Office of Information Technology Services and Office of School Facilities and Support Services," noted Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi. "The work of our teams have paid off and we're very proud to be recognized as number one in the country for our Wi-Fi connectivity." (See video, below, detailing the process.)
From 2010 to 2015, the Hawaii State Department of Education increased its broadband at schools from 0.3 gigabytes/second to 8.0 gigabytes/second.
"Having access to the Internet allows our teachers to enhance classroom lessons and gives our students vast digital learning resources that make learning an interactive, hands-on activity. Complete connectivity is a large step forward towards 21st Century Learning initiatives and preparing our students for college and careers," added Superintendent Matayoshi.
Hawaii's national No. 1 ranking is based on full 100 percent scores in the report's four criteria:
- Connectivity, reflecting the percentage of school districts meeting 100 kbps per student;
- Fiber, reflecting the percentage of schools with fiber optic connections needed to meet bandwidth targets;
- Wi-Fi, reflecting the percentage of school districts reporting sufficient Wi-Fi in all classrooms; and
- Affordability, the percentage of school districts maximizing their bandwidth within set budgets.
Education Superhighway is a non-profit advocacy group focused on providing equal access to high-speed broadband for all K-12 public school students.
