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Project Eagle Research Capsules (PERC) #18
May 2005
Tomorrow's Freshmen and the Internet:
Statistics from Three Reports on Web Use by the Young
U. S. Department of Education
National Education Technology Plan
November 2004
One of several focuses of a major government report, subtitled How the
Internet, the Law and Today's Students Are Revolutionizing Expectations, is on
the success of innovative new approaches to learning through advances in
educational technology.
- 28% of high school students access foreign news sources via the Internet.
- 90% of children 5-17 use computers.
- Teens spend more time online using the Internet than watching TV.
- 94% of teens use the Internet for school-related research.
- 24% of teens have created their own Web pages.
- The largest group of new Internet users from 2000-2002 was 2-5 year olds.
- Today's students are very technology-savvy, feel strong about the positive value of technology, and rely
on it as an essential and preferred component of every aspect of their lives.
- Students are not just using technology differently today, but are approaching their lives and their
daily activities differently because of it.
- As students get older, their use of technology becomes more sophisticated, but, comparatively, the younger students are on a faster track to becoming greater technology users and advocates.
- The access point for technology use, particularly for older students, is home-, not school-focused.
Amanda Lenhart
Pew Internet and Life Project
March 2005
A November 2004 survey of 1100 teens aged 12-17 and their parents revealed some interesting data about adolescent Internet use.
- 87% of teens use the Internet - about 21 million. Of those, 87% connect at home.
- 54% (12 million) of connected families with teens now use filters, compared to 41% (7 million) in December 2000. Filters tend to be used by parents who themselves use the Internet frequently.
- 73% of online teens say their household computer is located in a public place.
- 64% of their parents say they set rules about their children's time online.
- 62% of parents say they check on their children's use after they finish, but only 33% of teens say their parents monitor their activities.
- 81% of parents say their online teens are not careful enough when giving information out about themselves online. 79% of online teens agree.
- 65% of parents/64% of teens say teens do things online they would not want their parents to know.
- 13% (3 million) do not use the Internet. 47% of those say they formerly used it, but stopped. 10% blame bad experiences, parental restrictions, or a feeling that the Internet is unsafe.
- 67% of parents believe that the Internet is overall a good thing for their children, up from 55% in December 2000. Only 5% believe it is a bad thing.
J. Carl Setzer and Laurie Lewis
National Center for Education Statistics
March 2005
This is the first national survey of public school districts to explore distance education courses for public elementary and secondary school students.
- During the 2002-03
12-month school year, 36% (5,500 out of 15,040) of public school districts had
students in the district enrolled in distance education courses.
- A greater proportion of
large districts (50%) than medium (32%) or small (37%) districts had students
enrolled in distance education courses, and more districts located in rural
areas (46%) than in suburban (28%) or urban (23%) areas had students enrolled
in distance education courses.
- More districts located in
the Southeast (45%) and Central (46%) regions had students enrolled in
distance education courses than did districts in the Northeast (21%) and West
(32%).
- Fewer districts with the
lowest poverty concentration (33%) had students enrolled in distance education
courses than did districts with higher concentrations of poverty (42%).
- In 2002-03, there were an
estimated 328,000 enrollments in distance education courses among students
regularly enrolled in public school districts. 68% were in high schools, 29%
in combined or ungraded schools, 2% in middle or junior high schools, and 1%
in elementary schools.
- Enrollments in various
curricular areas ranged from an estimated 8,200 in general elementary school
curriculum and 11,700 in computer science to 74,600 in social studies/social
sciences. 23% of all enrollments of students regularly enrolled in the
districts were in social studies/social sciences, 19% in English/language
arts, 15% in mathematics, 12% in natural/physical science, 12% in foreign
languages, and 14% in other unspecified curriculum areas. Enrollments in
general elementary school curriculum (3%) and computer science (4%) accounted
for the smallest proportions.
- 50% of districts with
students enrolled in distance education courses had students (an estimated
45,300) enrolled in Advanced Placement or college-level courses offered
through distance education. The proportion of all distance education
enrollments in Advanced Placement or college-level distance education courses
is greater in small (24%) districts than in medium (10%) or large (7%)
districts and greater in rural (27%) districts than in urban (4%) or suburban
(11%) districts.
- 59% of districts with
students enrolled in distance education courses had students enrolled in
online courses (i.e., courses delivered over the Internet). 92% of districts
had students accessing online courses from school, 60% from home, and 8% from
some other location.
- Of those districts with
students enrolled in distance education courses, 48% had students enrolled in
courses delivered by a postsecondary institution; 34% by another local school
district, or schools in other districts, all in-state; 18% by in-state
education service agencies or virtual schools; and 18% by independent vendors.
16% had students enrolled in distance education courses delivered centrally
from their own district, and 8% in courses delivered by other schools in the
district (other than cyber charter schools). All other sources for distance
education courses ranged from 3% to 4%.
- 21% of districts that
offered distance education delivered courses to students who were not
regularly enrolled in the district (students from other districts, private
school students, or the home-schooled).
- A smaller proportion of
districts in the Southeast (13%) than in the Northeast (29%) or Central (22%)
regions delivered distance education courses to students not regularly
enrolled in the district.
- The reason most
frequently cited as very important for having distance education courses in
the district was offering courses not otherwise available at the school (80%).
Other reasons frequently cited as very important were meeting the needs of
specific groups of students (59%) and offering Advanced Placement or
college-level courses (50%).
- 72% of districts with
students enrolled in distance education courses planned to expand their
distance education courses in the future. No differences in expansion plans
were detected by district types.
www.spjc.edu/eagle/research/perc/perc18.htm
For a list of previous Project Eagle Research Capsules, go to www.spcollege.edu/eagle/research/perc/index.htm
For more information, contact the project manager: lechnerj@spcollege.edu
The contents of PERC were developed under a grant from the U. S. Department of Education (DOE). However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the DOE, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.
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