Classroom Technology News in Brief

Gates, Zuckerberg Subsidize School Connectivity Plan

By Ben Kamisar — December 11, 2013 | Corrected: January 07, 2014 1 min read
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Corrected: An earlier version of this article misstated the amounts being donated to EducationSuperHighway in support of broadband connectivity. Mark Zuckerberg’s group Startup:Education gave $3 million; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave $2 million; and others gave $4 million.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s organization, Startup: Education, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are donating a total of $9 million to a nonprofit to help train schools to use and manage broadband connections.

The San Francisco-based EducationSuperHighway aims to improve access to high-speed broadband in schools across the country by identifying which schools need broadband improvements, providing districts with technical expertise, helping districts pay lower prices for connections, and pushing for changes to the federal E-rate program.

Its research shows that more than 70 percent of public schools lack the bandwidth required for digital learning.

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A version of this article appeared in the December 11, 2013 edition of Education Week as Gates, Zuckerberg Subsidize School Connectivity Plan

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