• EDUCATION E-LEARNING: Worldwide revenues in the corporate e-learning market will surpass $23 billion by 2004, according to IDC. Not too bad when you consider the market was less than $2 billion at the end of 1999. http://cyberatlas.com/big_picture/geographics/article/0,,5911_737081,00.html
• EDUCATION, E-RATE: Between 1996 and 1999, the percentage of public schools with Internet access increased from 65 to 95 percent, and the percentage of public school instructional rooms with Internet access increased from 14 to 63 percent.
• EDUCATION, E-RATE: By the second year of the program, 13,000 public school districts, 70,000 public schools, 5,000 private schools and 4,500 library systems were participating.
• EDUCATION, E-RATE: E-Rate program is funded through the Universal Services Fund, which collects its levies from the revenues of telecommunications service providers.  The E-Rate is funded at $2.25 billion annually, nearly one-half of the approximately $5 billion Universal Services Fund.
• EDUCATION, E-RATE: FCC said Urban Institute and Dept. of Education report on e-rate showed success of program that has distributed most of nearly $4 billion to neediest schools to pay for Internet connections.  About 95% of public schools had Internet connections in 1999, up from 65% in 1996, and 60% of E-rate funds went to 25% of school districts with highest poverty rates.  "In short, the E-rate is proving to be a veritable technology Marshall Plan for America's schools," FCC Chmn. Kennard said.  Report said:  (1) 82% of public schools received some E-rate funding.  (2) 58% of E-rate funds went for internal communications connections, 34% for telecommunications services and rest funded ISP services.  (3) Ark., Ky. and Miss., received most E-rate funding per capita while Colo., Ind. and Ia. received least.  (4) 74% of classrooms in richest schools had Internet connections compared with 39% in poorest schools.  "This study also affirms the E-rate's role in closing the digital divide,"  FCC Comr. Ness said:  "While this report verifies that we are well on the way toward achieving our goal of connecting every instructional classroom to the Internet, it also notes that much work remains." www.ed.gov/offices/OUS/eval/elem.html#technology
• EDUCATION, E-RATE: In three years, the E-Rate has committed over $5.8 billion to schools and libraries in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, an average of over $110 million per state.
• EDUCATION, E-RATE: Percentage of public schools with Internet access increased from 50% in 1995 to 95% by 1999. (US Census Bureau, Feb. 2001).
• EDUCATION, INTEGRATION OF INTERNET INTO TEACHING: While 84 percent of teachers in the US say that computers and Internet access improve the quality of education, two thirds say the Internet is not well integrated into their classrooms. http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905356658&rel=true
• EDUCATION, INTERNET USAGE AT SCHOOLS: 97% of the 600 teachers surveyed said their schools have Internet access. Most teachers - 87 percent - said they are comfortable using the Internet, but 60 percent said they spend half an hour or less online at school each day. Only 6 percent said they spend an hour or more online.  Survey by NetDay, a California-based nonprofit organization that helps schools use technology, found that less than half of teachers believe the Internet has become a more important teaching tool in the past two years. Only one-third said the Internet is integrated into their classrooms. Many teachers said they just don't have enough time to get online.  Among all teachers, 48 percent said the Internet has become a more important teaching tool, but only 37 percent of math teachers and 39 percent of science teachers agreed. Twenty-nine percent of teachers said the Internet has changed the way they teach, but only 21 percent of math teachers and 25 percent of science teachers said the same.  Eighty-three percent of the teachers in the telephone survey, conducted between Jan. 31 and Feb. 6, were from public schools. Nine percent were from private schools and 7 percent from parochial schools. (Nando Times, Mar. 30, 2001).
• EDUCATION, ONLINE TESTING: Beginning this month, about 6,000 third- through 10th-grade students in about 30 Oregon schools will take their annual mathematics and reading tests online.  Another 300 schools are scheduled to be brought into the program next year, and another 400 will be added in 2003. Online testing is expected to save Oregon up to $25 million over the 10-year program.  (Civic.com, Apr. 2001).
• EDUCATION, US BEHIND IN MATH: By international standards, the average eighth-grade U.S. lesson dealt with math at the seventh-grade level. In Japan, the average eighth-grade lesson level was ninth-grade, while in Germany, it was eighth-grade. (The TIMMS Videotape Classroom Study, February 1999, obtained from U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics). http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54442-2001Jan27.html
• EDUCATION, US MATH: Graded for quality on a three-point scale (low, medium, high) by an independent group of U.S. college math teachers, 39% of the Japanese classes and 28% of the German classes got the highest rating; none of the American ones did. Eighty-one% of the U.S. lessons received the lowest rating, compared with 11% of the Japanese. (The TIMMS Videotape Classroom Study, February 1999, obtained from U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics).
• EDUCATION, US MATH: In the United States, only 41% of math teachers hold math degrees. The average among other countries is 71%. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54446-2001Jan27.html
• EDUCATION, US SCIENCE & ENGINEERING GRADS: About 27% of all graduate students in science and engineering are foreigners, and the percentage is rising. The number of Americans enrolling is falling, and the number of foreigners is climbing.
• EDUCATION, US TIMMS-R RESULTS: The United States came out about average among the 38 competing nations whose eighth-graders took the tests, ranking only 19th in mathematics and 18th in science. (TIMMS-R)
• EDUCATION: More than 80 percent of teachers believe that computers and access to the Internet improve the quality of education, according to a survey by education technology nonprofit NetDay. http://cyberatlas.com/markets/education/article/0,,5951_734761,00.html
• E-LEARNING: According to IDC, the worldwide corporate elearning market will exceed USD23 billion by 2004. http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905356515&rel=true
• E-LEARNING: The elearning industry is set to mature further over the next few years, as the number of colleges and universities offering these courses increases from 1,500 last year to over 3,300 in 2004. http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905356263&rel=true
• E-LEARNING: Training provided via the Internet is a growing trend in Europe and should push the value of the elearning market in the region to $4 billion (EUR4.21 billion) over the next four years. http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905356320&rel=true
  

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PLEASE BE ADVISED:

Research organizations differ on many measurements and predictions. Cisco Systems cannot verify the accuracy of all of the findings. We include all credible information to offer a glimpse into the range of estimates and predictions.

Abbreviations / acronyms used herein are defined and explained more fully in the issue briefs available at Cisco’s public policy page. Most common acronyms include DSL (digital subscriber line service, which is high speed Internet access over telephone lines); WAN (wide area network connections link different organizations such as schools across a region); LAN (local area network connections link computers within an organization)