Nearly one fifth of U.S. public school students are considered rural. And when it comes to education-reform policy discussions, rural schools and students are often overlooked. Schools in rural areas are behind in adopting new technology, have limited access to broadband, and therefore, compromised learning media. If you offer an independent study/non-classroom-based charter school to remote students, you probably experience similar challenges. Issues like these can reduce educational quality and opportunities for students.
A new initiative called “Tech for Rural Districts” seeks to narrow the technology gap between urban and rural schools. A partnership between online educator network, edWeb.net and the Consortium for School Networking, this initiative provides support for educators through their online learning community and webinar series. Rural schools can discuss their technological needs and implementation, sharing ideas with their peers for bringing equivalent learning solutions to all students. Webinar topics include technology funding, broadband access, and how to gain community involvement.
Charter schools with curricular technology gaps may also find they lack technology resources for their administrative needs as well. The burdens and labor costs of manually handling paperwork and recordkeeping can detract from your efforts to deliver a quality educational experience. At the same time, your budget may preclude a large investment into administrative systems and software.
"Charter schools may also lack technology resources for their administrative needs."
We have seen a lot of success in bridging the technology gap for charter schools in this situation utilizing the Building Blocks for Business Solutions model. The employer receives an employee benefits administration system at no cost when they offer voluntary insurance products to all their employees. This arrangement will allow your charter school to provide an expanded, customizable benefit offering to your employees, while streamlining your enrollment, eligibility and ongoing employee communications processes.
Your charter school also gains a call center and virtual benefit advisors that walk the employees through their online enrollment for their core benefits as well as the voluntary benefits. Employees can schedule a time that is convenient for them to enroll with the benefit advisor from any computer or phone.
The cost- and time-savings of closing the technology gap results in a better investment into learning.