Alaska leads the nation in distance learning. Our schools have been on the leading edge out of necessity — Alaska’s vast distances and small, remote communities require school districts to rely upon online classes in order to give all students access to a quality education. As the telecommunications provider for more than 160 Alaska schools, GCI is proud to partner with educators and school administrators to help bring equity to K-12 education across the state.
COVID-19 has accelerated our efforts to support online learning and has added urgency to GCI’s mission to provide connectivity to all Alaskans. When the pandemic forced a rapid transition to online learning for all Alaska students at the end of the last school year, GCI, Alaska’s largest provider of telecommunications services, offered free service to new customers and free service upgrades to all existing customers to help ensure every student in Alaska had adequate bandwidth for online learning. We also provided free modems and wireless devices for K-12 and college students and teachers through the end of the 2019/2020 school year.
Recognizing the need to find a more permanent, targeted solution for Alaska students, GCI partnered with our education customers to develop new products for the 2020/2021 school year. GCI’s School from Home products are being used in seven school districts across the state, so far this year, to connect nearly 5,000 Alaska students who otherwise wouldn’t have access to the internet as they navigate a school year dramatically altered by COVID-19. GCI’s academic-focused School from Home internet products provide Alaska’s students the connectivity necessary to access education resources and online classroom activities.
In urban areas served by GCI’s fiber-optic cable network, GCI’s School from Home internet delivers a connection that allows access to district-approved sites like Khan Academic, the Alaska Statewide Library Electronic Doorway, Institute for Excellence in Writing, and BrainPOP Math. Because this is an academic-focused internet product, and in accordance with the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA), the service does not support entertainment-based content or websites, allowing students to focus on educational content. In rural areas served by microwave and satellite, students use a secure application that allows them to access educational materials directly from their school’s network. In both scenarios, the service is delivered at no cost to the student. Eligibility for the program is determined individually by each participating district and GCI coordinates the deployment of service and equipment directly with the school or school district.
The seven school districts partnering with GCI to deliver customized School from Home service are the Anchorage School District, Bristol Bay Borough School District, Juneau Borough School District, Kashunamiut School District, Lower Kuskokwim School District, Lower Yukon School District, and Southwest Region School District. That means 44% of Alaska’s students live in school districts served by GCI’s School from Home program.
While the impacts of COVID-19 have served as a catalyst to boost distance education efforts, it is an issue that has long-needed to be addressed. Whether in urban or rural areas, students are being left behind in the education system due to socioeconomic inequalities. Students can no longer learn everything they need to know from a school-assigned book and printed homework sheets. Access to online academic resources is crucial to being successful in the classroom, and a lack of access puts students on an uneven playing field. Through the creation of academic connectivity options that are free of charge to the student – and sustainable long-term for school districts and internet service providers – GCI is helping to move the needle in the right direction. Academic-focused internet isn’t just a stop-gap measure – it’s a unique, long-term solution that serves as a model for internet service providers across the nation and is a significant step toward bridging socioeconomic barriers and closing the homework gap.