Equity of Access

Increase Infrastructure to Support Student-Centered Learning

The following recommendations are goals for education leaders, policy makers, and network staff to support effective, seamless digital learning experiences. These recommendations are based on research and consultation with experts in the field.

Internet Service Provider Recommendation

Updated in 2016, SETDA provides broadband capacity recommendations for connection to the internet service provider (ISP) based on the size of the district (number of students). This method allows education stakeholders to better understand some of the nuances between very small districts (under 1,000 students) compared to large districts (over 10,000 students). The ISP recommendations are based on research; analysis of data sets from districts across eight states regarding both capacity and usage; and consultation with experts in the field.

Wide Area Network Recommendation

SETDA recommends that for the 2017-18 and 2020-21 school years, districts should have at least 10 Gbps per 1,000 users for wide area network (WAN) access. Based on recent trends, research and consultation with experts in the field, SETDA expects that WAN requirements will come closer in line to ISP connections as districts utilize cloud-based services, as well as the advent of virtualization— shifting the capacity requirements from the WAN to the ISP connection. Therefore, the WAN recommendations for 2017-18 remain the same for 2020-21.