1

COMPUTER AND INTERNET ACCESS

IN PRIVATE SCHOOLS AND

CLASSROOMS: 1995 AND 1998

In recent years, interest in increasing the use of technology

in elementary and secondary education has grown. Numerous initiatives—both public and private—have provided discounted or free computers and Internet access to schools

and have encouraged the provision of technology-focused

teacher professional development and training (Trotter

1999). These initiatives were predicated on the expectation that the use of technology in education can lead to a

number of beneficial outcomes. In Getting America’s Students Ready for the 21st Century, for example, the U.S.

Department of Education (1996) asserts that technology has

the potential to enhance the achievement of all students,

increase families’ involvement in their children’s schooling,

improve teachers’ skills and knowledge, and improve school

administration and management.

To track changes in the availability of and access to technology, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)

since 1994 has conducted a series of surveys of public and

private elementary and secondary schools. This Issue Brief

provides results from the most recent survey of technology

in private schools, focusing on trends in the availability of

and access to technology from 1995 to 1998.1 In addition,

this Issue Brief reports on the future connectivity plans of

private schools not connected to the Internet and on the

advanced telecommunications training opportunities private

schools offer their teachers.

How prevalent are computers in private

schools?

The number of students per computer is the measure commonly used to provide an indication of the prevalence of

computers in schools. In 1998, there was an average of six

students per computer in private schools, down from nine

students per computer in private schools in 1995 (table 1).

In 1995 and in 1998, nonsectarian schools reported fewer

students per computer on average than did Catholic schools

and other religious schools, and the student-to-computer

ratio was lower on average in private secondary than in

private elementary schools.

Another common measure of the prevalence of computers

in schools is the number of students per instructional computer.2 This measure excludes computers that may be used

exclusively for administrative or other noninstructional purposes. In 1998, the average number of private school students per instructional computer was eight (table 1). In

public schools, there was an average of six students to each

instructional computer in 1998 (Rowand 1999). Nonsectarian private schools had a lower average student-to-instructional computer ratio (6:1) than did Catholic schools

(8:1) and other religious schools (9:1). In addition, the student-to-instructional computer ratio was higher in private

elementary schools (8:1) than in private secondary or combined schools (7:1).

NCES 2000-044

NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS

February 2000

U.S. Department of Education

Office of Educational Research and Improvement

Stats in Brief

NOTE: In the 1995 survey, schools were not asked to differentiate the number of

instructional computers from the total number of computers. These ratios are based

on the total number of students attending regular private schools, and not just

those attending regular private schools that have computers or instructional

computers.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast

Response Survey System, “Survey on Advanced Telecommunications in U.S. Private

Schools: 1998–1999” (FRSS 68); 1999; and Advanced Telecommunications in U.S. Private

Schools, K–12, Fall 1995 (NCES 97–394), 1999, table 10.

Table 1.—Ratio of private school students to computers and to

instructional computers, by school characteristics: 1995

and 1998

Number of 

students per

instructional

computer

School characteristics 1995 1998 1998

 All private schools 96 8

Affiliation

 Catholic 10 7 8

 Other religious 9 7 9

 Nonsectarian 6 4 6

Instructional level

 Elementary 9 7 8

 Secondary 7 5 7

 Combined 8 5 7

Type of locale

 City 9 6 7

 Urban fringe 8 6 8

 Town 9 7 8

 Rural 9 5 7

 Less than 6 percent 9 7 8

 6 to 20 percent 7 6 7

 21 to 49 percent 8 6 7

 50 percent or more 11 8 10

Percent minority enrollment

Number of students

per computer
2

How prevalent is Internet access in private

schools and classrooms?

The percentage of schools and the percentage of instructional rooms3 with connections to the Internet are two measures commonly used to provide an indication of Internet

access in schools. In 1998, 67 percent of private schools

were connected to the Internet, up from 25 percent in 1995

(table 2). This 67 percent of private schools connected to

the Internet enrolled 81 percent of all private school students (not shown in tables). In 1998, 89 percent of public

schools had access to the Internet (Rowand 1999), representing 91 percent of all public school students.

Table 2.—Among private schools, percentage of schools and

instructional rooms with Internet access, and among

private schools without Internet access, percent that

have plans to gain access, by school characteristics: 1995

and 1998

NOTE: In the 1995 survey, schools were not asked to differentiate the number of

instructional computers from the total number of computers. These ratios are based

upon the total number of students attending regular private schools, and not just

those attending regular private schools that have computers or instructional

computers.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast

Response Survey System, “Survey on Advanced Telecommunications in U.S. Private

Schools: 1998–1999” (FRSS 68); 1999; and Advanced Telecommunications in U.S. Private

Schools, K–12, Fall 1995 (NCES 97–394), 1999, table 10.

Table 3.—Ratio of private school students to computer with

Internet access, and to instructional computer with

Internet access, by school characteristics: 1995 and

1998

Internet in 1995. In 1998, however, rural private schools

were about as likely as private schools in other locations to

be connected to the Internet.

Table 2 shows that the percentage of instructional rooms

with access to the Internet in private schools increased, from

5 percent in 1995 to 25 percent in 1998. In that same year,

51 percent of public school instructional rooms were connected to the Internet (Rowand 1999). In 1998, 41 percent

of instructional rooms in nonsectarian schools were connected to the Internet, compared with 27 percent of instructional rooms in Catholic schools and 18 percent of instructional rooms in other religious schools. Ten percent of instructional rooms in private schools with 50 percent or more

minority enrollment had Internet access, compared with 27

to 32 percent of instructional rooms in schools with less

than 50 percent minority enrollment.

Other ways to look at the availability of Internet access in

private schools are the number of private school students

per computer with Internet access and the number of private school students per instructional computer with Internet

access. In 1995, there were about 99 private school students per computer with Internet access (table 3). By 1998,

there were 12 private school students per computer with

Internet access. In 1998, the ratio of students to instructional computer with Internet access was 15 to 1 (table 3).

*The percentage of instructional rooms is based on the total number of

instructional rooms (e.g., classrooms, computer labs, library/media centers) in all

regular elementary, secondary, and combined private schools.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast

Response Survey System, “Survey on Advanced Telecommunications in U.S. Private

Schools: 1998–1999” (FRSS 68); 1999 and Advanced Telecommunications in U.S. Private

Schools, K–12, Fall 1995 (NCES 97–394), 1999, table 11.

The availability of Internet access in private schools varied

somewhat by school characteristics. In 1995, Catholic and

nonsectarian schools were more likely than those with other

religious affiliations to have Internet access, while in 1998

Catholic schools were more likely than both nonsectarian

and other religious schools to be connected to the Internet.

In 1995 and in 1998, secondary schools were more likely

than elementary and combined schools to have Internet access (table 2). Rural private schools were less likely than

private schools in other locations to be connected to the

Number of

students per

instructional

computer with

Internet access

School characteristics 1995 1998 1998

 All private schools 99 12 15

Affiliation

 Catholic 174 16 19

 Other religious 171 14 18

 Nonsectarian 25 5 7

Instructional level

 Elementary 206 20 24

 Secondary 78 7 10

 Combined 48 8 10

Percent minority enrollment

 Less than 6 percent 141 14 16

 6 to 20 percent 58 11 14

 21 to 49 percent 135 9 12

 50 percent or more 235 28 33

Number of

students per

computer with

Internet access

Schools

without

access that

have plans to

gain Internet

access

School characteristics 1995 1998 1995 1998 1998

 All private schools 25 67 5 25 46

Affiliation

 Catholic 35 83 4 27 74

 Other religious 16 54 2 18 41

 Nonsectarian 32 66 13 41 38

Instructional level

 Elementary 23 64 3 21 46

 Secondary 57 90 6 32 31

 Combined 19 64 8 28 46

Type of locale

 City 32 72 6 27 64

 Urban fringe 26 63 4 25 46

 Town 22 65 5 21 38

 Rural 4 58 1 21 12

Percent minority enrollment

 Less than 6 percent 24 59 3 28 13

 6 to 20 percent 29 75 9 27 71

 21 to 49 percent 29 76 3 32 59

 50 percent or more 18 52 2 10 59

Internet access

Schools with

Instructional

Internet access*

rooms with
3

Do private schools not connected to the

Internet have plans to do so in the future?

While more private schools were connected to the Internet

in 1998 than in 1995, 33 percent of private schools did not

have Internet access in 1998. Of these schools, about half

(46 percent) have plans to obtain access to the Internet in

the future (table 2). Plans to connect to the Internet varied

somewhat by school characteristics. Catholic schools were

more likely to indicate that they had plans to connect to the

Internet (74 percent) than other religious schools (41 percent) and nonsectarian schools (38 percent). Private schools

in rural locations were less likely to indicate plans to acquire Internet access than were schools in city and urban

fringe locations.

What advanced telecommunications training

for teachers do private schools offer or

participate?

To provide information about the preparedness of private

school teachers to use technology in their classrooms, items

about the types of advanced telecommunications training

private schools offered or participated in were included for

the first time on the 1998 survey. In 1998, 64 percent of

private schools offered or participated in some type of advanced telecommunications training for teachers (figure 1).

Issue Briefs present information on education topics of current interest. All estimates shown are based on samples and are subject to sampling variability. All differences

are statistically significant at the 0.05 level. In the design, conduct, and data processing of NCES surveys, efforts are made to minimize the effects of nonsampling

errors, such as item nonresponse, measurement error, data processing error, or other systematic error.

This Issue Brief was prepared by Doug Levin of AIR, David Hurst of ESSI, and Shelley Burns of NCES. To obtain standard errors or definitions of terms for this Issue Brief, or to

obtain additional information about Fast Response Survey System or the FRSS telecommunications surveys, contact Shelley Burns at NCES 202–219–1463 or http://

Shelley_Burns@ed.gov. To order additional copies of this Issue Brief or other NCES publications, call 1–800–433–7827. NCES publications are available on the Internet at

http://nces@ed.gov/.

more likely than nonsectarian schools and other religious

schools to offer or participate in training for teachers in

computers, Internet access, and integrating technology into

the curriculum (not shown in tables).

Additional Information

This Issue Brief has described the marked increase in access

to computers and the Internet among private schools and

their students from 1995 to 1998. Over that time, the average student to computer ratio decreased from 9:1 to 6:1,

while the percent of schools with access to the Internet increased from 25 to 67 percent. A full report on the results

of the 1998 survey, Survey on Advanced Telecommunications in U.S. Private Schools: 1998–99, will be released by

NCES in the spring of 2000. The report will include additional information on computer and Internet availability,

the use of advanced telecommunications, sources of support for advanced telecommunications, and on similarities

and differences with public schools.

1

 The first survey of private schools was administered in

October of 1995, and the second was administered in February of 1999. Because the second survey was administered during academic year 1998–99, it is referred to in this

Issue Brief as the 1998 survey. See Heaviside and Farris

(1997) for a complete report on the results of the 1995 survey.

2

 In the 1998 survey, schools were asked how many computers in the school are used for “instructional purposes.”

3 Instructional rooms include classrooms, computer labs,

library/media centers, and any other rooms used for instructional purposes (e.g., gymnasium).

References

Heaviside, S., and Farris, E. 1997. Advanced Telecommunications in U.S. Private Schools, K–12, Fall 1995 (NCES 97–394).

U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Rowand, C. 1999. Internet Access in Public Schools and Classrooms: 1994–98 (NCES 1999–017). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Trotter, A. 1999. “Preparing Teachers for the Digital Age.”

Education Week 19: 37–43.

U.S. Department of Education. Getting America’s Students

Ready for the 21st Century: Meeting the Technology Literacy

Challenge. Washington, DC: 1996.

Figure 1.—Percentage of private schools offering or participating

in advanced telecommunications training for teachers,

by type of training: 1998

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast

Response Survey System, “Survey on Advanced Telecommunications in U.S. Private

Schools: 1998–1999” (FRSS 68); 1999.

The most common type of training was on the use of computers, with 60 percent of private schools offering or participating in this type of training. Catholic schools were

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Use of other

advanced

telecommunications

Use of InternetIntegration of

technology into

the classroom

Use of

computers

Any type

of training

Percent