1

October 2005

The use of computers and the Internet by students has increased rapidly in recent years (U.S. Department of Education 1999; U.S. Department of Commerce 2002). In 2001,

computer and Internet use was more widespread among

school-age children and adolescents than among adults (DeBell

and Chapman 2003). The now commonplace use of these

technologies follows the installation of computers and Internet

access in nearly all public schools and in a majority of households with children by 2000 (Kleiner and Lewis 2003;

Newburger 2001).

The use of computers and the Internet may improve people’s

everyday lives and improve their labor market prospects. Because these technologies have the potential to improve access

to information, help to get tasks done better or more quickly,

and facilitate communication (see National Research Council 1999), computer and Internet use rates may be considered

indicators of the standard of living. Also, the use of computers helps students gain experience with this technology, so

use rates may indicate how well prepared the current generation of students is to enter a workforce where the ability to

use a computer is expected (U.S. Department of Education

1999).

This Issue Brief describes the percentages of students in grades

12 or below who used computers or the Internet in 2003.

Data for this Issue Brief come from the October 2003 Computer and Internet Use Supplement to the Current Population

Survey (CPS). The CPS is a sample survey representative of

the civilian noninstitutional population in the United States.

The survey is conducted in approximately 56,000 households

each month. In October 2003 it collected information regarding 29,075 children enrolled in nursery school through 12th

grade.1

 A member of each household who is at least 15 years

old provides information about household members. As a

result of this data collection method, data regarding computer and Internet use by students were not collected directly

from students in most cases, but from another member of the

Rates of Computer and Internet Use by Children

in Nursery School and Students in Kindergarten

Through Twelfth Grade: 2003

U.S. Department of Education

Institute of Education Sciences

NCES 2005–111rev

IssueBrief

household; this method is a potential source of error. Computer users are identified by questions that ask if the subject

uses computers at home, at work, or at school. Internet users

are identified by questions that ask if the subject uses the

Internet at any location. (For further detail about CPS survey

methods, see U.S. Census Bureau 2002).

As shown in table 1, the majority of students use computers

and the Internet.2

 Overall, 91 percent used computers and 59

percent used the Internet. The use of these technologies begins at young ages; 67 percent of children in nursery school

were computer users, as were 80 percent of those in kindergarten. About one-quarter (23 percent) of children in nursery

school used the Internet, and about one-third (32 percent) of

kindergarteners did so. By high school, nearly all students

(97 percent) used computers, and a majority (80 percent) used

the Internet.

Table 1 shows that the use of these technologies varied by

several inter-related characteristics.3 Computer and Internet

use varied by race/ethnicity, disability status, parent educational attainment, household language, poverty status, and

family income. Differences by these characteristics have been

found in previous analyses (U.S. Department of Commerce

1995; U.S. Department of Commerce 1999; Rathbun and West

2003).

Current differences in computer use among students are

smaller than those found among adults in previous analyses

(e.g., U.S. Department of Commerce 1999), reflecting the fact

that most students now use computers. For example, in 2001,

adults with graduate education were four times more likely

than adults with less than a high school credential to use computers, and adults living in families making over $75,000 per

year were three times as likely as those in families making

less than $20,000 per year to use computers, reflecting differences of 66 and 58 percentage points, respectively (DeBell

and Chapman 2003). In contrast, students with a parent with

some graduate education were about 1.2 times more likely to

use computers than students whose parents have not completed high school, reflecting a difference of 13 percentage 1

 The weighted sample represents approximately 58.3 million

noninstitutionalized children age 3 and older in nursery school

through 12th grade in October 2003. These estimates exclude

children in long-term medical care facilities and juvenile detention

facilities, as well as those who have dropped out of school. The

Current Population Survey defines nursery school as a group or

class organized to provide education for children before kindergarten.

It includes preschool and prekindergarten. For ease of presentation,

the population enrolled in nursery school through the 12th grade is

referred to as “students” in this Issue Brief.

2

 Reported usage may involve the cooperation or assistance of an

adult or older child, but that information was not collected.

3

 All differences cited in this report are significant at the .05 level

using the Student’s t statistic. When analyzing data from large

samples, many differences (no matter how substantively minor) can

be statistically significant. The discussion is limited to differences of

at least 5 percentage points.
2

Table 1. Percentage of children enrolled in grade 12 or below who use computers and the Internet, by child and family/household

characteristics: 2003

1

 Data on “nursery school” enrollment may not reflect enrollment in all kinds of early childhood programs.

2

 American Indian includes Alaska Native, Black includes African American, Asian or Pacific Islander includes Native Hawaiian, and Hispanic includes Latino.

3 Parent educational attainment measures the highest level of education of either of the child’s parents.

4

 Poverty status is derived from household size and income. Households with incomes below the poverty threshold for their household size (as currently defined

by the U.S. Census Bureau for 2003) were classified as poor. Some households reported incomes in a range that straddles the poverty threshold; these

households were classified as poor. The 2003 poverty threshold for a four-person household was $18,810.

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding or missing data. Population estimates in this table apply to children age 3 and older who are enrolled

in nursery school or in grades K–12.

SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, October 2003.

points (table 1). Students living in families making over $75,000

per year in 2003 were 1.1 times as likely to use computers as

those in families making less than $20,000 per year, reflecting

a difference of 9 percentage points. Thus, these group differences in student computer use are smaller than differences

observed among adults in recent years.

Differences in Internet use among students are also smaller

than some of the differences recently reported for adults. Adults

with graduate education in 2001 were five times more likely

than adults with less than a high school credential to use the

Internet, and adults with family incomes of $75,000 or more

were 3.4 times more likely than adults with incomes below

$20,000 to use the Internet, reflecting differences of 68 and

58 percentage points, respectively (DeBell and Chapman 2003).

In contrast, students with a parent with some graduate education were twice as likely as students whose parents have not

completed high school to use the Internet, and students from

families with incomes of $75,000 or more were 1.8 times more

likely than students from families with incomes below $20,000

Number of

students

(in thousands) Percent Standard error Percent Standard error

Total 58,273 91 0.3 59 0.4

Child characteristics

Enrollment level

Nursery school1 4,928 67 1.5 23 1.3

Kindergarten 3,719 80 1.4 32 1.7

Grade 1–5 20,043 91 0.4 50 0.8

Grade 6–8 12,522 95 0.4 70 0.9

Grade 9–12 17,062 97 0.3 80 0.7

Sex

Female 28,269 91 0.4 61 0.6

Male 30,005 91 0.4 58 0.6

Race/ethnicity2

White, non-Hispanic 35,145 93 0.3 67 0.5

Hispanic 10,215 85 1.2 44 1.7

Black, non-Hispanic 8,875 86 0.9 47 1.4

Asian or Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic 2,293 91 1.6 58 2.7

American Indian, Aleut, or Eskimo, non-Hispanic 346 86 4.8 47 7.0

More than one race, non-Hispanic 1,400 92 1.9 65 3.3

Disability status

Disabled 646 82 3.3 49 4.3

Not disabled 47,949 91 0.3 61 0.5

Family and household characteristics

Parent educational attainment3

Less than high school credential 5,691 82 1.1 37 1.4

High school credential 13,804 89 0.6 54 0.9

Some college 16,548 93 0.4 63 0.8

Bachelor's degree 8,590 92 0.6 67 1.1

Some graduate education 10,713 95 0.5 73 0.9

Household language

Spanish-only 2,840 80 1.6 28 1.8

Not Spanish-only 55,434 91 0.3 61 0.4

Poverty status4

In poverty 10,173 84 1.1 40 1.5

Not in poverty 39,016 93 0.4 66 0.7

Family income

Under $20,000 8,815 85 0.8 41 1.1

$20,000–$34,999 9,273 87 0.7 50 1.1

$35,000–$49,999 7,499 93 0.7 62 1.2

$50,000–$74,999 9,834 93 0.5 66 1.0

$75,000 or more 13,769 95 0.4 74 0.8

Characteristic

computers the Internet

Percent using Percent using
3

The Issue Brief series presents 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 .05 level. In the design, conduct, and data processing of National Center for Education Statistics

(NCES) surveys, efforts are made to minimize the effects of nonsampling error, such as item nonresponse, measurement error, data processing error, or other

systematic error. For more information on the Current Population Survey, visit http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/cps.

This Issue Brief was prepared by Matthew DeBell of the Education Statistics Services Institute (ESSI). Project Officer: Chris Chapman, NCES. This Issue Brief was

formatted by Carol Rohr of Pinkerton Computer Consultants, Inc. For further information, contact Chris Chapman, NCES, at 202-502-7414 or

chris.chapman@ed.gov. To order additional copies of this Issue Brief or other NCES publications, call 1-877-4ED-PUBS or visit http://www.edpubs.org. NCES

publications are also available on the Internet at http://nces.ed.gov.

to use the Internet. These reflect differences of 36 and 33 percentage points, respectively.

Although differences among students in both computer and

Internet use are smaller than differences among adults, rates

of Internet use are more varied than rates of computer use.

The differences in Internet use are at least twice as large as

those in computer use when making comparisons based on

poverty status, household language, race/ethnicity for Blacks

and Whites, and the highest and lowest categories of income

and parent educational attainment. For family income and

parent education, differences in computer use are 9 and 13

percentage points, respectively, while differences in Internet

use are 33 and 36 points, respectively. Another way of looking

at the data is to consider that although most students now use

computers, a majority of students with selected characteristics

still do not use the Internet. These include students whose family

income is under $20,000, students in poverty, students whose

parents have less than a high school credential, Black (nonHispanic) and Hispanic students, and students in households

where Spanish is the only language spoken.

Conclusion

The use of computers and the Internet by students is commonplace and begins early. In upper grade levels, nearly all students use computers and a substantial majority use the Internet.

Even before kindergarten, a majority of nursery school children use computers, and 23 percent use the Internet. Differences exist in computer use among students, but differences

by characteristics such as income and education are smaller—

about 9 percentage points between the highest and lowest income categories and about 13 percentage points between the

highest and lowest categories of parental education—than differences that have been observed among adults. The differences among students are broader for Internet use than computer use. Differences between groups by family income and

parental education are as large as 33 and 36 percent, respectively, making students from the most advantaged backgrounds

about twice as likely to use the Internet as those from the least

advantaged backgrounds.

References

DeBell, M., and Chapman, C. (2003). Computer and Internet Use

by Children and Adolescents in the United States, 2001 (NCES

2004–014). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC:

National Center for Education Statistics.

Kleiner, A., and Lewis, L. (2003). Internet Access in U.S. Public

Schools and Classrooms: 1994-2002 (NCES 2004–011). U.S.

Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center

for Education Statistics.

National Research Council. (1999). Being Fluent with Information

Technology. Washington, DC: Author.

Newburger, E. (2001). Home Computers and Internet Use in the

United States: August 2000. U.S. Census Bureau Special Study

P23-207. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce.

Rathbun, A., and West, J. (2003). Young Children’s Access to

Computers in the Home and at School in 1999 and 2000

(NCES 2003–036). U.S. Department of Education.

Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

U.S. Census Bureau (2002). Technical Paper 63 Revised: Current

Population Survey—Design and Methodology, TP63RV.

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce.

U.S. Department of Commerce (1995). Falling Through the Net: A

Survey of the “Have Nots” in Urban and Rural America.

Washington, DC: Author.

U.S. Department of Commerce (1999). Falling Through the Net:

Defining the Digital Divide. Washington, DC: U.S.

Government Printing Office.

U.S. Department of Commerce (2002). A Nation Online: How

Americans are Expanding their Use of the Internet.

Washington, DC: Author.

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education

Statistics (1999). The Condition of Education 1998 (NCES

98–013). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Rates of Computer and Internet Use by Children in Nursery School

and Students in Kindergarten Through Twelfth Grade: 2003 NCES 2005–111rev

The Issue Brief series presents information on education topics of current interest.

Brief Issue

Postage and Fees Paid

U.S. Department of Education

Permit No. G–17

U.S. Department of Education

ED Pubs

8242-B Sandy Court

Jessup, MD 20794-1398

Official Business

Penalty for Private Use, $300