White Papers and Publications

Small, rural Scott County School System, TN, has achieved it — a technology-infused learning environment that fosters innovation. The district has realized full IP-convergence and is utilizing big broadband and small-district ingenuity to stream video, power its telecommunication voice system and erase distance with videoconferencing and more. It has been an ambitious and dramatically successful endeavor to take learning to disenfranchised students. This white paper explores how Scott County, in partnership with ENA, accomplished it.

In early 2007, Orange County Public Schools—the eleventh largest school district in the U.S.—had insufficient bandwidth and was suffering from inadequate connection speeds, poor reliability and restricted scalability. Since October 2007, when the new, district-wide, ENA-installed and ENA-managed network went live, the bottlenecks have vanished. Today, the district is enjoying a sevenfold increase in bandwidth, over 2 Gbps of pipeline to the Internet, access to Internet2 and National Lambda Rail, 99.901 percent uptime and an expected $5.1 million in savings over the five-year life of the contract.

Today's children and youth are immersed in the participatory Web 2.0 culture outside of schools, but too many are being asked to check their technologies each morning at the school house door. In this study, the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) set out to answer the question, “To what extent are American K-12 schools redesigning schools to tap into the learning potential of Web 2.0?” This report documents the beliefs, perspectives, and practices of educational administrators which help or hinder effective use of Web 2.0 in K-12 education. Supported by the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

This white papers addresses the growing concern and critical need for high-speed Internet access among our districts and schools. Although national statistics boast almost 98% connectivity in US schools, the substance and bandwidth of the connection is often problematic and insufficient. High-speed broadband access and connectivity are vital for economic growth, global competitiveness, education, innovation, and creativity.

In this white paper, the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills urged renewed emphasis on technology in education.

This guide outlines the key steps that states can take in establishing a statewide network to make networked education a reality addressing E-Rate, statewide consortia processes, and the managed network service provider model.

This white paper addresses the following concepts: 1.) For students to succeed in life and work today, they must master 21st century skills. 2.) A new model—networked education—is one of the most effective ways to support 21st century outcomes.

This white paper examines the value and benefits of having one company to plan, develop, and operate broadly distributed networks for large school systems or state education agencies. 

This white paper addresses the need for critical district or statewide network infrastructure to serve as the foundation that enables and supports learner-centered education.