The Equity Threat of Promising Innovations: Pioneering Internet-Connected Schools

Abstract

This article examines the distribution of student Internet use across 152 schools in the National School Network (NSN), schools that were among the first to provide high-speed direct Internet access simultaneously for many locally networked computers. Apart from identifying the socio-demographic character of these schools, the article shows the extent to which Internet use varies by school socio-demographics, and, within school, by prior achievement levels of students. Although membership in the NSN disproportionately includes schools in high-SES communities, it was found that, among NSN schools, social class is not related to extent of use. On the other hand, within schools, Internet use favors high-ability classes, particularly in demographically heterogeneous schools.