A new report finds that broadband internet access has wide ranging impacts on student grades and likelihood they will attend college.
The report, from Michigan State University, looked at 8-11th graders in rural parts of the Eastern Upper Peninsula.
Dr. Keith Hampton worked on the study. He said researchers were able to isolate internet access from other factors, such as socioeconomic status, to figure out how important it was.
“Those who did not have internet access or those who had slower internet access their grades were about a half grade lower in total.”
Hampton said in portions of the Upper Peninsula even families that can afford internet access can’t get it because of the lack of infrastructure. That lack of access among higher income families is unusual and allowed researchers to isolate internet access as a factor impacting students.
Hampton said less internet access meant some students didn’t have the ability to complete homework assignments and had lower digital skills.
“To us one of the more shocking findings is this relationship to access and digital skills carrier over to standardized tests.”
According to the study students without quality internet access scored 7% lower on the SAT and PSAT.
“It’s huge,” Hampton said. “The situation is much worse and the consequences are much bigger than we imagined.” The study also found that students accessing the internet through a phone had outcomes similar to students without any access at all.
“People without access lower in digital skills, less likely to go to university, less likely to be interested in STEM careers, lower GPA, doing worse on standardized tests,” Hampton said.
Overall Hampton said the study shows the importance of improving student access to the internet.