July 08, 2008

ACCESS Distance Learning to Reach Every High School Ahead of Schedule

MONTGOMERY - All high schools in Alabama will have ACCESS Distance Learning by the time school begins in August 2009, Governor Bob Riley and State Superintendent of Education Joe Morton announced today. That’s one year ahead of schedule.

“No other state in America has videoconferencing and web-based learning in all its high schools. Alabama will,” said Governor Riley. “This is an investment not only in technology, this is an investment in our children.”

ACCESS (Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide) uses online and interactive video conferencing technology to link classrooms and offer coursework, including Advanced Placement and languages, to students in schools where those courses may not be available. ACCESS allows students from any part of the state to learn in a virtual classroom environment.

Governor Riley first announced the ACCESS idea in his State of the State Address in 2005. The program first began appearing in schools in 2006 with a goal of having an ACCESS lab in every high school by the 2010-2011 school year.

“The support of Governor Riley, his administration, and the Legislature are absolutely vital to the educational goals we have set forth for this state. The completion of ACCESS labs throughout the state means high school students in Alabama will have opportunities not imaginable 10 years ago,” said Dr. Morton. “They are no longer deprived of certain coursework because they happen to live in a rural area or because there are not enough students in a particular school to make up a class.”

Dr. Melinda Maddox, Director of Technology Initiatives with the Alabama Department of Education, said the implementation of ACCESS will be delivered in three waves beginning immediately. Applauded for their initiative, schools that have already started to develop their own virtual learning centers will be given $50,000 each to upgrade and meet ACCESS standards. There are 63 schools in Alabama included in this first wave of statewide ACCESS expansion. In the fall of 2008, the second wave will begin as schools will receive $85,000 to establish ACCESS labs. The third and final wave will begin in the spring of 2009.

There are 127 schools included in waves two and three for a total of 190 high schools being added to the completed list of 371 total high schools (100% of schools serving grades 10, 11, and 12) in Alabama. Currently in Alabama, 181 schools already have full ACCESS grants or IVC labs paid for by other funds. All 371 high schools will start school in August 2009 with the most up-to-date, technology-rich, learning capabilities available anywhere. The Alabama Department of Education will inform system superintendents how many schools they will have funded in each wave; however, the superintendent will determine the order in which schools in their system are connected.

In addition to having ACCESS labs, the Alabama Supercomputer Authority, with funding from ACCESS, is providing every high school with a minimum of 10Mb of bandwidth to ensure that, no matter where any Alabama school is located, Internet connectivity will not be a barrier.