Digital Divide, Digital Opportunity, Technology Skills Statistics- Fact Sheets For Your State

Yesterday I came across The Children’s Partnership, this is the first in a series of posts highlighting some of the fabulous resources on their site.

The Children’s Partnership is a national nonprofit, nonpartisan child advocacy organization with offices in Santa Monica, CA and Washington, DC.

We undertake research, analysis, and advocacy to place the needs of America’s over 70 million children and youth, particularly the underserved, at the forefront of emerging policy debates.

The hallmark of The Children’s Partnership is to forge agendas for youth in areas where none exist, to help ensure that disadvantaged children have the resources and opportunities they need to succeed, and to involve more Americans in the cause for children.

These Digital Fact Sheets are great, not only do they include statistics on the digital divide, technology skills and the opportunity gap they compare your state to the national average.  They provide a citation for where the statistics were gathered, a value resource when writing grant proposals, make justifications and aligning projects with your strategic plan. I’ve included the GA one at the bottom so you can get an idea.

Developed by The Children’s Partnership, these state fact sheets provide key data regarding technology and youth, making particular note of problem areas. Use these fact sheets to determine where your state stands and to push for improved digital opportunity for youth. Click on a state to access its fact sheet. For Hawaii and Alaska, click on the state name in the list below.

Georgia Fact Sheet
THE NEW WORKFORCE: BENEFITS OF BEING PREPARED WITH TECHNOLOGY SKILLS

• At present, over half (56%) of employed Americans over age 18 use a computer at work.[1]
• Between 2004 and 2014, jobs in the information technology fields are expected to increase by about 30%, for an addition of over 1 million jobs nationally.[2]
• 49 out of every 1,000 private sector workers in Georgia are employed by high-tech firms (19th highest rate in the nation).[3]
• Georgia ranks 11th in the U.S. for overall number of high-tech workers and 17th for average high-tech wage.[4]
• In Georgia, high-tech industry workers earn an average of $32,396 more per year than other private sector workers.[5]

HOW WIDE IS THE DIGITAL OPPORTUNITY GAP?

• 72% of households in Georgia earning less than $15,000 per year do not own a computer compared to 39% of all Georgia’s households and 38% of all households nationally.[6]
• 78% of households in Georgia earning less than $15,000 per year do not use the Internet at home compared to 46% of all Georgia’s households and 45% of all households nationally.[7]
• 9% of households in Georgia earning less than $15,000 per year have broadband compared to 18% of all Georgia’s households and 20% of all households nationally.[8]
• Among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, Georgia ranks 31st in percentage of households with a computer, 30th in percentage of households with Internet access, and 28th in percentage of households with broadband access.[9]

ARE SCHOOLS EQUIPPING TODAY’S YOUTH? WHERE GEORGIA STANDS

• 21% of 4th graders and 36% of 8th graders in Georgia scored below the basic level of math that is expected in their grade (national average is 19% and 30%, respectively).[10]
• There are 3.7 students for every Internet-connected computer in Georgia’s public schools; in high-poverty schools there are 3.5 students per connected computer (the national average is 3.7 and 3.8, respectively).[11]
• In 7% of schools in Georgia, the majority of teachers (at least half) are “beginners” when it comes to using technology (the national average is 15%).[12]
• Georgia is not among the 34 states that has education technology standards by grade level.[13]

GEORGIA’S YOUNG PEOPLE MOST IN NEED

• Of the 2.3 million children in Georgia, 461,000, or 20%, are living in poverty.[14] Among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, Georgia ranks 13th in percentage of children living in poverty.[15]
• 34% of Georgia’s children live with parents who do not have full-time, year-round employment (the national average is 34%).[16]
• 11% of teens in Georgia do not attend school and do not work (the national average is 8%).[17]
• Georgia residents aged 20-24 have an unemployment rate of 8.9% (the state unemployment rate for all ages is 4.6%).[18]

March 2008

[1] U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, Computer Use and Internet Use in the United States: 2003, Issued October 2005, Viewed March 5, 2008: 23-208. http://www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/p23-208.pdf

[2] Jay Vesgo, BLS Current and Projected IT Employment Figures by Detailed Occupation, Computing Research Association, Revised January 13, 2006, Viewed March 10, 2008. http://www.cra.org/wp/index.php?p=71

[3] U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Covered Employment and Wages as reported in American Electronics Association, Cyberstates 2007: A State-by-State Overview of the High-Technology Industry. State rankings associated with footnotes #3-4 are based on data that includes Puerto Rico and Washington, DC, along with the fifty states. A ranking of #1 represents the best state; a ranking of #52 represents the worst. (Not available online.)

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid. Calculation by The Children’s Partnership.

[6] U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey: Computer and Internet Use 2003, special tabulation by the U.S. Department of Commerce. Calculation by The Children’s Partnership. (2003 represents the most recent data available.)

[7] Ibid. Calculation by The Children’s Partnership.

[8] Ibid. Calculation by The Children’s Partnership.

[9] Ibid. Rankings calculated by The Children’s Partnership. A ranking of #1 represents the best state; a ranking of #51 represents the worst.

[10] U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2007 Mathematics Assessment, as reported by The Annie E. Casey Foundation, Profiles by State, March 11, 2008. http://www.kidscount.org/sld/profile.jsp

[11] Market Data Retrieval, “2005-06 Public School Technology Survey,” and unpublished tabulations from MDR’s Public School Technology Survey (2005), as reported in Education Week, Technology Counts 2007: A Digital Decade. This figure includes only computers that are available for student instruction. High-poverty schools refer to schools in which more than half the students are eligible for the federal free or reduced-price lunch program. March 6, 2008: 3. http://www.edweek.org/media/ew/tc/2007/GA_STR2007.pdf

[12] Education Counts Custom Table Builder. Education Week, August 23, 2007. http://www.edweek.org/rc/2007/06/07/edcounts.html

[13] The Children’s Partnership, review of the Department of Education Web sites for the 50 states, conducted December 2007.

[14] U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey 2005 Annual Social and Economic Supplement, Revised November 2, 2006, Viewed March 5, 2008. http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032005/pov/new46_100125_03.htm

[15] Ibid. Rankings calculated by The Children’s Partnership. A ranking of #1 represents the worst state (highest percentage of children living in poverty); a ranking of #51 represents the best (lowest percentage of children living in poverty).

[16]Population Reference Bureau, analysis of data from U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2007 Kids Count Data Book, as reported by The Annie E. Casey Foundation, February 29, 2008: 51. http://www.aecf.org/upload/PublicationFiles/databook_2007.pdf

[17] Ibid.

[18] U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics and U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey: Local Area Unemployment Statistics, Preliminary 2006 Data on Employment Status by State and Demographic Group, March 5, 2008: 3-53. http://www.bls.gov/lau/ptable14full2006.pdf