JCPS Provides Over 70,000 Devices to Students

December 2, 2020
, , , ,

If Non-Traditional Instruction (NTI) or Distance Learning has done anything, it has highlighted the Digital Divide more than ever before. In doing so, it has forced school districts to evaluate how they plan to support their students and the community. As Jefferson County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Marty Pollio outlined in his October 16, 2020 press conference, the Digital Divide in Louisville is clearly marked and JCPS is committed to supporting our 96,000 students and addressing this divide among them. 

Since that date, JCPS has provided the following support across our city to students in pre-kindergarten to 12th grade:

  • 60,000+ Chromebooks
  • 11,500+ Cellular Hotspots with Unlimited Data Plans (each supporting multiple devices within a household)
  • 9,000+ Cellular-enabled iPads with 30 GB data Plan (Unlimited during the current medical crisis) – Through the Verizon Innovative Learning Program
  • 1,360+ iPads
  • 1,100+ Windows Laptops

Overall, JCPS has provided our students with over 70,000 devices and provided internet connectivity for over 30,000 students who would otherwise be unable to participate in NTI learning.  In addition, JCPS provides an online technology support portal for students, their parents, and JCPS faculty. 

Verizon Innovative Learning news conference.

See data about the digital divide

Guest Writer

Photo of Lisa RevelLisa Revel, Ed.D. 

Executive Director of Technology Integration

Jefferson County Public Schools- KY

The Greater Louisville Project is providing this blog as a public service, but it is not a statement of GLP policy. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by the GLP. The views expressed by guests are their own and their post on the GLP website does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. If you have any questions about this disclaimer, please contact us.
Print Page

We’re Hiring a Data Fellow!

December 17, 2021

Child Care Is a Workforce Issue

April 28, 2021

Families can offset pandemic learning loss with simple strategies at home

April 28, 2021

Natural Breaks Algorithm

For each indicator, Greater Louisville Project assigns cities into one of three groups (high-performing, middle-of-the-pack, and low-performing) based on how they compare to other cities. The assignment is based on how cities naturally cluster on that indicator. Sometimes, the differences between cities are very small, and the difference between a city ranked 5th and 6th could simply be a matter of the sampling error that arises from using survey data. Thus, rather than always make a division that declares the top 5 to be the top tier, we use a natural breaks algorithm to look for a cluster of cities that is outperforming the rest, a cluster that is about average, and a cluster that is lagging. This clustering gives us a better indication of where Louisville is thriving and where Louisville has room to learn from cities that are doing better.

Z-Scores

Z-scores (or standardization) is a way to combine data with different units of measurement into a single index. The z-score is a measure of how far away a city (or census tract, etc.) is from the average city. In order to be comparable across different units of measurement, the z-score is the distance from the mean measured in standard deviations (e.g. if Louisville has a z-score of 1 it means Louisville is 1 standard deviation above the mean of its peer cities).

Data from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's County Health Rankings use z-scores and all z-scores are relative to the mean of Louisville's peer cities. (On the County Health Rankings site z-scores are relative to all the counties in each state - thus z-scores reported by GLP will be different, because we are using a different reference group). The Greater Louisville Project also uses z-scores in our multidimensional poverty index, which compares each census tract to the mean of all census tracts in Louisville.