{"id":32375,"date":"2020-08-07T15:00:42","date_gmt":"2020-08-07T19:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/?p=32375"},"modified":"2020-08-07T14:24:31","modified_gmt":"2020-08-07T18:24:31","slug":"internet-needed-to-connect-rural-areas-to-more-educational-opportunities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2020\/08\/internet-needed-to-connect-rural-areas-to-more-educational-opportunities\/","title":{"rendered":"Internet connects rural areas to educational opportunities"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_32379\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"833\" data-attachment-id=\"32379\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2020\/08\/internet-needed-to-connect-rural-areas-to-more-educational-opportunities\/pratt\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2020\/07\/pratt.png\" data-orig-size=\"1280,833\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"pratt\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2020\/07\/pratt-1024x666.png\" class=\"wp-image-32379 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2020\/07\/pratt.png\" alt=\"\" style=\"max-width: 100%;\"style=\"max-width: 100%;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2020\/07\/pratt.png 1280w, https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2020\/07\/pratt-300x195.png 300w, https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2020\/07\/pratt-1024x666.png 1024w, https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2020\/07\/pratt-768x500.png 768w, https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2020\/07\/pratt-580x377.png 580w, https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2020\/07\/pratt-610x397.png 610w, https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2020\/07\/pratt-250x163.png 250w, https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2020\/07\/pratt-600x390.png 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Allen Pratt is Pratt is the executive director of the National Rural Education Association (NREA), whose national headquarters is housed in Hunter Hall on campus.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>When Allen Pratt first came to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga as a student in the early 1990s, the World Wide Web\u2014as the internet was known back then\u2014was still in its infant stages and not available to the general public.<\/p>\n<p>Broadband was a decade away. Chattanooga becoming the first U.S. city to roll out a citywide gigabit network was nearly 20 years away for most metropolitan areas.<\/p>\n<p>On college campuses and in urban areas, it\u2019s hard to remember not having the internet at one\u2019s disposal. But in many rural areas, that world still exists.<\/p>\n<p>Pratt is working to change that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt shouldn\u2019t take a pandemic to let us know how important rural schools and rural students are in their communities,\u201d said Pratt, a\u00a0 UTC guest lecturer and the executive director of the National Rural Education Association (NREA), whose national headquarters is housed in Hunter Hall on campus.<\/p>\n<p>NREA is the voice for education in rural areas and communities across the United States. The organization has members in all 50 states and five countries, all focused on providing support services across the entire rural education spectrum.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is the need for broadband connectivity and what we call the \u2018homework gap\u2019 or the last mile of fiber getting to the last areas. COVID-19 has highlighted the need for that,\u201d Pratt said.<\/p>\n<p>Before the pandemic, a shortage of teachers was the main area of concern for rural schools, which is still going on, he explained.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen with this pandemic and with students shifting from rural campuses to home locations, it put the spotlight on why connectivity is really a right and a service that should be provided. We should be connected across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pratt has spent his entire career in education with much of his experience in non-urban settings. Before joining the NREA, his resume included stints as a high school science teacher and coach, high school principal, assistant superintendent, executive director of the Tennessee Rural Education Association and executive director in the Tennessee Department of Education\u2019s East Tennessee regional field office of the Centers of Regional Excellence (CORE).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are always fighting for funding and to helping those in rural schools and communities,\u201d Pratt said. \u201cBut, on the other side, we\u2019re also highlighting how diverse and how different rural life is and how innovative and creative our rural students and rural schools and communities can be.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSchools are the hubs of those rural communities and rural areas and really the backbone of a lot of what happens in America.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Before the pandemic, the gulf between access to the internet in urban vs. rural communities was well-known. But the situation has been intensified by\u00a0coronavirus with many students in rural areas having little-to-no access to broadband after learning shifted to an online environment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we have to look at this situation being pretty identical to the power grid situation where everyone should have power,\u201d Pratt said. \u201cObviously, people are paying for that, but they\u2019re subsidized in some ways in some rural areas and in poverty areas. Broadband should be treated the same; it\u2019s that vital.<\/p>\n<p>Lately, the NREA\u2019s advocacy work has been in the spotlight. A national reporter for the E.W. Scripps television network recently interviewed Pratt about the challenges rural students are facing in a digital age. The interview appeared on the local news in Scripps\u2019 60 television markets, including such high-profile cities as New York City, Denver, Phoenix and Nashville. Chattanooga does not have a Scripps affiliate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAny time you can get a spotlight on the work we\u2019re doing is positive,\u201d Pratt said. \u201cI\u2019ve had a lot of outreach from people since the story ran, and we\u2019re doing a lot of interviews already with other organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As a graduate of UTC, having the NREA headquarters housed at his alma mater is a source of pride for Pratt. In the three years before COVID-19, he toured schools in all 48 lower states, giving him the chance to talk about UTC.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ll tell you a little story. I was in Pennsylvania in a rural, 7<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0to 12<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0(grade) school, probably about 300 students in total. I went to their library and their counselor area, and they had all these logos of colleges where kids were looking to attend.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>UTC wasn\u2019t one. \u201cI told them, \u2018Hey, I\u2019ll send you some stuff.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>He sent a flag, pennant and items with the UTC \u201cPower C.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some areas of the country still don&#8217;t have internet, reducing some students&#8217; ability to learn.<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-wrap\"><span><a class=\"more-link button text\" href=\"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2020\/08\/internet-needed-to-connect-rural-areas-to-more-educational-opportunities\/\"><span>Continue Reading <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1493,"featured_media":32501,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_slider":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_featurette":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,64],"tags":[99172,99173],"class_list":{"0":"post-32375","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-community","8":"category-news","9":"tag-allen-pratt","10":"tag-national-rural-education-association","11":"entry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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