{"id":99616,"date":"2018-04-03T15:53:54","date_gmt":"2018-04-03T15:53:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/en\/?p=99616"},"modified":"2025-07-01T23:34:27","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T06:34:27","slug":"will-your-child-benefit-from-googles-free-wi-fi-and-chromebooks-on-school-buses-initiative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/will-your-child-benefit-from-googles-free-wi-fi-and-chromebooks-on-school-buses-initiative\/","title":{"rendered":"Will your child benefit from Google\u2019s free Wi-Fi and Chromebooks on school buses initiative?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/edu.google.com\/giving\/rolling-study-halls\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Rolling Study Halls<\/strong><\/a> is a fantastic new initiative from Google that<strong> equips school buses with free Wi-Fi and Chromebooks<\/strong> so that students with long commutes to school can take advantage of their time on the bus. <strong>Rather than looking out the window, the kids can do homework and study<\/strong> so that they\u2019re free to do other activities once their journeys are complete.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The program began, as a pilot, back in 2016<\/strong> when Google partnered with education leaders in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.google\/topics\/grow-with-google\/rolling-study-halls-turning-bus-time-learning-time\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Caldwell County<\/a>, North Carolina and installed mobile Wi-Fi routers on 11 school buses. Wi-Fi alone, however, does not make a study hall so <strong>Google also ensured that there were educators on each of the buses who could help children working on their homework projects.<\/strong> The results of the pilot scheme were striking and <strong>students immediately began to see their grades improving.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"550\" height=\"309\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SfDQ2oH2ZlM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The pilot program was expanded from North Carolina to South Carolina and positive results were maintained with<strong> reading and math proficiency increasing as well as increased digital fluency.<\/strong> A lot of the kids living in rural areas<strong> don\u2019t have access to the internet at home<\/strong> so the pilot program provided <strong>vital access to online resources<\/strong> the kids needed to complete their homework effectively.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Rolling Study Halls initiative is now being expanded across the country<\/strong> and Google claims that it\u2019ll see <strong>1.5 million learning hours reclaimed<\/strong> from school bus journeys that can often clock in at between an hour and an hour and a half.<\/p>\n<p><span data-sheets-value=\"{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;&lt;!-- Shortcode [program] does not exist --&gt;&quot;}\" data-sheets-userformat=\"{&quot;2&quot;:513,&quot;3&quot;:[null,0],&quot;12&quot;:0}\"><div class=\"sc-card-program\">\r\n  <div class=\"sc-card-program__body\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row clearfix\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-logo\">\r\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__img\" alt=\"Google App\" src=\"https:\/\/images.sftcdn.net\/images\/t_optimized,f_auto\/p\/b03d4f44-9b32-11e6-9f73-00163ed833e7\/2129701301\/google-logo.png\" width=\"100px\" height=\"100px\">\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-title\">\r\n        <span class=\"sc-card-program__title\">Google App<\/span>\r\n        <a class=\"sc-card-program__button sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/google.en.softonic.com\/android?ex=REG-60.2\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Download Now<\/a>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-rating\">\r\n        <svg class=\"rating-score__content\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" version=\"1.1\" x=\"0\" y=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 50 50\" enable-background=\"new 0 0 50 50\" xml:space=\"preserve\"><path class=\"rating-score__background rating-score--good\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><path class=\"rating-score__value rating-score__value--80\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-dashoffset=\"80\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><text class=\"rating-score__number\" content=\"8\" text-anchor=\"middle\" transform=\"matrix(1 0 0 1 25 31.0837)\" data-auto=\"app-user-score\">8<\/text><\/svg>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <span class=\"sc-card-program__description\"><\/span>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__bigpic\" src=\"\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\">\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <a class=\"sc-card-program__link track-link sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/google.en.softonic.com\/android?ex=REG-60.2\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Google is committing to help provide Wi-Fi and Chromebooks on school buses in 16 school\u00a0districts around the country.<\/strong> The expansion of the program will be <strong>focused on rural communities<\/strong> and will be done with the assistance of <a href=\"https:\/\/cosn.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">school networking non-profit CoSN<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kajeet.net\/home\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">broadband specialists Kajeet<\/a>. Google says that the program is already being rolled out in <strong>Deer Trail School District in Colorado<\/strong> but that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.trustedreviews.com\/news\/3441528-3441528\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">other districts<\/a> in\u00a0A<strong>labama, Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia\u00a0<\/strong>will follow.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-99618 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/04\/unnamed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"816\" height=\"408\" srcset=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/04\/unnamed-1.jpg 816w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/04\/unnamed-1-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2018\/04\/unnamed-1-768x384.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 816px) 100vw, 816px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>There is no word from Google yet about <strong>how this program will be maintained in the long term<\/strong> but the search giant has said that it\u2019ll be up to individual School Districts to determine <strong>policies to limit internet access to schoolwork only.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align:center;width:100%\">\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\nvar google_ad_client = \"ca-pub-8132844949421936\";\r\nvar google_ad_slot = '9677578764';\r\nvar google_ad_width = 300;\r\nvar google_ad_height = 250;\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"\r\nsrc=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\">\r\n<\/script>\r\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>This program still has a long way to go before it can help out all kids living in rural areas and with little access to the internet<\/strong> but it is definitely a good start. If student engagement and homework completion keep going up while discipline rates keep going down on program school buses <strong>hopefully more and more districts will gain access to what Rolling Study Halls have to offer.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To keep yourself updated on the Rolling Study Halls initiative you can find Google\u2019s education page <a href=\"https:\/\/edu.google.com\/giving\/rolling-study-halls\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rolling Study Halls is a fantastic new initiative from Google that equips school buses with free Wi-Fi and Chromebooks so that students with long commutes to school can take advantage of their time on the bus. Rather than looking out the window, the kids can do homework and study so that they\u2019re free to do &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/will-your-child-benefit-from-googles-free-wi-fi-and-chromebooks-on-school-buses-initiative\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Will your child benefit from Google\u2019s free Wi-Fi and Chromebooks on school buses initiative?&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9073,"featured_media":99617,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[],"tags":[],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-99616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9073"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99616"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":328118,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99616\/revisions\/328118"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99616"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=99616"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=99616"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=99616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}