Sustainable Development Goals - 17 Goals to Transform our World

Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

Indicator 4.a.1: Proportion of schools with access to (a) electricity; (b) the Internet for pedagogical purposes; (c) computers for pedagogical purposes; (d) adapted infrastructure and materials for students with disabilities; (e) basic drinking water; (f) single-sex basic sanitation facilities; and (g) basic handwashing facilities (as per the WASH indicator definitions)

Percentage of public schools with Internet access for student use. Estimated percentage of public schools with basic drinking water, sanitation facilities, and hand washing facilities.

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Headline data

This table provides metadata for the actual indicator available from US statistics closest to the corresponding global SDG indicator. Please note that even when the global SDG indicator is fully available from US statistics, this table should be consulted for information on national methodology and other US-specific metadata information.

Actual indicator available Percentage of public schools with Internet access for student use. Estimated percentage of public schools with basic drinking water, sanitation facilities, and hand washing facilities.
Actual indicator available - description The National Center for Education Statistics has not gathered information on student access to computers at school since 1998 (98 percent). We are not aware of any data collection NCES has had of the number or percentage of schools with basic sanitation facilities. There was a physical accommodations survey done in the mid 1970s, but this is no longer at all relevant because it was done so long ago and so much progress has been made both with respect to school improvement and new regulations. We believe that we do have some schools without single-sex bathrooms, primarily because they only have a very small number of students or only serve male or only female students. Fundamentally, this block of indicators is not policy-relevant for the United States. Rather than reporting missing, we are reporting 100 percent which we know is close to the U.S. value and reflects the relatively high quality of the education infrastructure in the United States.
Date of national source publication April 2009
Method of computation
Periodicity Not applicable
Scheduled update by national source None
U.S. method of computation NCES is estimating the percentages of public schools having these basic facilities at 100 percent. There was a survey in 2008 that found that 98 percent of public schools had computers for student use. We believe the percentage has increased since that date.
Comments and limitations The values are estimated, but we are quite sure that the actual values for all of them approach 100 percent.
Date metadata updated 2017-10-20
Disaggregation geography
Unit of measurement Percent.
Disaggregation categories
International and national references https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/annualreports/
Time period 2015
Scheduled update by SDG team

This table provides information on metadata for SDG indicators as defined by the UN Statistical Commission. Complete global metadata is provided by the UN Statistics Division.

Indicator name Proportion of schools with access to: (a) electricity (b) the Internet for pedagogical purposes (c) computers for pedagogical purposes (d) adapted infrastructure and materials for students with disabilities (e) basic drinking water (f) single-sex basic sanitation facilities (g) basic handwashing facilities (as per the WASH indicator definitions)
Target name Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all.
Global indicator description The percentage of schools by level of education (primary, lower secondary and upper secondary) with access to the given facility or service. Internet for pedagogical purposes is defined as Internet that is available for enhancing teaching and learning and is accessible by pupils. Internet for pedagogical purposes is defined as a worldwide interconnected computer network, which provides pupils access to a number of communication services including the World Wide Web and carries e-mail, news, entertainment and data files, irrespective of the device used (i.e. not assumed to be only via a computer) and thus can also be accessed by mobile telephone, tablet, PDA, games machine, digital TV etc.). Access can be via a fixed narrowband, fixed broadband, or via mobile network. Basic drinking water is defined as a functional drinking water source (MDG 'improved' categories) on or near the premises and water points accessible to all users during school hours. Basic sanitation facilities are defined as functional sanitation facilities (MDG 'improved' categories) separated for males and females on or near the premises. Basic handwashing facilities are defined as functional handwashing facilities, soap (or ash) and water available to all girls and boys. The component on adapted infrastructure and materials is yet to be developed.
UN designated tier 2
UN custodial agency UNESCO-UIS (Partnering Agencies: UNICEF, OECD, UNEP)
Link to UN metadata Link opens in a new window
Organisation Educational Technology in U.S. Public Schools: Fall 2008
Agency Staff Name Tom Snyder (and J. Park, 10/2017)
Agency Survey Dataset Educational Technology in U.S. Public Schools: Fall 2008
Notes
Title
Link to data source https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2010034 opens in a new window