In the fast-moving era of the Internet, school leaders and parents increasingly face a dilemma: Is it possible to protect children from inappropriate content on the Internet without denying them access to engaging and valuable educational content? Can adults set guidelines that strike a balance between safe and smart Internet usage by children?

To help parents and school leaders make better decisions, the National School Boards Foundation worked with Grunwald Associates, a leading market research firm specializing in technology, to develop an unprecedented national survey of parents and children. The Dieringer Research Group conducted the survey and tabulated the data for Grunwald Associates. With generous support from the Children's Television Workshop and Microsoft Corporation, we asked parents of children aged two- to 17 a number of questions about the role the Internet plays in their children's lives. We also asked 601 nine- to 17-year-old children themselves, from the same random sample of 1,735 households, for a reality check on the role of the Internet in their own lives.

The bottom line: Parents and children alike view the Internet as a positive new force in children's lives. Despite recent negative headlines about online violence, pornography, predators and commercialism, parents and children generally are upbeat and favorable about their own Internet experiences. Parents, in fact, are even more positive than children - they believe the Internet is a powerful tool for learning and communicating within families, and they want their children to be on the Internet. And, as parent responses suggest, the Internet can be an equally powerful tool for schools that want to increase family involvement. The data also suggest that schools have an opportunity to help bridge the digital divide between those who have computers and Internet access and those who don't.

By the time they are teenagers, nearly three out of four children are online. Moreover, children who use the Internet are more likely to log on at home than at school. In light of the survey findings, school leaders must consider the major roles that parents, families and even peers play in children's use of the Internet. To be most effective, policies and practices should be developed in collaboration with parents. Click below for an overview on:

Schools Can Help Bridge the Digital Divide
Parents Want to Serve as Guides to Good Content
Families Use Computers, Internet for Children's Learning
Internet Generation Still Engaged In Everyday Life
Internet Doesn't Isolate Children, It Connects Them
Girls, Boys Equally Attracted to the Internet
Guidelines for School Leaders and Parents

Download a copy of the printed brochure which is in PDF format (you'll need the Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available at no charge, to open the file).

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