By Alabama Public Radio
Montgomery, AL – An Education Week report says state students have among the worst access to computers in the nation. But the report also says Alabama's required technology training for teachers and administrators makes the state highly capable of using the technology it does have. The state ranked 10th in the percentage of schools where at least half the teachers use the Internet for instruction. But it also ranks Alabama 45th in student access to computers and 43rd in student access to Internet-connected computers. In state classrooms in 2004, there were about eight students per computer. That's below the national average of about seven. Utah ranked the worst, with about 14 students per classroom computer. There were almost nine Alabama students per Internet-connected computer in classrooms. The report says the national average was eight.