Effectiveness of acceptable use policies in public and private K--12 schools in the United States

This study examined opinions and insights about acceptable use policies (AUPs) in public and private K--12 schools across the United States. The researcher used qualitative and quantitative methods that included a content analysis, expert interviews, and an online survey. Purposively selected AUPs (n = 8) gathered online were analyzed to determine how effectively key issues were covered in the content of these documents. Also, the expert interview participants (n = 5) were purposively selected to provide recommendations for successful implementation of AUPs. For the quantitative portion of the study, an online survey was administered to technology leaders and administrators within K--12 public and private schools/systems throughout the five regions of the country with a 17% (n = 192) response rate. ANOVA was utilized to find differences between the individuals in the various occupations and their opinions of AUPs, and the procedure found a significant difference. To determine if there were differences between the ways individuals in public and private schools viewed AUPs, a t-test was used, and no significant difference was found. ANOVA was utilized again to see if differences existed between the ways administrators and technology decision makers in the five major regions of the U.S. viewed AUPs, and no significant differences were found. The content analysis of the documents described the primary issues with AUPs and how they were covered in the chosen policies for this research. Experts in the field of technology policy were asked what recommendations they had for implementing successful AUPs. The experts' statements and open-ended comments from the quantitative survey provided valuable data and were outlined in the research. The study recommends that stronger emphasis be placed on orientation and education about AUPs in all schools for both students and faculty/staff. Since no variation was found among opinions from participants in the five regions, public and private types of schools, and rural as well as urban school areas, the students' supposed similar understanding of technology policy and computer ethics should evoke a smooth transition of being leaders and followers of usage policies in their careers as well as being model online citizens.