Used to be that when you needed to do some research for a paper at school, you had to hit the library and use the Dewey Decimal System to find books on the subject you were going to write about. Does that make me sound old?

Anyone remember the painfully slow internet of the dial up age? Imagine kids today doing homework with that hot mess.

Anyway, in 2023, obviously this isn't the case anymore. Information is at your fingertips in the blink of an eye with the internet readily available in the palm of your hand by way of a phone, or any other device you're able to connect to wifi. From inside a coffee shop to a grocery store, or even random hotspots from providers pretty much anywhere you go, you're able to be online almost all of the time.

One sector where the quality of service is heavily scrutinized - and rightfully so - are the school districts across the United States.

In 2013, 70% of schools lacked sufficient internet speed of 100 kbps (kilobytes per second) for each student. By 2018, that number fell dramatically leading the FCC in 2020 to set new standards that districts need to meet in providing faster, more reliable access for their students.

For comparison to the 2013 numbers, by the way, a kilobyte is 1,024 bytes, but a megabyte is 1,024 kilobytes. So obviously things are much, much faster today when you think about how fast your internet probably is at home.

School districts now have a bandwidth minimum to meet of 1 Mbps (megabytes per second) for each student. The good news is about 60% of school districts in the US met that goal by 2021, but not all of them have yet, even today, and several of those are right here in Colorado. In fact, even worse, three of the top ten school districts in the state with the slowest internet speeds are right here in Northern Colorado.

Stacker compiled a list of all the districts in the state - from K to 12th - with the slowest data speeds, in Mbps. The results, frankly, are pretty surprising. Have a look at #8, #5 and #2, respectively. Yikes, NoCo.

#10. Bayfield School District 10 Jt-R
- Bandwidth per student: 0.22 Mbps
- Total students: 1,377
- Cost per Mbps: $2.49
- Total monthly cost: $746.55

#9. Park County School District R E 2
- Bandwidth per student: 0.2 Mbps
- Total students: 502
- Cost per Mbps: $12
- Total monthly cost: $1,200.00

#8. Weld County School District Re-4
- Bandwidth per student: 0.2 Mbps
- Total students: 5,975
- Cost per Mbps: $2.65
- Total monthly cost: $2,650.00

#7. West End School District Re 2
- Bandwidth per student: 0.18 Mbps
- Total students: 246
- Cost per Mbps: $7.59
- Total monthly cost: $333.97

#6. Adams 12 Five Star School District
- Bandwidth per student: 0.15 Mbps
- Total students: 35,334
- Cost per Mbps: $2.32
- Total monthly cost: $6,960.05

#5. Thompson School District R-2J
- Bandwidth per student: 0.11 Mbps
- Total students: 15,105
- Cost per Mbps: $1
- Total monthly cost: $1,098.35

#4. Prairie School District R E 11-J
- Bandwidth per student: 0.1 Mbps
- Total students: 194
- Cost per Mbps: $32.55
- Total monthly cost: $651.00

#3. North Conejos School District R E 1-J
- Bandwidth per student: 0.09 Mbps
- Total students: 1,066
- Cost per Mbps: $4
- Total monthly cost: $400.00

#2. Poudre School District R 1
- Bandwidth per student: 0.02 Mbps
- Total students: 27,841
- Cost per Mbps: $22.54
- Total monthly cost: $9,017.05

#1. Jefferson County School District R-1
- Bandwidth per student: 0.01 Mbps
- Total students: 71,655
- Cost per Mbps: $2.93
- Total monthly cost: $1,170.10

See How School Cafeteria Meals Have Changed Over the Past 100 Years

Using government and news reports, Stacker has traced the history of cafeteria meals from their inception to the present day, with data from news and government reports. Read on to see how various legal acts, food trends, and budget cuts have changed what kids are getting on their trays.

10 Former Colorado Schoolhouses to Book a Stay At

Class is back in session at these former Colorado schoolhouses that have been turned into beautiful accomodations.

More From ESPN Western Colorado