CoSN Launches Digital Equity Campaign
Calling
equitable Internet access the "civil
rights issue of today," the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) has
launched a Digital Equity Action Toolkit to
give school district leaders tools
they can use to advocate for and obtain Internet access for their
students in
their communities.
The
digital toolkit is intended to help district
administrators understand the historical context that has led to what
CoSN
representatives have labeled the "homework gap" and lays out steps they can
take to
resolve the issue in their own communities. Those steps include
everything from
surveying the district's connectivity and devices to engaging the
community to
ensuring sustainability and considering creative out-of-the-box
solutions.
Among
the approaches the toolkit encourages
district administrators to take are:
- Partnering
with local businesses to provide Wi-Fi
access for learning;
- Maximizing
the use of existing assets;
- Seeking
mobile hotspots;
- Leveraging
special broadband offerings;
- Repurposing
educational spectrum; and
- Creating
mesh networks.
"Alarmingly,
many lower-income families cannot
stay connected to complete homework assignments, and parents are unable
to
track their child's academic performance," said CoSN CEO Keith Krueger.
"School
leaders must work with their communities to ensure digital equity and
enable
all students to benefit from learning that is increasingly delivered
digitally."
This
is the second initiative in CoSN's drive for
digital equity. Earlier, in partnership with the National Title I Association,
CoSN produced a school district-level guide titled "Rethinking Equity in a
Digital Era, Forging a Strong Partnership Between District Title I and
Technology."
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.