Online learning can be an important tool for advancing student equity by bringing instructional opportunities to students that didn’t exist for them before. However, as we’ve seen during the pandemic, online instruction can sometimes widen equity gaps if the circumstances aren’t favorable. For online learning to support student equity, here are five critical elements that must be in place.
A new survey of 1,000 parents of school-age children found that nearly half (48%) reported technological barriers that hindered their kids' academic success over the last year. Barriers included limited equipment, lack of Wi-Fi and other factors.
The nonprofit that helped close the school digital gap is now back, with a new goal: Making sure families who need home access to affordable broadband can get it.
EducationSuperHighway is shifting its attention away from the needs of K-12 internet connectivity and to the unconnected American household. The nonprofit, which helped close down the "classroom connectivity gap," has a new mission: to make sure the 18.1 million households that can't afford to connect to broadband get it.
While a lot of districts and schools struggled on their own during the early months of the pandemic to come up with ways to figure out which of their students needed access to computing gear and broadband, the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) has had a better idea: Why not come up with a standardized way to collect that information that local education agencies can turn to when the need arises?
The Texas county that houses Houston will be rolling out a private LTE network using Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum. The major beneficiary for the initial phase will be families with students that lack high-speed internet access. The project is being funded with CARES Act money.
Cleveland Metropolitan School District in Ohio is helping to connect families to the internet for remote learning. Initially, the district is expected to push free broadband to about 5,300 families.
Nonprofit Internet2 has been working with state and regional agencies to help accelerate the spread of eduroam into K–12 schools, libraries and museums, resulting in the launch of eduroam Support Organizations.
A new report shows that closing the digital divide for students who lack connectivity can provide a tremendous boost to economies around the world, including 5.5% boost to GDP in the United States.