Students need fast and reliable access to the internet at school, at home, and anywhere that learning may take place. While great strides have been made towards connecting K-12 students, particularly at schools, many students still lack a reliable connection off-campus. This leaves students and families unable to fully engage in learning and prepare for careers, and teachers and districts are struggling to use technology in an impactful and equitable manner.

Two major factors influence impactful learning opportunities for K-12 students—internet and device access.

COVID-Era Home Internet Programs are Ending, Widening the Digital Divide

Connectivity is as critical to learning today as pencils and textbooks were in the 20th century. High-speed internet access has the potential to accelerate learning and equalize access to opportunities. When asked what tools, resources, or information would support more effective use of technology within classroom instruction, teachers' top response was—“Confidence that my students have safe and convenient access to the Internet outside of school.”¹

Due to the federal E-Rate program, which helps schools and libraries to afford broadband, there has been great improvement in connectivity at schools. Connected Nation’s 2023 Report on School Connectivity found that 74 percent of US school districts are considered to have “sufficient” internet access, defined as 1 Megabit per second/student, up from 59 percent in 2022. 

However, many students still lack access to the internet outside of school. 

Rates of home internet access increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, when an emergency shift to remote learning spurred the quick development of programs to help connect vulnerable students and families. 

The Federal Communications Commission’s Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) provided devices and internet service, typically via a hotspot, to students or school staff who would otherwise have been unable to participate in remote learning. The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) provided a $30 monthly subsidy for internet service to eligible households, as well as a small, one-time device credit. 

Unfortunately, many COVID era funding programs, including the ECF and ACP, have ended or run out of funding. A recent Benton Institute for Broadband & Society report found that as many as three million households may end service in the absence of the ACP subsidy alone. An additional eight million households were likely to downgrade service. Lower quality service can make it harder for students to access bandwidth-intensive applications for school work. It can also make it difficult for multiple family members to access the internet at the same time, creating problems for families with more than one school-aged child.

K-12 students and families have already seen the impact of the end of COVID-era funding and programs. In the 2022-23 school year, 13 percent of students in grades 6-8 reported being unable to do schoolwork because of a lack of access to the internet outside of school, up from 11 percent in the 2020-21 school year.²

Unreliable Access to Devices is Holding Students Back

Through one-to-one (1:1) device programs, every student has their own school-provided device. Rates of 1:1 student device access through schools have increased dramatically over the last decade. In the 2023-24 school year, 84 percent of teachers reported that their students had access to 1:1 classroom devices, up from 54 percent in the 2019-20 school year, and from just 20 percent in the 2014-15 school year. 

However, only 48 percent of teachers reported that their students could use those devices at school and at home, with even fewer students taking devices home at urban (25 percent) and Title 1 (36 percent) schools.³ This inconsistency in school device programs can lead to more location-based inequities for students. 

As COVID-era devices have begun aging out—often without funding sources for updates or replacements—some administrators and districts have begun pulling back on usage in attempts to stretch the devices’ lifetimes. In the 2023-24 school year, 71 percent of students reported that they were most likely to complete schoolwork on their personal cell phone, while just 6 percent said the same about their school-provided device.

All Students Need High-Quality, Consistent, and Safe Access to Digital Tools and the Internet

Inconsistent access to devices and to the internet leads to inequities in learning opportunities.

Some students will always have access to the internet and a reliable device, regardless of school policies. These students enjoy opportunities to engage in self-directed, interest-driven learning outside of a school setting, known as “Free Agent Learning,” that may not be available to their peers. Over two-thirds of students in grades 6-12 say they are regularly leveraging digital tools, most notably their smartphones, to support learning activities that are un-tethered to school-based learning, but rather address students’ learning passions and curiosities.⁴ Without consistent out-of-school access, some students are not benefiting from these types of independent learning as well.  

The implications of this digital divide are still emerging, but the bottom line is that all students need high-quality, consistent, and safe access to digital tools and the Internet to fully engage with learning and prepare to be responsible citizens of our digital world.

Notes

1. Source: forthcoming research from the Project Tomorrow Speak Up Research Project.
2. Ibid.
3. Title 1 is a designation given to schools with a high proportion of economically disadvantaged students.
4. Evans, J. A. (2022). Free Agent Learning: Leveraging Students' Self-directed Learning to Transform K-12 Education. John Wiley & Sons.

Drew Garner is the Director of Policy Engagement at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society.

Dr. Julie A. Evans is the CEO of Project Tomorrow (www.tomorrow.org) and is the founder of the heralded Speak Up Research Project which annually collects and reports on the authentic views of 400,000 K-12 students, parents and educators on key education issues each year. Dr. Evans leads research efforts on the impact of innovative learning models and interventions in both K-12 and higher education.  Over the past 20 years, almost 6 million K-12 students, teachers and parents have participated in the Speak Up Project representing over 35,000 schools from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and around the world. Dr. Evans is the longest-serving woman executive in the education technology nonprofit sector.

The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that all people in the U.S. have access to competitive, High-Performance Broadband regardless of where they live or who they are. We believe communication policy - rooted in the values of access, equity, and diversity - has the power to deliver new opportunities and strengthen communities.

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