Bridging digital divides between schools and communities

Getting internet to the school is just one piece of the puzzle in closing the digital divide and the growing “homework gap” in which students lack residential and community broadband access. Even in communities with exceptional broadband in their schools, how are student experiences affected when nearby institutions and establishments, including libraries, churches and other public facilities, have limited digital resources and connectivity? How does this impact students’ ability to share the digital experiences learned in school to the community? I examine both the availability and capacity of local entities to close the homework gap and the much broader digital divide in historically-disadvantaged communities.

Nicol Turner Lee is a Fellow at the Brookings Institution