Online learning and the homework gap amid the pandemic

Students who lacked the home internet connectivity needed to finish schoolwork while virtually learning at home amid the COVID-19 pandemic – an experience often called the “homework gap” – may continue to feel the effects in the 2021-2022 school year. Here is what Pew Research Center surveys found about the students most likely to be affected by the homework gap and their experiences learning from home.

1. Around nine in ten US parents with K-12 children at home (93 percent) said their children have had some online instruction since the coronavirus outbreak began in February 2020, and 30 percent of these parents said it has been very or somewhat difficult for them to help their children use technology or the internet as an educational tool.
2. Around a third of parents with children whose schools were closed during the pandemic (34 percent) said that their child encountered at least one technology-related obstacle to completing their schoolwork during that time.
3. Parents with lower incomes whose children’s schools closed amid COVID-19 were more likely to say their children faced technology-related obstacles while learning from home.
4. A year into the outbreak, an increasing share of US adults said that K-12 schools have a responsibility to provide all students with laptop or tablet computers in order to help them complete their schoolwork at home during the pandemic.
5. Even before the pandemic, Black teens and those living in lower-income households were more likely than other groups to report trouble completing homework assignments because they did not have reliable technology access.