National Public Radio

As the COVID-19 crisis took hold and schools in Lockhart (TX) had to close and shift to remote learning, the school district quickly conducted a needs assessment. They found that half of their 6,000 students have no high-speed Internet at home. And despite being a short drive south of Austin (TX), a third of all the students and staff live in "dead zones," where Internet and cell service aren't even available. With the help of a local Internet provider, the district is installing seven booster towers outside each of its schools.

In Phoenix (AZ), the digital divide is stark, despite a massive effort to get families connected to the Internet. So Chad Gestson, the superintendent of the high school district, and his team created an initiative called Every Student, Every Day: They pledged to call every student — there are about 28,000 of them — every day. "We certainly haven't abandoned the importance of the Internet and laptops and devices and online learning," Gestson explains. "We continue to push that. But we serve a large population of youth who don't have devices or connectivity in the house.