Education technology

In Baltimore (MD), nearly one-quarter of households lack internet access at home and 18% lack access to a device. The Baltimore Digital Equity Coalition includes 50 organizations from across the city to address the digital divide that has existed in Baltimore for years, but is being exacerbated in a time when school and work often require device and internet connectivity at home, and gathering points that would provide access like schools and community centers are closed.

Children are accessing the internet at a younger age, spending longer online and are at greater risk of cyber bullying as the COVID-19 pandemic keeps them at home, said the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). The United Nations agency estimates that 1.5 billion children are out of school due to lockdown measures to stop the spread of the new coronavirus, forcing them to go online for their schooling but also their social lives and hobbies.

Illinois state and local officials are requiring the use of online instruction to effectively implement remote learning plans, but the “homework gap”—that is, the barrier that students face at school when they don’t have access1 to a broadband internet connection at home—disproportionately plagues Chicago’s low-income families and people of color. About 1 in 5 children under the age of eighteen lack access to broadband, and are primarily Black or Latino. With COVID-19 forcing school districts to adopt remote learning for the remainder of the school year, the students who were already the mo

The novel coronavirus crisis has accentuated the digital divide in South Carolina as well as the need for greater internet access, suggested Molly Spearman, the SC education superintendent.

When schools around the country began to close this spring because of the spread of the coronavirus, millions of students had the resources to transition to online learning — but not in Detroit (MI). Some 90 percent of the 51,000 students in the high-poverty Detroit Public Schools Community District did not have access to Internet services or the technology at home required for online learning. Teachers sent home packets of lessons on paper instead.

Despite the many tools at teachers’ disposal, many of their students aren’t able to connect due to a lack of computers, stable internet connections, or support at home to keep them focused on schoolwork.

A report that summarizes the need to connect millions of K‐12 students to the Internet from their home because they lack adequate internet access. These students cannot attend school, submit homework, or take tests online. An estimated $7.5 billion is required to provide these students with a secure and reliable network connection and connected learning device. Funds For Learning estimates that a total of $5.25 billion in E-rate discounts would be required, and the remaining $2.29 billion would be paid by schools and libraries with funding from other sources.

Drawn from interviews with public health experts, education officials and educators around the country, here's what reopening might look like. Includes "Remote learning continues": Every expert NPR spoke with predicted that the need for remote learning would continue because of staggered schedules, schools prepared to close again for future waves of infection, and many students needing remediation. And that means training and support for teachers, and equipment for children.

Since the March shutdown of schools across Illinois, teachers at one rural southwestern district have been stuffing 800 manila envelopes with learning packets and mailing them to students’ homes because many families in the area don’t have computers or high-speed internet. Trico District 176’s remote learning challenges were highlighted recently in a story that exposed a digital divide across Illinois as schools shifted to remote learning because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition believes the “Emergency Educational Connections Act of 2020” (H.R. 6563), introduced by Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY), is extremely important to help students engage in online learning from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. The legislation will provide $2 billion in emergency supplemental funding for the Federal Communications Commission’s E-rate program to fund broadband connections and devices for the millions of students that do not have broadband at home.