Introduction

Bridging the Gaps of the Digital Divide in a Critical School Year

As a school district IT decision maker, it’s no secret that you’re facing considerable challenges for the upcoming school year. The COVID-19 pandemic shows very few signs of slowing down, forcing many school districts into full-time distance learning. Teachers must quickly pivot to leading their classrooms with this model for the fall instead of ending an in-progress school year with it as they did this past spring. Families are struggling to support remote learning for their children for indefinite periods of time.

Worst of all, many families aren’t equally capable of facing these challenges head-on for their children. It has created a digital divide with devastating effects:

9 in 10 American adults use the Internet, but only 56% of households with incomes under $30,000 have access to broadband internet

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly 20% of teens were unable to finish homework because of lack of adequate broadband Internet access at home

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, this “digital divide” has become distressingly problematic:

Nationwide, only 24 percent of public school teachers reported that all of their students had access to a computer or tablet to use for school work.
According to the most recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 14% of children ages 3-18 don't have internet access at home.
Preliminary research suggests students nationwide will return to school in the fall with roughly 70% of learning gains in reading relative to a typical school year, and less than 50% in math, according to projections by NWEA, an Oregon-based nonprofit education-services firm.

This perfect storm of educators, government bodies and the pandemic are leading to innovative approaches to crafting a sustainable and supported technology-led distance learning program for students to close that digital divide. Let’s consider the key ingredients to the solution.

In this guide we outline the core components to put together a successful tech-led distance learning programing:

Introduction
Funding
Procuring Devices
Establish Connectivity
Getting Devices to the Students
Year-Round Device Support
End of Year Device Support
Conclusion