Read the full article about focusing on the homework gap by Tara Garcia Mathewson at The Hechinger Report.Recently at the White House, the world got to meet two incredible people who show the success that can be achieved toward digital equity and closing the homework gap when trusted community partners, business, and government support work together. And the level of advocacy and support for a solution has snowballed. Foundations are stepping up to provide funding so schools can purchase devices and hotspots for the students who need them. House of Representatives and Senate have introduced legislation to spend billions on home internet connectivity for the nation’s students. They have outfitted school buses with Wi-Fi so students can do their homework on the way home.īut those efforts have been piecemeal, and it has become very clear the nation’s students need a comprehensive solution.ĮducationSuperHighway, the nonprofit that declared victory in the effort to connect 99 percent of the nation’s schools to high-speed internet, has pivoted to solving what has become known as the “homework gap.”
Schools have gotten creative, sending students home with Wi-Fi enabled devices or hotspots that let students connect their own laptops to the internet. Families have, for years, parked outside of businesses that offer free Wi-Fi or taken their children to libraries to find a way to complete assignments that do require the internet. Teachers routinely modify their homework assignments to make sure that students without home internet will not be at an unfair disadvantage. Now, the most important connectivity statistic is that more than 9 million students do not have internet access at home.Įducators have known about this problem for a long time. School buildings are closed because of coronavirus, and the bandwidth that powered digital learning for kids is going unused. More than 99 percent of schools nationwide have access to speedy and reliable internet, making online learning an option for their students. In October I shared the news that the classroom connectivity gap in U.S.
EducationSuperHighway, along with foundation support, is working on addressing the "homework gap" so that more students can have home internet access to complete school work.
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