Education Week - April 21, 2021 - 17

devices, and close to three-fifths said they'll be investing
" some " or " a lot " of money to expand home internet access
for students and families.
Some of the factors delaying progress to close the digital
divide are out of schools' hands.
Schools are still feeling the effects of supply chain strain
from the early days of the pandemic, when factories were
running out of the materials needed to make laptops fast
enough for them to be shipped on time. Nearly a third of
respondents to the EdWeek Research Center survey said
they still haven't received all the technology items they
ordered during the pandemic.
Here's a look at the work currently underway at the different levels of government-school districts, states, and
federal agencies-to bridge tech access gaps.
School districts are aware much more work
needs to be done
Districts have gotten creative with expanding technology access during the pandemic, partnering with local
businesses and Native American communities, distributing devices and hotspots, and paying for families' internet
service. One Wisconsin district is even using drones tethered to a power source on the ground to expand internet
connectivity for families in rural areas.
A recent Common Sense Media report found that the
K-12 internet access gap has shrunk by between 20 percent and 40 percent over the last year, and the device access gap by between 40 percent and 60 percent.
Still, the report estimates between 9 million and 12
million U.S. students still lack adequate internet access
at home for remote learning. Progress for Latinx families has been particularly slow, the report says, possibly
because of " certain adoption barriers more commonly
or acutely experienced by Latinx families, including language barriers and reluctance toward providing personal
information. "
Celebrations of progress toward closing the digital divide
tend to leave out the work that remains to be done. Much
of it will require a concerted effort to funnel more resources
to low-income communities in both rural and urban areas.
Thomasville, Ala., lies 60 miles from the nearest interstate highway and 100 miles from the nearest metropolitan area. " We're the rural of the rural, " said Sheldon Day,
the city's mayor since 1996.
During the pandemic, the city government has broadcast its internet signal to as many public facilities as it can,
asked local businesses to share their networks as well, and
brought Wi-Fi-enabled school buses closer to where students could reach them and complete online schoolwork.
The town sent hotspots to families who didn't have internet access at home. " If they had a decent cell signal,
they could access those. The challenge has been, in the
middle of Timber Country, cell signals get absorbed by
the timber, " Day said.
Families who did have internet access at home struggled through even slower connections than their urban
counterparts, because the service providers' networks in

" This is not a
problem that
we can throw
enough money
at and it will
go away. It's
systemic. "

rural areas weren't strong enough to withstand the unusual increase in online activity.
" We've got children who are going to lose two years of
educational attainment and adults who are going to lose
two years of opportunities to bridge a gap in their technical training attainment that could help them get a real
good paying job, " Day said.
Thomasville is in the southern Black Belt region, characterized by its rich black soil. That region is lagging behind much of the country when it comes to internet connectivity. According to a recent report from the University
of Alabama's edPolicy center, more than 10 Black Belt
counties have less than 50 percent internet connectivity,
and two counties have virtually none.
These numbers highlight the formidable challenge
ahead for turning the rapid nationwide progress on closing the digital divide into change that lasts over the long
haul. Providing robust home connectivity, experts say,
will require gaining the trust of families who might be
skeptical of school districts' or governments' involvement
in their daily lives, or confused about how to operate unfamiliar technology.
It's worthwhile to view the value of efforts to close the
digital divide for the ripple effects they may provide.
Day said many parents in the area have grown more
technologically savvy than ever before as they've had to
play a more active role in helping their students learn on
their newly acquired digital devices.
" Over the past year our parents have probably been
more educated on technology than the children, which is
going to make us better going forward, " Day said.
States that put a device in the hands of nearly
every student offer roadmaps to replicate

KIM KEENAN

Co-chairwoman of the
Internet Innovation Alliance

A handful of states have recently declared that they've
officially closed the digital divide, at least when it comes
to device access. These states offer roadmaps that could
be replicated elsewhere.
Every K-12 student in Texas now has access to a working digital device at home, thanks to a coordinated effort
among district superintendents, the state education department, state legislators, and the governor's office.
Launched in May, Operation Connectivity quickly surveyed hundreds of districts to find out their immediate
technology needs. Among the first findings: Many districts were struggling with bulk deliveries of laptops and
tablets on back order. The state used its bargaining power
for a bulk purchase of 1.3 million devices for $200 million-at a 40 percent discount from market rate-in less
than three months.
By the end of 2020, in a state with 5.5 million K-12 students-including 3.3 million who are economically disadvantaged-the connectivity initiative had helped districts
add 4.6 million devices.
" We feel very confident that at the end of the first phase
of connectivity efforts, we went from having a very low
ratio of devices in students' hands to being truly one-toone across our entire state, " said Gaby Rowe, who's lead-

Technology Counts 2021 | 17

Education Week - April 21, 2021

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