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The Digital Divide Has Narrowed, But 12 Million Students Are Still Disconnected

Edsurge

In the months that followed, many states and school districts mobilized, using federal CARES Act funding, broadband discounts and partnerships with private companies to connect their students and enable online learning. As of December 2020, the number of students impacted by the digital divide has narrowed to 12 million. “In

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Digital divide: Gap is narrowing, but how will schools maintain progress?

The Hechinger Report

BRUNSWICK, Maine—Like many school districts, Brunswick School Department in Maine suddenly has a lot more laptops and tablets to manage than it planned for. School officials in the seaside town scrambled to purchase enough devices for all their students to learn online last year after the pandemic hurtled kids out of buildings.

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How one city closed the digital divide for nearly all its students

The Hechinger Report

Ramos would connect to the library’s Wi-Fi — sometimes on her cellphone, sometimes using her family’s only laptop — to complete assignments and submit essays or tests for her classes at Skyline High School. Ramos, used to texting quickly, was able to do simple assignments online, so at first her schoolwork was very easy.

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OPINION: College in a pandemic is tough enough — without reliable broadband access, it’s nearly impossible

The Hechinger Report

Sadly, though, the reality is that millions of Americans — in rural and urban areas alike, and including many underrepresented minorities — lack the reliable broadband connections needed to access postsecondary and K-12 education in a nation that remains in partial lockdown. Most college leaders are doing the best they can.

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Digital divide hits small towns hard

eSchool News

While 96 percent of Americans in urban areas have access to fixed broadband, only 70 percent of New Mexicans have broadband access at home. Unfortunately, the digital divide is a very real barrier to success in our community,” said Audra Bluehouse, an English teacher at Hatch Valley High.

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A school district is building a DIY broadband network

The Hechinger Report

But Bredder can’t give students the tool he considers most indispensable to 21st-century learningbroadband internet beyond school walls. If some kids can go home and learn, discover and backfill information, while other kids’ learning stops at school, that’s a huge problem.”. This is an equity issue,” said Bredder. “If

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Closing the homework gap so ‘no child is left offline’

The Hechinger Report

During a forum hosted by public policy think tank New America to discuss this new data, Jessica Rosenworcel, the acting FCC Chairwoman, called the homework gap “an especially cruel” part of the digital divide that existed long before the pandemic. An additional $7.17

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