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Racial segregation is one reason some families have internet access and others don’t, new research finds

The Hechinger Report

Since before the pandemic, Benjamin Skinner has been researching broadband access and how lack of home internet impacts students’ ability to do online work. Last summer, Skinner and his colleagues at University of Florida, professor Hazel Levy and doctoral candidate Taylor Burtch, began researching broadband history and differences in access.

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How Can We Close the Digital Learning Gap This School Year?

Digital Promise

My daughter is entering her third year of college, and I have three sons in elementary schools; my youngest starts first grade in a few weeks. Explore our blog and be sure to subscribe to our Action Report newsletter to follow our work this school year. But what does that look like? I am a father of four.

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OPINION: Historically underserved school districts in Mississippi were hit hard in the pandemic and need immediate help  

The Hechinger Report

Our extensive work at MCJ culminated in a report that showcased an unsettling reality: Affordability and availability are formidable barriers to internet access, while reading and math proficiency rates are significantly below the state averages in grades 3-8. Our report found that this left them at a severe disadvantage.

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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 learning — broadband internet beyond school walls. They’re building their own countywide broadband network. This is an equity issue,” said Bredder. “If The hardware on the towers then blasts that connection about 10 miles into the valley below.

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The affordability gap is the biggest part of the digital divide

The Hechinger Report

households lack what has become a basic need, according to a new report by EducationSuperHighway, an education nonprofit that in 2019 helped to almost eliminate the internet connectivity gap in classrooms across the country. Issues around broadband affordability disproportionately affect low-income, Black, and Latinx communities.

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

The Hechinger Report

As teachers develop lesson plans, they also face lingering questions, in Maine and nationally, over the possibility of a return to remote learning and concerns about ensuring all students have access to the devices and high-quality broadband they need to do classwork and homework. 18, 2021, in Brunswick, Maine.

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Hotspots no silver bullet for rural remote learning

The Hechinger Report

A team of fifth grade teachers at an elementary school invited Muri, the superintendent of Ector County Independent School District in West Texas, to participate in an online scavenger hunt they had designed for students. An initial report , which is still being finalized, states that “lack of broadband access in Ector County is a crisis.”

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