30% of K-12 students lack at-home internet devices
Source: Smart Cities Dive Published: November 4th, 2020
Dive Brief:
Closing the K-12 digital divide could cost $6 billion to $11 billion in the first year of such efforts as approximately 30% of all public school students lack at-home internet or adequate digital learning devices, according to a new connectivity report from Boston Consulting Group (BCG), in partnership with Common Sense and EducationSuperHighway.
More than 50 million students have been forced to learn remotely since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, the report found. About 21% of students in urban areas are without at-home broadband, compared with 25% in suburban areas and 37% in rural areas. Native American students suffer the most from the digital divide, with 37% of those students lacking broadband. White, Latinx and Black students face an 18%, 26% and 30% digital divide, respectively.
State and city officials must assess existing internet and device access, determine procurement and distribution options and then "find the money to pay for it all," according to the report. Jurisdictions and school districts should "build comprehensive plans based on their needs assessments that lay out the special role private or philanthropic partners can play and how students will be affected in the absence of that support," the report reads.
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