Dive Brief:

• When teachers assign homework that requires internet access or use of a computer, many students don’t have the tools to complete assignments at home, creating a digital divide that has plagued the nation’s schools for more than a decade.
• EveryoneOn is a national nonprofit that works with internet service providers to get high-speed internet for low monthly prices to families who don’t have it, along with the computers and digital literacy training they need to access it, according to the company’s CEO, Chike Aguh, writing for eSchool News.
• Connect2Compete offers at-home service for $10 per month to families with kids who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches at school, and Cox Communications is one ISP that extends the discounts to families in Head Start, those who receive SNAP benefits, and some who live in public housing. 

Dive Insight:

According to Aguh, more than half of the families in the Connect2Compete program have kids who improved their grades since they got the internet, and parents have also benefitted from the access to online job postings.

Districts have been creative in closing the digital divide, adding Wi-Fi to school buses to help extend school networks or even expanding the network itself to an entire district region. Schools that have small populations of students who need the access can send home devices with their own internet hotspots to help with homework. But those who can’t afford any of the above solutions should at least publish a list of community sites that have Wi-Fi. Once school ends for the day, kids have other options for getting online, including local libraries, coffee shops and fast food restaurants. This, of course, might be little help to students in rural areas.