According to a report released last month by UCLA, nearly one in three American households had limited computer or internet access this fall, more than half a year after the pandemic erupted. The report, which is based on a weekly survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, sheds new light on an old problem: students of color, students from low-income households, and students whose parents earned a high school diploma or less are most likely to be on the wrong side of the digital divide, are having more difficulty accessing their classes, engaging with peers, and completing assignments.
“What the pandemic brought into focus, through mandated remote learning, is the intimate connection between education and technological connectivity and, with it, the connection between connectivity and social justice,” write Christina Christie, Wasserman Dean of the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies in the foreword of “COVID-19 and the Digital Divide in Virtual Learning, Fall 2020,” which was released by the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge in the Luskin School of Public Affairs.”The battleground for educational equity has now, and perhaps forever, shifted into a new space. As COVID-19 cases rise and fall, schools will open and close. But remote learning, in some form, is now permanent. It is forever an integral feature of our educational landscape. “
“You can think about all of these things that by themselves may not seem absolutely fatal, but collectively it has this cumulative effect that eventually leaves certain students behind,” said Paul M. Ong, director of the Center and author of the report.
The report is featured in the 74 Million. To read the article, visit this link.