More than a year after the pandemic forced students everywhere into an often haphazard remote learning experience, new data shows that many children from low-income families still lack the basic essentials to get online from home.
While remote learning may be ending in most places across the country, many students will continue to struggle to complete many lessons and assignments because they lack adequate internet service and access to devices at home – a phenomenon commonly referred to as the “homework gap.”
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.
Despite various efforts by states and school districts to close the gap during the past year, 15 percent of children from families with incomes below the national median of $75,000 a year are still without fast and reliable home internet access, according to a new report from New America and Rutgers University. Twelve percent of families still have no computer at home.
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