{"id":19420,"date":"2021-01-25T20:51:58","date_gmt":"2021-01-25T20:51:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.xello.world\/blog\/digital-divide\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T03:50:38","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T08:50:38","slug":"digital-divide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.xello.world\/en-ca\/resources\/blog-posts\/digital-divide\/","title":{"rendered":"Examining The Digital Divide: What Does it Look Like Now and How Are Districts Supporting Students Without Wifi?"},"content":{"rendered":"

COVID-19 is shining a light on the ever-widening \u2018homework gap\u2019. Here\u2019s how bad it is \u2013 and what\u2019s being done about it.<\/h2>\n

Clarissa and Mark are both 9<\/span>th<\/span> grade students. At the start of the 2019\/2020 school year, they were class reps on their student council, participated in sports and other clubs, and were both on their way to the top of the honor roll.\u00a0<\/span>
\nWhen COVID-19 forced schools to shut down in March 2020, everything changed. After a rocky start to remote learning<\/a>, Clarissa found her footing. Every morning, she pulled out her brand-new laptop and logged onto her virtual classes via a high-speed Internet connection. She was able to stay on top of homework assignments, participate in breakout sessions during class, and communicate with her teachers by email and chat. She completed the 9<\/span>th<\/span> grade and is now working through the 10<\/span>th<\/span> grade remotely. Her grades and spirits remain high, despite the tumult in the wider world.\u00a0<\/span>
\nThings are different for Mark. He and his family live in a rural area 30 minutes outside the city limits. He shares a district-issued laptop with one of his younger siblings and does not have reliable access to Wifi because of their remote location. Inconsistent access to technology has meant that Mark feels disconnected from learning. When he started 10<\/span>th<\/span> grade math virtually in September, he wasn\u2019t familiar with some of the concepts he missed at the end of last spring. Being included in the honor roll will not be part of his sophomore year.<\/span>
\nMark and Clarissa are the living embodiment of the digital divide<\/a> \u2013 the gap between students who have access to technology and those who don\u2019t. This includes access to hardware like laptops and tablets as well as Wifi that provides connectivity and enables Internet use.<\/span>
\nThe digital divide is not new. <\/span>The Conversation<\/span><\/a> reports that \u201cit\u2019s been undermining the academic success of students from poor families since well before the pandemic.\u201d The effects of the coronavirus have only served to highlight and widen the gap. Like Mark, many students <\/span>remain unable to fully participate in remote learning<\/span><\/a>. <\/span>
\nThis issue is particularly pernicious for racialized students. Before COVID-19, a <\/span>Pew Research study<\/span><\/a> found that 1 in 5 Black teens in the U.S. were unable to do their homework because of poor Internet access at home; and 21 percent used public Wifi to do homework.\u00a0<\/span>
\nIt\u2019s no surprise that students like Clarissa, who have consistent access to technology, perform better. \u201cFederal data show that students who used computers or had internet at home consistently showed higher achievement scores in reading, math and science,\u201d reports The Conversation.<\/span><\/p>\n

What does the digital divide look like during COVID-19?<\/b><\/h3>\n

When it comes to spotty access to Wifi and other technology, Mark is far from alone:<\/span><\/p>\n