Two Reports: “The Digital Divide and Educational Equity” & “High School Students’ Access to and Use of Technology at Home and in School”

The two research reports linked below were recently published by ACT.
1) The Digital Divide and Educational Equity: A Look at Students witVery Limited Access to Digital Resources at Home
14 pages; PDF.

Students in the United States use technology daily, and access to it is essential to education success.1 However, the “digital divide”—the gap between people who have sufficient knowledge of and access to technology and those who do not—persists.2 In education, this digital divide is often referred to as the “homework gap” because of the challenges that students in technology-deficient circumstances face when trying to do their homework.his gap continues to widen as teachers incorporate technology- based learning into their daily curricula. To date, most research about the digital divide has focused on the US population generally, with little attention paid to determining whether the divide exists among students in the US education system.

2) High School Students’ Access to and Use of Technology at Home and in School
12 pages; PDF.

Access to technology is essential to educational success as well as workforce and community development. However, geographical, income-based, and racial/ethnic disparities in technology access persist.
This “digital divide”—the gap between people who have sufficient knowledge of and access to technology and those who do not—can perpetuate and even worsen socioeconomic and other disparities for already underserved groups.
The digital divide has also been referred to as the “homework gap,” due to the challenges that students in technology-deficient circumstances face when trying to do their homework. This gap continues to widen as teachers incorporate internet-based learning into their daily curricula.

See Also (From ACT): Smartphones and Laptops are the Most Accessible Technological Devices Students Have at Home

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