The Technology Gap

Technology is an empowering tool. It has been a driving force in both education and economics for the United States since the mid-20th century, and yet today we have a problem.

Before the printing press was invented in 1440, only the wealthiest and most affluent could afford an education or the books that provided that education. Even after the printing press, access to this “technology” was sparse. There was a very real gap between the rich and the poor — many of whom had never before seen a book, let alone knew how to read one.

That gap narrowed rapidly over the coming centuries, and nearly closed following the industrial revolution when compulsory public education became the norm in most developed countries. But today we’re facing yet another growing knowledge gap, this time in the technology that for so long seemed to be the ultimate equalizer.

The problem isn’t just access to knowledge. The Internet makes it possible to access and engage with almost any piece of knowledge ever recorded, and while there is certainly a gap in access, it is closing. The problem is in the ability of those on the wrong side of the gap to learn the skills and access the resources and equipment needed to utilize that knowledge. The technology gap is growing because we haven’t made technology education and skill development a priority for our children. And the effects are jarring.

The Current Technology Gap

More than 90% of American schools now have access to the Internet and the number of households with it are growing. The problem is that access to this is more than a luxury. In the mid-1990s, when schools didn’t have Internet access and less than a quarter of homes had a computer, it was still possible to get ahead without these tools. Today, it is much harder.

And for the poor who are still on the wrong side of these statistics, lack of technology access is a major problem. Take for instance a 2012 Pew Report stating that only 62% of households making less than $30,000 a year had Internet access, compared to 90% of households making $50,000-$74,999. The gap has been closed here somewhat by smartphones, which are much more likely to be used as the primary Internet accessible device in poor households, but for computer science skills, technology education, and other things that cannot be handled by an iPhone, the problem remains.

When I was in school, Internet access wasn’t required and it certainly wasn’t expected. Today, teachers are forced to assume that most of their students have this access or can get it at school. Yet because 26% of students don’t have Internet at home because of cost and 13% don’t have a computer at all, this assumption puts the poor at a disadvantage. So much so that according to recent surveys, 84% of teachers believe new technologies are creating a bigger divide between affluent and disadvantaged schools and students in those schools.

The divide is largely socioeconomic, but there is a diversity gap as well. In a 2014 study by the NTIA, people in urban areas are 50% more likely to have Internet access than those in rural areas, and 76% of white households have Internet access compared to just 58% of Hispanic homes and 56% of African-American homes. That’s far too many young people without access to one of the great toolsets of modern society. All this and the E-Rate program (which helps schools and libraries acquire the equipment needed to offer these services in the schools) was underfunded by over $2 billion in 2014.

Technology is more than a luxury in a society where nearly half of all STEM jobs will require computer science skills, and strong correlations have been shown between computer access and graduation rates. It’s a requirement, and yet the gap isn’t closing as it should.

The Effect of Closing the Technology Gap

Study after study has shown that technology can directly impact the achievement of at-risk students. Several studies of 1:1 technology programs conducted in the last decade show that at-risk, developmentally delayed, and disabled students benefited significantly from just having access to these tools.

And yet in high-poverty schools, according to a Stanford Report on technology supporting at-risk student’s learning behavior, only 3% of teachers said that students had the digital tools needed to complete their homework. What impact does having that technology have on their lives?

“When given access to appropriate technology used in thoughtful ways, all students — regardless of their respective backgrounds — can make substantial gains in learning and technological readiness,” said Darling-Hammond, the faculty director of SCOPE. “Unfortunately, applications of technology in schools serving the most disadvantaged students are frequently compromised by the same disparities in dollars, teachers, and instructional services that typically plague these schools. These disparities are compounded by the lack of access to technology in these students’ homes.”

Technology is a must if we’re going to improve the availability of opportunities for high-poverty and at-risk students.

How The Technology Gap Has Been Tackled

While there has yet to be a successful, comprehensive effort at the state or federal level to address this problem (despite several attempts), there has been big progress. In 1997, only 14% of schools had Internet access. In 2015, that number is 90%, but even still there is a gap, including in the very funding that allowed us to reach that much higher number.

Private enterprise has been active in attempting to tackle this gap and help provide the access that many schools still lack. Comcast, for example, has been running their Internet Essentials program since 2012, helping to connect low-income Americans to the Internet with in-home hookups. The program has provided access to more than a million households and more than 20,000 computers to those same individuals. Other companies offering discounted services to low-income Americans include Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink and Cablevision, and Google has long made it their mission to ensure every home in America has a high speed connection.

But despite the efforts of public-private enterprise and the work that has been done by both the federal government with ConnectEd and Comcast with Internet Essentials (among many other efforts), the gap persists.

In fact, there are several states where the gap has actively grown. There have been several programs that failed outright, either in introducing new technologies to the classroom, or in providing additional access to students in those situations. When an effort fails on this level, budgets are reduced. Whether it’s a failed levy that was being used to raise funds for education, a drop in enrollment as more affluent families move their children to charter schools and private schools, or a general lack of funds in states with ongoing budget crises that have yet to be resolved, the money isn’t always there to tackle this issue. Often it is being taken away.

What It Will Take to Close the Gap

The ultimate question is, what will this actually take to address? How much money do we need to effectively close the technology gap, and is money alone enough?

The biggest problem is that high-poverty schools are often reliant on federal funding for these types of initiatives. With limited local funds and strapped state budgets, the federal government’s supplemental plans are often the only way a poor school district can tackle these major issues. And yet with programs like Title II-D Enhancing eliminated, taking $700 million in funding with it, recent proposals by President Obama and others not yet introduced are vital to make this a reality.

The current efforts focus on the E-Rate program which has rerouted funds from phone lines and other technology updates to focus solely on broadband access in the classroom, to the tune of $2 billion. And yet the high demand for broadband will likely make it hard for these schools to afford the routers, wiring and other equipment needed to actually get that access into the classrooms where it can be used.

With 93% of school districts saying the E-rate funding isn’t enough and 18% saying they were rejected for funding entirely, the $2 billion currently set aside clearly isn’t enough.

Cost isn’t the only issue either. Even with state of the art broadband Internet connections in all schools and the appropriate connections in each classroom, there are gaps in the training offered to teachers, the curriculum currently being used and the equipment on hand to support these efforts. Recent efforts by large school districts like the Los Angeles district to provide a 1:1 experience failed, even with the funding in hand. There needs to be a plan in place to actually use the technology once it is finally there.

What Can We Do?

There are several things that need to be done to start closing the gap between rich and poor students in terms of technology and access. They include:

• Funding broadband, wireless technology, and device access for all school districts.
• Providing curriculum and training for students in computer science and other STEM related topics with that technology
• Providing more comprehensive technology-driven lesson plans and curriculum planning tools for teachers once this infrastructure is in place.
• Providing ongoing professional development for teachers so they can comfortable relate the benefits and uses of technology to students from diverse backgrounds.

Currently, teachers are tasked with many things, but digital literacy is not one of them. Almost half of all states fail to offer graduation credit for computer science and technology classes, and there are still millions of students without sufficient access to the Internet or a device with which to learn these skills. All this despite a shortfall of nearly 600,000 jobs in 2015 that require these skills.

The role of today’s teacher is changing and the training, certification, and resources provided to these teachers needs to change to match those needs. The ability to customize learning on an individual basis, use technology to enhance and generate interest in new topics, and provide the life skills needed to excel in the 21st Century workplace — that’s what technology literacy is all about and one of the main reasons the current gap is so big of a problem.

What Comes Next?

There are actions being taken and the government isn’t ignoring the problem. President Obama’s Computer Science for All initiative, combined with the ConnectEd program and the repurposing of the E-Rate funding over the last two years are all important steps in ensuring students have access to the resources needed to excel with today’s technology.

But with more than a quarter of students without Internet access at home, millions more without a device on which to use the Internet, and schools still lagging behind in offering broadband access in the classroom, more action is needed, before at-risk and poor students fall further behind due to the widening technology gap.