Solving the Homework Gap

At a recent meeting at the US Department of Education, we heard they are being asked by Congress to determine impact of broadband on education...essentially, is it working?   The question involves two parts:

Is the broadband that is available to schools through the Federal e-rate support having an impact on learning in the school;

and is there equitable access to broadband in the home...are we solving the Homework Gap?

The first question relates to transformations in school to effectively take advantage of the learning opportunities provided by broadband access.  Most schools in Vermont now have sufficient broadband...and are using it to their best advantage. The second question may be a challenge even in districts with excellent practices on site….when students go home, what learning opportunities are NOT available to them?  

According to the Public Service Board data, about 27% of Vermont addresses don’t have broadband access at a level adequate by Federal Definition….25 mbps down and 4mbps up.  The Christian Science Monitor Weekly (Jan 14, 2019) reported that “about 15% of households in the US with school-age children lack a high-speed internet connection.... and this gap disproportionately affects low-income, black, Latino, and geographically remote students.” A 2015 report on NAEP scores shows an achievement gap for those students without internet at home (NCES, see for example mathematics Table 222.45).  It is clear that that home access is important for our students.

Providing home access has been a continuing challenge, despite the will and best efforts of the Governor and legislature.  A Vermont Edition story noted that past Governors had made state-wide broadband a goal in 2007 (3 year completion) and in 2010 (5 year completion).  There is currently a statute to “support measures designed to ensure that by the end of the year 2024 every E-911 business and residential location in Vermont has infrastructure capable of delivering Internet access with service that has a minimum download speed of 100 Mbps and is symmetrical. (30 V.S.A § 202c (b)(10)). Now there is a bill in the house (H.513) to help address some of the financial challenges to state-wide broadband.

However, bringing broadband to those underserved locations may only solve part of the problem. Preliminary studies of school students who live in cities with ubiquitous broadband indicate that they don’t have internet at home, despite its availability.  In addition to ensuring there is access by address, we should also study the ability of low-income families to afford access in areas where it already exists.  If we want to remove the homework gap, we will have to consider ways to provide affordable access for all students.