Digital Equity

Too often, conversations about digital equity remain siloed in the technology department. However, digital equity is a systems-level challenge. To ensure that students can both access digital technologies and meaningfully use them in their learning, leaders need to engage a broader set of stakeholders from across departments and perspectives.

An essential first step involves bringing a diversity of expertise, ideas, and experiences to the table so that your team represents those most affected by issues pertaining to digital equity: students, teachers, building and academic leaders, and the technology team. Given the holistic nature of digital equity, it is critical to ask who else should contribute to the conversation and why.

As you complete the activities below, ask yourself:

• How do different roles and experiences influence our work together?

• Are all of the voices and interests in our community – especially those often not included or represented – part of this process?

• Why are we trying to do this work, and what are we hoping to accomplish?

At the most basic level, schools and districts need to ensure foundational access to laptops or tablets that can connect to the internet (i.e., more than simply relying on student mobile phones and data plans) as well as procedures to protect student privacy and security. Conversations about meaningful digital use cannot begin if students and teachers do not have access to powerful devices, strong internet connectivity, and digital content at school and at home.

As you think about the digital foundations in your school or district, consider the following:

Device Access: While many schools and districts can ensure that students and teachers have access to devices while in school, approximately 24% of students from low-income families still do not have access to a computer at home, and according to 2021 data, approximately 100,000 teachers also do not have a computer at home.

While many schools and systems provided students with laptops during the pandemic, many have now taken those devices back with the return of in-person learning – leaving students disconnected – and others find themselves unable to maintain those devices with a looming pandemic-funding cliff. This raises two additional concerns: ownership and sufficiency.

• Ownership: When someone owns their device, they have full control over system settings, downloads, applications or software, and how they interact with the device itself. While districts may want to maintain some privacy and security protocols, teachers and students need the capacity to make their devices work in ways that best support them.

• Sufficiency: Approximately 59 percent of respondents to a New America study reported that their computer runs too slowly or does not work properly to do meaningful work. In addition, device decisions are often made at the district level and in a uniform manner (e.g., single-device, one-to-one programs). However, some students and teachers require different capabilities or features.

Internet Access: Though most schools can reach the minimum bandwidth requirements as outlined by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the pandemic illuminated the disparities in access for both teachers and students. According to a 2023 report, 22% of low-income households with children still lack broadband access. In addition, a 2021 report from New America revealed that while the pandemic resulted in increased internet access, many students and teachers remain under-connected. Hindered by data caps and lacking enough bandwidth to participate in video conferencing, students find themselves unable to work to their full potential.

Resources to Get Started

These partner organizations have created excellent tools and guides to address basic foundations and help get every student and teacher safely connected.

• Digital Equity Dashboard: Practical instrument created by the Consortium of School Networking (CoSN) that integrates national datasets into one dashboard providing school and community leaders with zip code, district, and school-level data to inform decision-makers about home broadband access. CoSN also published a video playlist to help leaders take advantage of the dashboard.
• K-12 Leaders’ Guide to Successful Technology Integration: Guide created by Digital Promise that introduces six components for successful technology integration.
• Privacy Jump-Start Guide: Three-page starter guide from Project Unicorn.
• Essential Cybersecurity Protections: Developed by K12 SIX, recommendations and an online self-assessment to help schools plan for security threats.

What This Looks Like in Practice

Depending on culture, context, and available resources, every school and district will take a different path toward digital equity. TLA has collected a series of examples and strategies that illustrate how different teams and organizations address basic technology infrastructure needs. The strategies present just a few possible solutions, and you can explore additional strategies on TLA’s site.

After assembling your digital equity team and developing an understanding of the basic foundations, your next step is to start working through a digital equity audit.

This digital equity audit is intended to foster productive dialogue within leadership teams in an iterative manner. Whether you are just beginning to think about digital equity or have been working on it for years, cycling through this audit will help to clarify vision and strategy, articulate needs, and identify areas for improvement.

Start your interactive digital equity audit by completing the Foundations section within the Self-Assessment Tool and the Digital Equity Foundations section on page 1 of the Reflection & Planning Workbook. (NOTE: After you open each of these documents, links are available to make copies so that you can have your own editable versions.)

Once you have completed this section, move onto “Digital Equity in the Classroom.”