Schools today are more focused than ever on using the power of the Internet to educate our children. That's why they spend millions of dollars on technology to help connect them in the classroom. But too often, once the school bell rings, those same children have no access to the Internet at home. In fact, according to a report by the Council of Economic Advisers released today, about half of low-income kids in the US have no Web access at home.
This phenomenon has often been referred to as the "homework gap." Now, thanks to a partnership between Google, The White House, and other tech industry leaders, that gap may start to close. Later today, President Obama will announce a new pilot program called ConnectHome, through which Google and other Internet service providers will give free or low-cost Internet access to some 275,000 homes in 27 cities across the country. The program is a complement to the ConnectEd program, which aims to connect 99 percent of K-12 schools across the country to high speed Internet. The White House has also enlisted help from Best Buy, GitHub, Khan Academy, and others to provide digital literacy programs to these communities.
"While many middle-class US students go home to Internet access, allowing them to do research, write papers, and communicate digitally with their teachers and other students, too many lower-income children go unplugged every afternoon when school ends," the White House statement announcing the new initiative reads. "This 'homework gap' runs the risk of widening the achievement gap, denying hardworking students the benefit of a technology-enriched education."
In a society that's so dependent on technology (and particularly at a magazine that's all about being, well, wired) it can be hard to understand how very disconnected so many low-income Americans still are. And yet, the White House's report, titled "Mapping the Digital Divide," shows just how closely Internet access and usage correlates to things like race, income, and educational attainment.
In 2013, about 77 percent of homes where the head of household was white had Internet access. In homes where the head of household was black, that number hovered closer to 61 percent. Similarly, about 90 percent of homes where the head of household had a bachelor's degree had access to the web, whereas only about 60 percent of homes where the head of the household hadn't gone to college did. As companies like Google and Facebook work to expand internet access around the world, programs like ConnectEd and ConnectHome are hoping to do the same right here at home.
