Due to COVID-19 school facility closures, 50 million K-12 public school students have had to learn remotely from home in the United States. Where do we go from here? How do we close the digital learning divide once and for all? Approximately 15 million to 16 million K-12 public school students, or 30% of all public K-12 students, live in households either without an internet connection or device adequate for distance learning at home. This report provides a detailed assessment of the digital divide’s interrelated components of internet connection and devices, and their respective technical requirements, which are needed to ensure adequate distance learning for today’s K-12 students and teachers
Impact / Outcome
In addition to revealing a new and larger estimate of the size of the student digital divide, and an assessment of the digital divide for teachers, our report estimates that the cost of closing the
digital divide for K-12 public school students ranges from $6 billion to $11 billion in the first year, and up to an additional $1 billion for teachers.
This estimate covers the costs of an adequate internet plan, related connectivity expenses, and a computer, laptop, or tablet for all students and teachers that are “digitally divided."
Key Metrics
Distance Learning Digital Divide
Year published
01 January 2020