The ‘Digital Equity’ Students Need to Learn May Not Come Without Community Outreach

While students around the country are back in school in person this year, the connection between education and high-speed internet hasn’t been severed. Students still turn in assignments online and interact with class material through learning management systems, and they may even stream their lessons. The support services that are becoming critical for education—from health screenings to tutoring sessions—are also often delivered online. And that means, more than ever, getting an education requires access to fast, reliable internet. But while the infrastructure to make sure that everyone can use the internet has improved in the last couple of years, the process isn’t complete. If we want to keep the digital divide from growing, experts say, it’ll mean districts thinking about themselves as just one part of the larger community composed of families, nonprofits, businesses—all of them potential partners in expanding internet access for students.