Understanding that every school and district will take a different path toward their realization of digital equity, depending on their context and culture, we recommend an iterative, ongoing process which includes six key steps:

1. Assemble a digital equity team to bring a diversity of perspectives, ideas, and experiences to the table.
2. Examine existing practices, resources, and needs. Students and teachers must have foundational access to laptops or tablets that can connect to the internet, as well as privacy and security procedures.
3. Develop a concrete shared vision for teaching and learning with technology so that educators, students, and broader community members understand the greater purpose behind digital equity efforts.
4. Identify areas for improvement through honest self-assessment to identify where you are currently compared to where you hope to be.
5. Take action. Whether tackling challenges around digital access or making improvements to classroom practice, engage in reflection and planning to more coherently identify areas of improvement.
6. Begin again. School communities must continue to foster productive dialogue within leadership teams in an iterative manner to fully realize the promise of the learning opportunities that could be possible.

[Beth Holland is a partner at The Learning Accelerator leading Research and Measurement.]

States differ in how they manage broadband deployment and which agencies or offices they task with identifying challenges, charting goals, and encouraging investment. Some states have a centralized office responsible for managing or coordinating broadband efforts. In others, multiple agencies have jurisdiction over broadband. More than half of states have established dedicated funds to support the deployment of high-speed internet, and many have developed goals, plans, and maps for expansion of access. This downloadable table by Pew Charitable Trusts indicates whether a state has the following:

• Office: A centralized office for broadband projects.

• Agency: State agency(ies) involved in broadband projects.

• Task force: A formalized team—often involving multiple agencies and sectors—dedicated to broadband issues.

• Broadband fund: A funding mechanism(s).

• Broadband goal: The result that the state’s broadband program is working to achieve.

• Broadband plan: A document that defines objectives, and the actions to be taken to reach them.

• Broadband map: A mapping effort underway to identify where broadband is and isn’t.

[Anna Read is a senior officer and Lily Gong is an associate with The Pew Charitable Trusts’ broadband access initiative.]

The city of South Bend (IN) has plans to expand free WiFi and become more fiber-friendly in 2022. The city currently has over 30 access points for free WiFi, many of which are in public parks or city buildings. Chief Innovation Officer Denise Riedl said the city has state and federal grant money to add even more access points in 2022. She said the city will start taking public input on where those access points should be in early 2022. Riedl said the city is also looking to expand its fiber optic cable capacity in the future. Fiber offers faster internet speeds than DSL and cable, and Riedl said South Bend has less of it than comparable cities like Fort Wayne (IN) and Urbana-Champaign (IL). Riedl said the city plans to pursue policy changes that will make laying fiber in South Bend easier and less expensive. She said it will also put out a request for information to internet service providers to see how the city can attract more – and more equitable – broadband investment.

[Editors note: Denise Riedl is a member of the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society board of directors]

In the United States’ jails and prisons, many incarcerated people are charged steep fees to make phone calls to the outside world. The correctional telecom industry rakes in more than $1.4 billion annually from prisoner phone calls. That cost is generally passed on to the families of incarcerated people — who are disproportionately low-income, and disproportionately people of color. More than one-third of families with incarcerated relatives go into debt to cover the cost of staying in touch. It’s outrageous that a billion-dollar industry exists based on skimming profits from some of society’s most vulnerable people trying to meet one of our most fundamental needs: human connection. Fortunately, campaigns are underway to extend this basic decency to incarcerated people and their families. The national Campaign for Prison Phone Justice, led by the Human Rights Defense Center, has pushed for reform at both the state and federal level. Meanwhile, organizations like Free Press Action, Color of Change and the Prison Policy Initiative have pressured local officials, congressional leaders and the Federal Communications Commission to take action.

[Katrina vanden Heuvel is a columnist covering national politics, progressive politics and movements, and foreign policy.]

Ahead of the December 1 vote in the Senate Commerce Committee, Federal Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, who’s been re-nominated to another term as commissioner, and Federal Trade Commission nominee Alvaro Bedoya answered questions from lawmakers on topics ranging from broadband and spectrum use to social media use and antitrust. Rosenworcel told senators point-blank that she had no plans to regulate broadband rates — a concern prompted after she previously seemed open to the option as a way to increase broadband access. She added that the FCC needed to be “more forward-looking” in terms of its broadband speed benchmark, pushing for download speeds of at least 100 Mbps. Rosenworcel threw her support behind revising a memorandum of understanding on spectrum coordination between the FCC and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which has been in place since 1993. In his written responses to senators’ questions, Bedoya expressed “regret” over previous social media posts in which he criticized Immigration and Customs Enforcement and compared the 2016 Republican National Convention to a “white supremacist rally," and pledged to “set aside all of my personal political beliefs and work across the aisle to protect American consumers and businesses” if confirmed. He would also “plan to make antitrust enforcement on Big Tech a top priority.”

In an unexpected twist, two conservative news networks — Newsmax and One America News Network— have come out in support of President Biden's progressive Federal Communications Commission nominee Gigi Sohn [Senior Fellow and Public Advocate at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society], despite a broad conservative consensus against her. If Sohn is confirmed, her appointment would give Democrats the majority they need to rewrite regulations for the communications sector. Some high-profile conservatives argue that could result in "censorship" against them. Sohn was on the same side as both Newsmax and OAN in opposing the Sinclair-Tribune deal. Smaller conservative networks have more to gain from Sohn's record favoring independent programmers. The broadcast industry said via a statement from the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) trade group that while it doesn't oppose Sohn's nomination, it has serious concerns about her involvement with now-defunct streaming service Locast. Sources say NAB wants Sohn to recuse herself from matters before the agency involving broadcasters. It's one thing for conservative critics to come out swinging against Sohn; it's another for the broadcast networks that will be governed by the FCC's regulations to do the same. On December 1, Sohn faces the Senate Commerce Committee for her confirmation hearing, where committee members also will vote on Jessica Rosenworcel's nomination to be the permanent chairwoman.