Many families now rely solely on their home connections to take meetings via video conference or help their children complete the day’s lessons, not to mention leverage telemedicine to safely visit the doctor. But for the poorest among us — those who once had the option to visit the local library or head into the office to get a reliable connection — the bandwidth available to them at home often isn’t enough. To understand the degree to which the digital divide is affecting low-income families during the COVID-19 pandemic, we compared download speed against five median income brackets in the US using 2017 tax return data by ZIP Code from the Internal Revenue Service. The  stratification of performance is even starker than we had hypothesized, that an acceptable connection is now more important than ever, and that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have the power to make a significant difference. The difference in performance between the highest and lowest income groups is pronounced: download speeds for those making less than $30,000 annually were 41.4% lower than for those making $200,000 or more.

US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Sonny Perdue announced that USDA is investing $71 million to provide broadband service in unserved and underserved rural areas in Kansas and Oklahoma. This funding is part of USDA’s round one investments through the ReConnect Pilot Program.

• Totah Communications Inc. is receiving an $18.9 million loan and an $18.9 million grant to construct 621 miles of fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) broadband infrastructure. This award will extend broadband availability to 8,155 residents, 20 farms and 15 businesses in Rogers, Nowata, Washington and Osage counties in OK; and Montgomery and Chautauqua counties KS.
• KanOkla Shidler LLC is receiving a $15 million loan and a $15 million grant to construct 251 miles of fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) in Osage County (OK). This project will benefit 2,101 residents, 26 farms and 28 businesses.
• Cross Cable Television LLC is receiving a $2.2 million USDA grant to construct a fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network in Le Flore and McIntosh counties in OK. This project will benefit 265 residents, 13 farms and six businesses.
• Carnegie Telephone Company is receiving a $1.2 million loan to construct fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) infrastructure in the town of Carnegie (OK) in Caddo County. This project will benefit 926 residents.

In October 2019, the Federal Communications Commission released a Notice of Inquiry (NOI), launching its annual review to determine if broadband is reaching all Americans in a timely fashion. Back then, we examined the questions the FCC was asking and how they might color its decision. On April 24, the FCC released its 2020 broadband deployment report. Spoiler alert: the FCC majority found for the third consecutive year that broadband is being deployed on a reasonable and timely basis. But past this headline-grabbing conclusion, what else did the FCC find? Perhaps most importantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, the FCC found that at least 18 million people in the U.S. do not have access to 25/3 Mbps broadband service at any price. These people can't work from home, can't continue their education while schools and university campuses are closed, and can't use telehealth services to avoid doctor's offices and hospital visits. 

The sudden shift to remote learning has exposed cracks in today's digital teaching strategies, as parents and teachers struggle with the challenges of recreating the classroom experience online. Demand for ed tech services has surged, as has interest in training for teachers to work online. To prepare for the fall, school districts should vet and limit which products they use, says Josh Golin, executive director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.

The New York Times looks at how some private schools provide online luxury learning during the pandemic. As many public schools struggle to adjust, the nation’s educational gaps widen.

Los Angeles Times Columnist Robin Abcarian writes, "Two LAUSD students sharing a cellphone to find math quizzes? That’s not school". 

Queens College's Dr. Karen Strassler looks at what we lose when we go from the classroom to Zoom. 

The rise of proctoring software to deter cheating alarms privacy advocates. Some students and professors find it invasive, too.

AP Tests Begin Online And At Home — But Not For Everyone

Senate Republican leaders, under pressure from President Donald Trump to install an ally who would dictate more favorable news coverage of his administration, are moving to swiftly confirm a conservative filmmaker to lead the independent agency in charge of state-funded media outlets. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch (R-ID) has scheduled a committee meeting to advance the long-stalled nomination of Michael Pack, a close ally of Stephen Bannon’s and a favorite of conservative activists, to lead the US Agency for Global Media. The action came after President Trump pressed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).