IT Infrastructure & Management

More Families Have Internet Access. So Why Hasn’t the Digital Divide Begun to Close?

By Alyson Klein — June 24, 2021 3 min read
Glowing neon Loading icon isolated on brick wall background. Progress bar icon.
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Lower-income families’ access to the internet has soared over the past six years. But that doesn’t mean that the digital divide is any closer to closing, concludes a nationally representative survey released by Rutgers University this week.

Among such families with children ages 6 to 13, access to non-dial-up home internet services rose from 64 percent in 2015 to 84 percent in 2021, the survey found. And some of the biggest increases came among populations that were most in need when the university conducted similar research back in 2015.

For instance, 48 percent of families living below the poverty level, a subset of the overall sample of parents with incomes below the national median, had non-dial-up internet service in 2015. By this year, that proportion had increased nearly 30 percentage points, to 76 percent. Similarly, Black households went from 64 percent connectivity to 95 percent during that time. And access among families headed by immigrant Hispanics jumped from 35 percent to 75 percent.

But even lower-income families with devices and non-dial-up connections still have trouble getting online. For instance, 56 percent of families in the Rutgers survey say their connection is too slow. And 18 percent say their service was cut off at least once in the past year because they couldn’t cover the cost.

“The good news is that access has skyrocketed” since 2015, said Vikki Katz, an associate professor in the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers and a co-author of the report. “The bad news is that the proportion of families who are underconnected hasn’t moved.”

The survey is based on telephone interviews with a nationally representative sample of 1,000 parents of children age 3 to 13, all with household incomes below the national median for families in the United States. (That’s about $75,000 a year.)

Just having a device isn’t the whole story

While lower-income families may have a device and some way of getting online, there may be other issues that impede their ability to make full use of that technology.

For instance, among families who only have a smartphone or tablet for internet access, 34 percent hit the data limits in their plan at least once in the past year, interrupting their connection. And more than a quarter—28 percent—say it’s tough to get on the devices when they need them because so many people in the household are sharing. What’s more, of those with a computer at home, 59 percent said it does not work properly or runs too slowly.

That has implications for how policymakers and school districts talk about inequity in internet access, Katz said.

“Maybe we’ve been measuring the digital divide wrong. Connectivity is a spectrum,” she said. To get a good gauge of where families stand, districts should ask more than just yes or no questions when surveying them about internet access.

The survey found a major uptick during the pandemic in parents’ involvement in their children’s education, likely because so many parents and guardians helped with online learning. Two-thirds of parents reported that they now know more about their child’s strengths and weaknesses when it comes to learning than they did before the pandemic. And 43 percent said they were more confident in communicating with their child’s teachers than they were before the crisis.

But parents also are most concerned about their child’s socioemotional well-being compared to other issues next school year. Half of the parents surveyed whose children will be entering 1st grade or higher said that was their top priority, compared to just 30 percent who said they cared most about academics.

“There’s an opportunity to rework the terrain on which low-income families communicate with schools,” Katz said. “I hope we don’t squander it.”

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Artificial Intelligence Webinar
AI and Educational Leadership: Driving Innovation and Equity
Discover how to leverage AI to transform teaching, leadership, and administration. Network with experts and learn practical strategies.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School Climate & Safety Webinar
Investing in Success: Leading a Culture of Safety and Support
Content provided by Boys Town
Assessment K-12 Essentials Forum Making Competency-Based Learning a Reality
Join this free virtual event to hear from educators and experts working to implement competency-based education.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

IT Infrastructure & Management Sizing Up the Risks of Schools' Reliance on the 'Internet of Things'
Technology is now critical to both the learning and business operations of schools.
1 min read
Vector image of an open laptop with octopus tentacles reaching out of the monitor around a triangle icon with an exclamation point in the middle of it.
DigitalVision Vectors
IT Infrastructure & Management How Schools Can Survive a Global Tech Meltdown
The CrowdStrike incident this summer is a cautionary tale for schools.
8 min read
Image of students taking a test.
smolaw11/iStock/Getty
IT Infrastructure & Management What Districts Can Do With All Those Old Chromebooks
The Chromebooks and tablets districts bought en masse early in the pandemic are approaching the end of their useful lives.
3 min read
Art and technology teacher Jenny O'Sullivan, right, shows students a video they made, April 15, 2024, at A.D. Henderson School in Boca Raton, Fla. While many teachers nationally complain their districts dictate textbooks and course work, the South Florida school's administrators allow their staff high levels of classroom creativity...and it works.
Art and technology teacher Jenny O'Sullivan, right, shows students a video they made on April 15, 2024, at A.D. Henderson School in Boca Raton, Fla. After districts equipped every student with a device early in the pandemic, they now face the challenge of recycling or disposing of the technology responsibly.
Wilfredo Lee/AP
IT Infrastructure & Management Aging Chromebooks End Up in the Landfill. Is There an Alternative?
Districts loaded up on devices during the pandemic. What becomes of them as they reach the end of their useful lives?
5 min read
Brandon Hernandez works on a puzzle on a tablet before it's his turn to practice reading at an after school program at the Vardaman Family Life Center in Vardaman Miss., on March 3, 2020.
Brandon Hernandez works on a puzzle on a tablet before it's his turn to practice reading at an after-school program at the Vardaman Family Life Center in Vardaman Miss., on March 3, 2020. Districts that acquired devices for every student for the first time during the pandemic are facing decisions about what to do at the end of the devices' useful life.
Thomas Wells/The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal via AP