Digital Equity: Reflections on MLK Day
Ed. Policy, Ed. Tech. January 21st, 2008
I’ve written a bit about digital equity in education (see e.g. http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v15n3/), but mostly in academic journals. So, I thought I’d take some time on MLK day to throw some data out there upon which we can collectively reflect.
In homes, there are significant disparities in computer access and use by race. Fairlie (2005) found that African-Americans and Latina/os are much less likely to have access to home computers than are white, non-Latinos (50.6 and 48.7 percent compared to 74.6 percent), and those differences are more pronounced for children than for adults. Using advanced statistical analyses, he concludes that, “[e]ven among individuals with family incomes of at least $60,000, blacks [sic.] and Latinos [sic.] are substantially less likely to own a computer or have Internet access at home than are whites.”
In the following table, we see, graphically, some of those differences.
Within schools, disparities are less pronounced, but digital inequities persist. Here are some selected statistics from an NCES report:
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In 2005, the ratio of students to instructional computers with Internet access in public schools was 3.8 to 1, a decrease from the 12.1 to 1 ratio in 1998, when it was first measured. However, schools with the lowest level of minority enrollment had fewer students per computer than did schools with higher minority enrollments. Specifically, according to my own analyses, schools in rural areas and schools with higher percentages of African-American students are more likely to have lower levels of computer access (boo!!!).
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In 2005, 94 percent of public school instructional rooms had Internet access, compared with 3 percent in 1994. There are no differences across school characteristics (hooray!!!).
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In 2005, schools with the lowest level of minority enrollment were less likely than schools with the highest level of minority enrollment to use the Internet to provide assessment results and data for teachers to use to individualize instruction (81 vs. 92 percent) (hooray!!!).
Thus, Internet access in schools and classrooms is consistently good and equitable. And, while access to computers is inversely related to the percentage of students of color in schools, schools with higher percentage of students of color are more likely to be engaged in data-driven decision-making using Web-based tools.
So, it’s a mixed bag across schools, but it does seem like the institution of public schooling is doing its part to level the digital playing field. The problem is that the significant inequities that exist within homes present a huge barrier to using technology to extend the learning day and to bridge a home-school connection. How, it at all, can schools help to overcome those inequities?
Tags: digital divide, education, equity, technology
I think that yes, we can move towards overcoming the inequities by focusing on what we can do in the school building. You wrote:
“…it does seem like the institution of public schooling is doing its part to level the digital playing field.”
Let’s capitalize on that.
As educators we need to make sure that all of our students have access to the same resources for learning. A first step would be moving towards more in-school homework programs where technology is made available to students. And to ensure that there is plenty of time to work on projects involving technology in the classroom.
In an ideal world, the home-school connection will be strong. We can keep working towards that, and in the meantime make sure that everyone has access to the tools they need to play on a level field.
It would be unethical to do any differently.
Good post.
Tracy
Thanks Tracy and congratulations on being the first commenter on Educational Insanity! I’ve added your blog to my reader in honor of this development.
Happy educating and learning.
JB
Jon,
Congrats on the new blog! A very timely reflection relating to the issue of digital equity and the continuing divide, especially reflected in Internet connectivity disparities between schools and the homes of their students. I would agree that today’s public schools across the country have significantly minimized the “digital divide” relating to Internet access among their students.
I believe costs associated with residential Internet access continues to be the primary barrier between residents with school children who have Internet access versus those that do not.
In terms of solutions, we, as a society need to see Internet access at home as a societal benefit rather than a residential perk.
For example, the recent creation and implementation of Wireless Philadelphia was created to transform Philadelphia’s neighborhoods by making high-speed Internet access more available and affordable through Digital Inclusion – the initiative helps people who are not online gain access with hardware, software, tech support/information, and broadband Internet service, so they can begin to use this technology to improve their educational, employment, health, and life opportunities. Here’s the website address: http://www.wirelessphiladelphia.org/about_mission.cfm
Again, good luck with the blog and I look forward to talking to you soon.
Best,
Kevin
I have moved quite a bit in my life and have gone to a lot of different kinds of schools( my father has always been an educator). When I was in middle school the high school that he was principle at did have a computer in every class but they only had one computer lab in the high school. Students were rarely given many oppurtunities to have access to the internet, and for a lot of them getting on a computer at all at home forget about it most didn’t own one. When we moved when I was starting high school we moved into a school district where there was at LEAST one computer in every class, we had multiple computer labs (one of which was a MAC lab too) and pretty much all students had a computer at home that they would work on. Now I realize I was in middle school a long time ago and computer use wasn’t as big or essential as it is today. However, here is another example. When my father became superintendent he started in a smaller school district (this was recent maybe 3 yrs ago) and it was a middle/ high splitt school…they had one computer lab, with computers.
I really think that more time needs to pass in order for techology to “catch up” in all schools. I only hope that there will one day be a time where all students receive similar experiences in grade-high school because that’s how it should be….but I have my doubts that that will ever come true, some students wll always have the upper hand.
[...] written quite a bit about digital equity in education, including a blog post a while back (on MLK Day 2008). Today, I look at some recent statistics on computer uses in schools [...]