According to the American Community Survey, over eight million students do not have Internet access at home. For many of these students, this means staying after school to complete homework assignments, parking outside McDonald’s or other Wi-Fi hotspots to complete college application essays, or visiting the neighbor’s house to get connected.
Twenty-five years after the advent of the computer and the Internet, access to such technologies should not be a challenge, especially for K-12 students. This is why EveryoneOn is committed to working with school districts across the nation to ensure every student has an opportunity to connect to the Internet at home and take full advantage of all the educational content and resources found online.
As an example of our work with school districts, we turn to Los Angeles where we’ve partnered with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) to tackle the digital divide, impacting an estimated 30 percent of LAUSD students. In an innovative and exciting pilot project, EveryoneOn and LAUSD are equipping 118 students at Public Service Community School in South Los Angeles with Internet devices and unlimited data for nine months.
These students will now have access to unlimited Internet data at home, ensuring that digital learning extends beyond the classroom and into households. Additionally, EveryoneOn will facilitate workshops for parents covering topics such Internet safety, digital citizenship, and how to access the school’s online parent portal. This is important because teachers at Public Service Community School are using a digital platform to post student attendance, grades, and even homework.
With a home connection and the knowledge of how to access online tools, parents will be able to become more engaged in their student’s learning on a deeper level. We look forward to sharing more about this transformative partnership and project later this fall!
In the meantime, we encourage you to view this video about how technology is being integrated into education more and more every day, highlighting why home Internet access is essential.