Digital Equity & The Summer Slide

http://www.webjunction.org/news/webjunction/
the-internet-is-important-to-everyone.html

Only 28% of lower-income kids use educational content on mobile devices (https://www.commonsensemedia.org/zero-to-eight-2013-infographic). This is in stark contrast to 54% of higher-income kids. I think about these differences particularly during the summer when higher-income kids have the benefit of camps, family vacation trips and visit to the library while lower-income kids typically don't.  According to some research, much of the achievement gap can be explained by the lack of intellectual stimulation and reading practice lower-income kids experience during the summer months (http://www.summerlearning.org/?page=know_the_facts).

Now we have yet another way lower-income students are losing ground. The time they spend using media is much less likely to include educational content. Children aged zero to eight spend nearly two hours (1:55) of the day with a screen (https://www.commonsensemedia.org/zero-to-eight-2013-infographic). Every day I battle to keep this number from inching up higher in my household. Especially in the summer, when friends are not readily available and hot temperatures outside make a nice walk feel like a steam bath. So I encourage educational content when they are using their screens - Minecraft, writing on GoogleDocs, researching day trips or looking up recipes for cooking projects.

We need to work toward digital equity for all students! The digital divide is still persistent and threatens to push lower-income students farther behind. As I am becoming more aware of this issue I want to work to improve access and use of information technology in my community. One way to do this is raise awareness of free Internet access points. Here is a list for my community.