not having a device or having to use a public
network because their home network was not
reliable enough.
About 34% of households making less than
$30,000 reported having trouble paying for their
home internet bill, as did 25% of those making
between $30,000 and $50,000. Compared to
white households, Black and Latino families were
less likely to have access to broadband and a
computer at home.
For Schneider’s children, not having enough
working devices at home during the previous
school year for remote learning meant missing
assignments and classes. The kids struggled to
focus on their work, even if they received paper
assignments. During quarantine periods this year,
she said, they were largely unable to participate in
any instruction at all.
“Without the equipment ... their experience was
that they were more off than on,” Schneider said.
“As soon as they said school was going to back up
... I just had to take my chances and send them.
They needed not to be out of school any longer.”
Even before the pandemic sent most schools
to some form of remote learning, classrooms
have increasingly embraced the role of
technology in teaching, creating a “homework
gap” between those who do and do not
have access to internet and devices at home.
Roughly 2.9 million school children lived in
households without internet access, according
to pre-pandemic Census data, and about 2.1
million lived in households without a laptop or
desktop computer.
Some families are frustrated more hasn’t been
done to close the gap.