Review of "Senators Push for Digital Equity for All Students"

Senators Push for Digital Equity for All Students

LINK:  http://www.centerdigitaled.com/k-12/Senators-Push-for-Digital-Equity-for-All-Students.html

Roscorla, T.  (July 13, 2015).  Senators push for digital equity for all students.  Center for Digital Education.  Retrieved fromhttp://www.centerdigitaled.com/k12/Senators-Push-for-Digital-Equity-for-All-Students.html .

Tanya Roscorla’s article, Senators Push for Digital Equity for All Students, outlines some potential changes to current education legislation (2015).  In it, Roscorla explains that there are two items from the 2015 Every Child Achieves Act that are being proposed as amendments to the existing Elementary and Secondary Education Act (2015).  Amendment 2153 would create government-funded pilot programs to create and test different ways to provide access to students from low-income families, while Amendment 2154 would earmark funds to study how grand the impact of the lack of Internet access for these students is (Roscorla, 2015).  The article goes on to identify different ways that some districts are already providing Internet access to low-income families, including Wi-Fi on busses and Internet kiosks in common community areas and businesses (Roscorla, 2015).

            I think that this proposed legislation could be a good thing for students nationwide.  For starters, we know that curricula nationwide are enhanced so greatly by the utilizing the Internet and other technology.  In addition, we know that many families simply cannot afford individual Internet access within their homes.  These two pieces of legislation could tackle both issues.  Providing access to all students regardless of household income will go a long way in enhancing their overall education.  Furthermore, studying just how big of an issue the lack of Internet access really is will help give lawmakers the tangible evidence they will need to better address the issue.  The one thing that I think could cause difficulty addressing the latter is how daunting that task seems.  According to the article,

“The study would look at the amount of homework that needs to be done online, how lack of access at home affects educators and students, and what works well to address this problem” (Roscorla, 2015).  That, to me, seems like an enormous amount of data collection.  Moreover, I think that some teachers would see this as a sort of “big brother is watching you” approach and be apprehensive in regards to sharing information.

            In our school district, I think that this legislation would have big, positive implications.  We already have the necessary percentage of low-income families in the district to qualify for funds relating to these amendments.  Also, I know that, at least at my grade level, many students do not have a consistent, reliable source of Internet access that they can regularly use for academic purposes.  Many students go to the community library, but the problem with that is that many live so far away from it that going there is unrealistic and/or dangerous.  To alleviate that, I think that the district could utilize more Wi-Fi areas, perhaps by partnering with community clubhouses, parks, and local government buildings.  And, the idea of outfitting school busses with Wi-Fi connections (that could be filtered) is a great way to provide access to even more students.  The bottom line is that this problem is solvable and would immensely benefit our community.