California ranks second in the nation behind Texas for having the highest population of students and teachers lacking adequate internet connection and devices at home, according to a recent report by Boston Consulting Group and Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that researches and advocates for safe technology use for kids. Nearly a quarter of California’s K-12 students lack connection to the internet, 17% lack laptops or other devices at home, and 8% of teachers in California are not able to connect to the internet from home.
“States like California and others are working hard to address this problem, but our new data and analysis — which reveals a distance learning digital divide that is even worse in California then was previously reported — further highlights the urgency for policymakers, educators, and private companies to do more to address this basic educational equity issue that affects kids, not just in this state, but in every state,” said James P. Steyer, founder and CEO of Common Sense.
