5 Ways Educators Can Help Families Make Better Use of Tech Outside the Classroom
Even as schools continue to invest heavily in technology, we are still staring down what experts call the “device gap,” where students from lower-income backgrounds don’t have the same digital access as their middle class peers. For students and classrooms, that divide can have real impact. In a recent survey, 67 percent of teachers in transitional kindergarten through third grade say they have at least on one occasion not assigned homework that requires technology or digital media because they think their students do not have access at home—a percentage that increases in schools serving more low-income students. For the survey, which was conducted online, information were collected regarding young children’s use of technology specific to home and school settings, and also explored the connection between home and school technology use. Complementary to the above findings, 40 percent of parents report that home technology challenges make it hard for their children to keep up w...