Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

This study assesses information from a range of recent statistical surveys that suggest that there is generally wide home-based access to the internet for the nation’s children. However, the study showed that gaps in internet access do remain between different groups of children. While gaps in access among children of different racial/ethnic groups are frequently cited, important gaps also remain for children in families with low income levels, particularly those residing in rural areas. Although progress clearly is being made with respect to closing the gaps in access to any form of home-based internet, many of the gains for low income children are through smartphone technology, which may result in limited utility for many homework assignments.

Prior research found that access to computers outside of the classroom varied by child and family characteristics. For example, lower rates of computer access at home were found among children from families with lower incomes, children whose parents had lower levels of educational attainment, and children who were of racial/ethnic minorities (DeBell and Chapman, 2006; Gant, Turner-Lee, and Li, 2010). More recent information confirms that differences observed among groups of students continue to exist. American Indian/Alaska Native, Black, and Hispanic students have lower rates of home internet access than their peers who are White or Asian. Also, 5- to 17-year-old students living below the poverty threshold have lower rates of home internet access than students living between 100 and 185 percent of the poverty threshold and students living at greater than 185 percent of the poverty threshold. In addition, a significant portion of internet access for students living in poverty is through mobile devices only, which may limit students’ abilities to complete homework and other school-related tasks.

The geographic locale in which a student’s home is situated also plays an important role in home-based internet access. Students in remote rural and distant rural areas generally had more limited access to the internet than students in suburbs, cities, or towns, with the exception of remote towns. For children living in poverty in remote rural areas, the percentage without internet access at home was particularly high (41 percent for Black students). While more research needs to be done with respect to the educational impact of limited or nonexistent home internet access, students without home internet access had lower assessment scores in reading, mathematics, and science across a range of national and international assessments. This presentation will describe areas where progress has been made in narrowing technology gaps among children, and highlighting areas where substantive gaps in access remain.