Underserved populations have long lagged behind other communities in access to technology. Often described as “the homework gap,” access to technology is often a barrier to success in schools. Because lack of access to technology is more pronounced in Black, Hispanic, and lower-income households, the homework gap is a structural inequity that expands other inequities in our society. This is doubly true for students with disabilities and English learners who need additional support in order to access technology, and triply true when a child has multiple underserved identities. COVID has heightened the need to address the homework gap, but even after COVID is gone, addressing the homework gap is key to addressing an issue that results in systemic inequities in our society.
The goal of this project is to access the homework gap in states, for all students, but especially in underserved populations, with the goal of helping partners do state level advocacy and to inform federal advocacy on the issue. This project will be limited to public K-12 education, where equal access to education is a right, as opposed to higher education which is not.
This is a 50-state research project; each attorney or team of attorneys will be assigned to a state and provided with a list of research questions to be answered. To preview the full instructions for participating attorneys, click here.
To express interest in this project, please fill out the form on this page and select “Lawyers for Racial Justice: Homework Gap / Education Technology Access” in the Projects field.