The COVID-19 national emergency has struck the #K12 public & private education systems especially hard and this national crisis has shone a bright light on the “homework gap” – experienced by approximately 8.5 to 12 million students who do not have access to the internet at home.

Some educators also lack Internet access in their homes, making it difficult if not impossible to deliver education online right now.

The Joint Economic Committee Democrats report (2017) suggests the number of unconnected students at home is even higher – 12 million students.

Pew Research in 2018 indicated that 15% of K-12 students were victims of the homework gap. With the number of K-12 public and private students at 56.6 million, that means that roughly 8.5 million students lack home Internet access.

The homework gap afflicts minority households disproportionately. According to Pew Research, 25% of all black households with school-age children and 23% of all Hispanic households with school-age children lacked high speed Internet access.

Only 10% of white households with school-age children lacked high speed Internet access – a significant gap. Additionally, 11% of black teens and 18% of Hispanic teens do not have a computer at home. By contrast, 9% of white teens do not have a home computer.

The homework gap hits low-income families particularly hard. According to Pew, more than one-third of households with school-age children that earn less than $30,000 lacked high-speed Internet access.

Only 6% of families w/school-age children earning $75K or more lacked high-speed Internet access. The diff are similar for teen home comps, with 1/4 of families earning less than $30K lacking computer access at home & only 4% of families earning more than $75K lacking home comps