Dive Brief:
- The digital divide remains a stark problem in many K-12 classrooms as many schools are still having trouble integrating teacher training on tech tools into their approach, according to Ed Tech: Focus on K-12, and Education Week reports the percentage of teachers receiving tech training has remained level since 2009.
- Education Week’s annual "Technology Counts" report found a 10% disparity between teachers in low-income and wealthier districts as it pertains to tech training, with many schools reporting that it is difficult to spend finite resources on integrating tech into the classroom when there are so many pressing issues.
- However, the number of schools with satisfactory internet connectivity has been drastically rising, according to data, and in 2016, 88% of school districts in the country met the minimum internet connectivity level of 100 kbps per student set by the Federal Communications Commission — a 30% rise from three years before.
Dive Insight:
Educators offered a starkly negative assessment on how their schools are prepared to help teachers capitalize on the use of tech tools in the classroom, according to a recent survey that found only 13% of teachers say they had positive opinions. In a survey from last year, half of teachers in high-income districts said their students used computers daily, while only 17% of teachers in low-income districts reported the same. Sometimes, this was due to the lack of the tech tools itself, but administrators must ensure that some professional development is available because a lack of familiarity may lead educators to gravitate away from using tech in the classroom even if it is available. To do so would mean students were not gaining skills from using the tech, but it also means a potentially costly investment by the school would be going underutilized.
In many low-income districts, including rural areas with sharply diminished staff, administrators and educators may be forced to fill several different roles and responsibilities, which can lessen the amount of time available to commit to tech professional development. Therefore, administrators should endeavor to build this PD time into the schedules of their educators and not assume that such training can be done on an ad hoc basis.