Bridging Barriers

Analyzing The Digital Divide and Remote Learning Across 22 Kansas City School Districts

When COVID-19 began to shutdown local schools, LEANLAB immediately got to work, speaking with school leaders in Kansas City and learning what their biggest needs were as they transitioned to remote learning.

The educational digital divide—or the divide between students with access to devices and connectivity and those without—quickly became the paramount concern for schools across Kansas City.

To help solve this problem and communicate the depth of the need to local philanthropists, we assessed the internet connectivity and device needs of 22 school districts across the Kansas City metro area, representing roughly 60,000 Kansas City metro area students.

This report lays out:

• The current state of the educational digital divide.

• Efforts already undertaken to get students the devices and connectivity they need.

• Teachers’ biggest concerns in their transition to remote learning.

• The actions we need to take as a community to ensure that all students have access to a high-quality education.