How Community Coalitions Are Bridging the Digital Divide

When schools closed in mid-March, Kansas City was confronted by the region’s deep digital divide. LEANLAB Education has long cultivated a network of educators, policymakers, funders, researchers, and entrepreneurs across the region. Witnessing how many students lacked access to the most basic components of online learning—devices and internet access—LEANLAB and their partners across the metro region took immediate action.

Kansas City digital divide hampers with school online learning

KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) - The city manager’s office in Kansas City is working on a plan to provide low-cost or free internet connection for everyone in Kansas City. The council passed that resolution last month. But the first day of school is only a month away and there are still thousands of students without the means to learn from home.

LEANLAB Education Calls for Coordinated, Bi-State Effort to Bridge Kansas City’s Digital Divide on Heels of Newly Released Research Report

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LEANLAB Education Calls for Coordinated, Bi-State Effort to Bridge Kansas City’s Digital Divide on Heels of Newly Released Research Report

Report finds 1 in 5 students across 22 school districts in the Kansas City region lack reliable internet access

June 25, 2020 | Kansas City, MO --  LEANLAB Education, a local nonprofit focused on innovating in public education,  released a series of recommendations today as part of a new report on the impact of distance learning on teachers and the immediate technology needs of schools.  The report, Bridging Barriers: Assessing the Digital Divide and Remote Learning Across 22 Kansas City School Districts assesses the internet connectivity and device (both laptop and tablet) needs of 22 school districts across the Kansas City metro area, representing roughly 60,000 Kansas City metro area students.  It also summarizes challenges KC-metro area teachers faced when instructing students remotely this spring, which LEANLAB hopes will inform school district decision-making across the metro in preparation for the 2020-21 school year.

Twenty-two school districts participated in the study including 17 public charter schools and five traditional public school districts: Belton, Fort Osage, Independence, Clinton County, and Kansas City Kansas Public Schools. The districts surveyed serve diverse student groups and encompass suburban, rural, and urban students.  

Key Findings

• The study reveals that roughly 20% of public school students assessed, or 12,732 students, do not have reliable internet connectivity at home. 

• Additionally, 33% of teachers assessed named connectivity as their biggest barrier in providing distance learning. 

“It’s encouraging that in the past few weeks, leaders from across Kansas City have been having real conversations about inequity in Kansas City. Schools, policymakers, and communities need to take meaningful action to ensure that virtual learning doesn’t widen existing opportunity gaps” Katie Boody, CEO of LEANLAB Education said. “The Kansas City region will not be able to prosper without an education system that adequately serves all students, and the digital divide and its related challenges are a significant barrier to this vision of what education in this region can be. The reality is low-income and historically marginalized students are the most adversely affected by schools going online.” 

LEANLAB has coordinated with school system leaders, local philanthropists, and the Kansas City Digital Inclusion Network, to produce a series of recommendations based on the findings of the report.  High-level recommendations appear below.

The Report Outlines the Following Recommendations Based on the Findings

1. School Districts should adopt a 100% digital equity pledge. 

2. Internet service providers and technology companies need to reduce barriers for low-income and non-English-speaking student populations. 

3. Philanthropy should give immediate and unrestricted funds to help schools meet connectivity and device needs for the upcoming school year.

4. City Councils in KCMO and KCKS should adopt resolutions for 100% Digital Equity. 

5. State Departments of Education should provide stipends to local districts to incentivize the sharing of best practices and provide grants for professional development and instructional resources.

Progress to Date: Kansas City’s Digital Divide

Recent progress has been made towards closing the digital divide in Kansas City. On June 18, 2020, a resolution went before the city council which, ‘directed the city manager to develop and implement public-private partnerships to effectuate digital equity for residents, students and small businesses in Kansas City, Missouri,’ and was approved. 

Geographic evidence of the digital divide in the Kansas City metropolitan area has been identified by other organizations, notably the Kansas City Coalition for Digital Inclusion and the Kansas City Library have conducted assessments of technology needs across the region; however these assessments don’t address the educational digital divide, or the “homework gap.”  Census-level reports don’t account for the frequent mobility of Kansas City families (40-50% of students will switch from one school to another school in any given year) and geographic reports do not account for the fragmented nature of Kansas City’s public school setting--nearly 50% of KC students are in charter schools, meaning many Kansas City students don’t attend school in the same neighborhood in which they live. 

The Kansas City Coalition for Digital Inclusion stepped in to coordinate the efforts of local organizations, including the public library system, transportation authorities, nonprofits, and private industry to provide emergency connectivity and technology to students and families in need. Connecting for Good secured donations of devices and hotspots from local businesses and government agencies, and distributed to families with students attending schools across Kansas City, MO as well as to the general public in need throughout Jackson County. The Kansas City Public Library system made open access WiFi available 24-hours a day in the parking lots of all branch locations. Kansas City Public Schools and Student Transportation of America, a transportation vendor, placed WiFi-equipped school buses at library locations throughout the city in areas that were identified as “digital deserts,” meaning they contained large disconnected populations.

“While the Kansas City Public Library and the Kansas City Coalition for Digital Inclusion have been working to close the digital divide by offering free services and connection at our locations, it has never been more critical than in this moment,” said Carrie Coogan, deputy director for public affairs and community engagement at the Kansas City Public Library. “What continues to plague our community and so many others is not just making high-quality broadband access available for all, it’s about making it affordable. Broadband adoption for Kansas City families with annual incomes below $20,000 lags behind the national average. We need to focus on making home broadband access a utility. The global pandemic exposed what many people already knew and the LEANLAB study shows--internet at home--just like water and electricity is a critical need for our community members and families to be successful.

LEANLAB Education used the identified need to influence the giving of local philanthropy; by May, roughly $1.5 million in emergency technology relief had been disbursed for student laptops, tablets and internet hotspots, supporting the purchase and distribution of 869 hotspots and 1528 devices (laptops and tablets) to local students. Kansas City Public Schools’ connectivity needs were not assessed as a part of this report because Kansas City Public Schools were able to independently mobilize philanthropic support to secure 3,000 hotspots for KCPS students.  

“It’s important that we all realize this is a temporary solution to a systemic problem. We secured hot spots to meet the majority of emergency connectivity needs for schools, but there’s still a greater need for significant infrastructure investment,” said Rohan Pidaparti, manager of innovation programs for LEANLAB Education. 

Though these short-term efforts were successful in providing some connectivity to vulnerable populations, identifying high-need areas, and leveraging existing resources, these efforts were unable to meet the total need for connectivity in the Kansas City region. Solutions like WiFi-equipped school buses lacked the strength of signal needed to cover larger areas and often were subject to bandwidth throttling and slowed speeds. For the long-term change needed to fully connect the Kansas City region, significant infrastructural investment is needed. 

Additionally, the long-term viability of these solutions comes into question, as school districts take on contracts with telecom service providers that could become cost prohibitive in the future. On June 1, 2020, Governor Mike Parson announced $131 million dollars in cuts to public schools in Missouri. As schools start to feel the squeeze of these budget cuts, school leaders may be forced to make tough decisions about the tech needs of their students and families. 

It is also critical to note that significant connectivity needs remain for other traditional school districts. Specifically, 11,657 students from the school districts studied remain without connectivity.  Specifically they are those serving rural, semi-rural and high poverty populations--notably in Independence, Kansas City Kansas, Belton and Clinton County. 

Bridging the digital divide in a work-from-home era

Data compiled by the Kansas City nonprofit LEANLAB Education found that 17 percent of Kansas City residents live without internet access. Digital inequities are also skewed along race and class — according to the data, lack of internet access is concentrated in neighborhoods east of Troost and disproportionately impacts communities of color and low-income families. 

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Katie Boody Adorno, The LeanLab - Most educational institutions simply weren’t designed for the virtual learner - and now with schools closed, we find parents suddenly thrust into the role of teacher, educators left scrambling to update curriculum and students without access to internet or computers. Enter LeanLab Education, a bridge-building nonprofit that helps span the gap between schools and technology. In the wake of COVID19, Katie and her team marshaled lists of vetted, highly reputable resources in a multitude of areas, including digital access, educator technologies and parent support to help jumpstart educational efforts with as little disruption as possible. They have now turned their attention to assessing connectivity needs and device needs across 22 school districts to ensure access for all students. To date, they have identified 11,000 families without internet connectivity and 2,500 students who need devices and are working to connect these families with vendors who can help. To access the resource list, and read more about LeanLab Education, visit leanlabeducation.org/coronavirus-resources.

To learn more about digital access inequities and see how you can help, visit LEANLAB Emergency Connectivity Covid-19 Response.

KCTV5: Local parents, students find difficulty with at home learning as some don’t have resources

“So we’re hearing about 25% to 30% of kids without consistent internet connectivity at home,” Founder and CEO of Leanlab Education Innovation Katie Boody said.

Leanlab Education Innovation is a non-profit that has identified more than 11,000 metro families without internet. The metro’s 22 school districts still need a collective 2,300 devices to give to students.