Digital Equity

Chocolate Cookies, Pizza & Screen Time

The other night, we had pizza and wings for dinner. The night before, my husband and I each ate six, fresh-baked, chocolate chip cookies. Not fresh-baked in that we actually made the dough, but at least all hot and melty because we put the pre-cut dough balls on a cookie sheet and popped them in the oven. Some people may be totally grossed by our apparent lack of nutrition and poor food choices. However, the cookies accompanied a dinner of roasted chicken (which I did bake) and salad. I also walked the dogs for four miles that day and went to the gym.

1:1 Program Designed to Create Equitable Learning

Each year, CoSN’s Withrow CTO Award recognizes the extraordinary contributions of district Chief Technology Officers whose leadership has helped to transform their system. This year’s recipient, Phil Hintz from Gurnee School District 56 in Illinois, exemplifies the characteristics that the award intends to honor. His team’s successful 1:1 iPad initiative has resulted in higher test scores, a decrease in discipline issues, and declining absentee rates.

How Vancouver Public Schools Designed their 1:1 Program with Equity in MInd

Three years ago, CoSN created the Community Leadership Award for Digital Equity to encourage, promote, and honor districts working to reduce inequities resulting from the Digital Divide. As an organization, we define Digital Equity as access to devices and high-speed Internet as well as the promotion of Digital Literacy. Thus, the Community Leadership Award recognizes districts that address all three pillars within their community.

Digital Equity Initiative Toolkit

Students without home access to high-quality broadband connectivity are at a disadvantage, unable to realize the full power of digital learning. Only 3% of teachers in high-poverty level schools said that their students had the digital tools necessary to complete homework assignments, compared to 52 percent of teachers in more affluent schools—a discrepancy labeled as the "homework gap."

Personalized Learning with Micro-credentials

CoSN supports edtech leaders who are dedicated to continued growth in their capacity to improve students’ learning with innovative, digital environments. We work to improve the human capacity of school systems by providing robust, thoughtful, and relevant professional advancement opportunities. This range from face-to-face events such as the Annual Conference to online courses to CoSN’s Certified Education Technology Leader (CETL®) program.

New Paper Underscores Why Students Need 24/7 Broadband Access

CoSN today issued a new paper for education leaders, titled “School-to-Home: Understanding Why 24/7 Access to Broadband is Essential to Student Learning.”
 
The report comes at a time when students increasingly must gain 21st century technology skills to succeed in life after high school. Despite the technological shift driven by rapid innovations, Pew Research estimates that approximately 5 million U.S. households with school-age children still do not have access to high-speed Internet at home.
 

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