Courtesy of Preston Thomas/Oakland Unified
A mother picks up a Chromebook for her child, who is a student at Rudsdale Newcomer High in Oakland Unified, for distance learning.
Courtesy of Preston Thomas/Oakland Unified
A mother picks up a Chromebook for her child, who is a student at Rudsdale Newcomer High in Oakland Unified, for distance learning.
May 14, 2021
For the first time ever, nearly 95% of California families say their kids have personal computing devices that they can use for school. But even after a year of distance learning, thousands of students still don’t have a computer or access to the internet at home.
May 14, 2021
Following school building closures in March 2020, the Californians Dedicated to Education Foundation, a private nonprofit fiscal manager for the California Department of Education, launched the Bridging the Digital Divide Fund to fundraise and purchase technology primarily for small, rural districts with high proportions of low-income students. The map below shows where those devices were delivered and how much districts received.
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May 14, 2021
The vast majority of rural California students now have access to computers at home, but thousands still can t connect to the internet.
This week, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced the kickoff for the “California Digital Divide Innovation Challenge,” a global competition that will award up to $1 million to the boldest, most revolutionary proposals to eliminate the digital divide and expand high-speed internet access to all Californians.
Despite many efforts and generous donations through the Bridging the Digital Divide Fund, as many as one million students in California still lack internet connectivity. Superintendent Thurmond is launching this challenge to inspire the public and private sector’s most ambitious innovators, researchers, entrepreneurs, and creative problem-solvers to develop technology and strategic partnerships that will have an immediate and direct impact on students today and remove barriers to success long after the pandemic is over.