K12 360° Conversations: Equity Series, Part I

The Pandemic and Educational Equity

Equity has been an enduring issue in the education community for decades. COVID-19 has widened the digital divide and taught us lessons about equity and education policy, especially with many schools turning to Remote Learning. We know that the pandemic has been painful for learning. Children are no longer lined up in hallways; they’re sitting in front of devices in home offices (if they’re lucky) or in some cases, struggling to join classes on an iPhone. Seventy-five percent of our kids do not meet the minimum standard that Google Meet says is needed for a single asynchronous session.

Organizations have been providing resources to fight these education inequalities, like lack of home connectivity, for years. CoSN, the Consortium for School Networking, has an outstanding Digital Equity Initiative, providing schools with a free Digital Equity Toolkit. Education leaders like CoSN are helping the education community with resources and guidance to lessen the widening digital equity gap.

Despite these initiatives, we have a long way to go. The pandemic and quick pivot to Remote Learning has drastically highlighted the inequalities that kids experience at home. At K12 360°, we consider it an opportunity for discussion and a chance to propel the movement forward. We must advocate for change, and take advantage of the current traction that the pandemic has provided.

Where do we start? How do we work towards Equity in schools? It begins with support that surrounds schools - the community: Equity Through Community Coalitions.

Resources

Resources

• COVID-19 and Students Performance, Equity, and U.S. education Policy
• Equity in Education: Defining Equity, Equality, and Standardization

ABOUT OUR AUTHOR

K12 360 Conversations

We have an incredible team of experts at Innive who meet weekly to discuss current events and relevant subjects facing the education industry. The K12 360° Conversations are a blog series pulled from these conversations with the goal of providing an in-depth look at tough subjects and encouraging advocacy.