A Window into the Digital Divide

Published May 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic shut down schools, forcing educators to re-evaluate their methods of instruction. Many reworked educational technology tools like i-Ready for online learning, but this transition was not immediate or seamless. This research into the digital divide shows that i-Ready users declined in the early weeks of the pandemic, specifically in low-income zip codes. While there were bright spots for student usage in these areas, the greater lesson from this data is that programs like i-Ready must be coupled with device availability and internet access to bridge digital learning inequities. Download the full research to learn how device and internet accessibility affected online learning.