Project Tomorrow’s latest report, “Unfinished Business: Understanding the Digital Access Divide in American Schools,” was released April 29, published in conjunction with Spectrum Enterprises and conducted in support of the U.S. Department of Education’s updated National Educational Technology Plan released in January. It does not disclose how many people participated in the survey, but Project Tomorrow’s website says it has surveyed 6.2 million people across 30,000 schools since 2003.
While about 65 percent of middle- and high-school teachers told researchers in the latest survey that their students can take school-issued devices home, 74 percent of elementary school teachers said their district requires devices to remain in the building when the dismissal bell rings.
Inside the classroom, the report said, student-issued devices are often underutilized, limited in some cases to watching online videos or accessing school learning management systems — “not the best tools for helping students develop future-ready skills,” the report said.
At the middle and high school level, 56 percent of students said they had never used media creation tools for a classroom project, and only 22 percent in grades 6-12 said they had weekly access to virtual labs or online simulations. Eighty-three percent of students had never used virtual reality or augmented reality technology at school, and only 25 percent of students indicated that they emailed their teachers weekly, with 7 percent saying they used text messages instead to ask their teachers about assignments or test dates.
Access to digital learning tools also varies by location. According to the report, 50 percent of high school students in suburban communities collaborated with teachers or peers online about once a week, while that figure was 40 percent in urban communities and 31 percent in rural communities.
“This gap is certainly worth further investigation to understand if the issues are structural or attitudinal,” the report said.
Nationwide, more than half of middle school and high school students (53 percent) reported slow or inconsistent Internet connectivity at school and identified that problem as the main obstacle for using instructional technology more effectively. This is a step backward from 10 years ago, the report said, when 2014 Speak Up findings noted that 48 percent of students cited connectivity as the No. 1 impediment to classroom learning. The 2024 report clarifies that more recent school policies for blocking some websites and not allowing the use of mobile phones played a role in that comparison, however.
The report concluded not with guidance or recommendations, but with questions K-12 school leaders should ask themselves.
“Are your district visioning statements and guidelines such as a Portrait of a Student and Portrait of an Education aligned with your goals for ensuring equitable and accessible technology usage in the classroom for all students? What do you need to do to help your staff, your parents and families, and greater community ‘connect the dots’ between digital access and student outcomes? Why is it important for all members of your community to be on the same page regarding the unfinished business of how to address the digital access divide in your schools?” the report summarized.
According to the report’s introduction, future Speak Up research projects will provide insight on professional development opportunities for educators and ideas for closing the digital divide.
The U.S. Department of Education’s updated national technology plan, which Project Tomorrow’s current and future Listen Up reports are intended to supplement, noted three key steps for addressing digital equity at the state level: establish a cabinet-level ed-tech director, formulate a digital equity plan, and create a “portrait of a learning environment” that considers the abilities and habits of all students when effective and appropriate uses of technology are defined.
