Like any scarce resource, technology is not equally available to every school, to every classroom, nor to every student. But it should be, because among technology’s many advantages is its demonstrated ability to “level the playing field.” Computers and other technologies can:

• create an equitable learning environment,
• erase the barriers of geographic distance,
• reduce the disparities of economic status, and
• minimize limitations of individual abilities.

The Internet, distance learning, innovative software, and adaptive devices for special–needs students all help to make this possible today, and the opportunity for even more positive results is in the foreseeable future. However, not every school currently fully benefits from the advantages that technology offers, and there is a danger that this “digital divide” may grow unless measures are taken to guarantee equality of opportunity.

The evidence supports the assumption that those students with the greatest need get the least access. The 1997 School Technology and Readiness Report from the CEO Forum on Education and Technology (1997 STaR Report) finds that the gap in student-to-computer ratios between schools of different economic levels has shrunk, but there is still a gap. In 1994, schools labeled as “disadvantaged” had a student-to-computer ratio of 26–to–1 whereas schools labeled as “affluent” had a 13–to–1 ratio. In 1997 the “disadvantaged” schools’ ratio had dropped so that it too was now 13–to–1, but meanwhile “affluent” schools had dropped even further, to a 10–to–1 ratio. Further, per pupil spending overall and specifically in the area of technology is lower in schools from poorer neighborhoods (QED, 1997).

In addition to the inequities of schools, there is a growing disparity in computer ownership along ethnic lines. Although, as a 1998 U.S. Commerce Department study (Falling through the Net II: New Data on the Digital Divide) indicated, 40.8 percent of non–Hispanic white households owned a computer, fewer than 20 percent of every Hispanic and African–American household owned one. The study also found that the white households were more likely than others to subscribe to an Internet service provider. Urban, inner–city, and rural areas have the least technology and the least access to the Internet; their schools reflect their communities in their access to technology.

Before addressing the equity issues, it is important to first answer the larger question of “why do we need to provide access?” To answer simply, access to telecommunications and technology will be essential for future social and economic viability. Our global society increasingly depends on computers and telecommunications to accomplish its work, provide its entertainment, and to make contact between people. More of the high–paying, information–age jobs are being offered exclusively online; individuals with access to the Internet can often find bargains and discounts not available any other way; educational opportunities of various kinds are offered online; current information, not available in textbooks, can now be obtained more easily from a computer than from a library. The importance of participating in this new economy is clear to students and to the community; it must be engaged by policymakers as well.

This section of the Leader’s Guide discusses the ways technology enhances educational equity, areas where this goal is not being met, and steps to lessen the gap between the technological haves and have–nots.