New CMU study shows inequity in internet access among children

A study led by a Carnegie Mellon University professor used national data to measure how many children have internet access at home and what factors contribute to the long-existing digital divide. The findings, said lead researcher Ananya Sen, are especially potent as most K-12 school districts have moved to online instruction amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The study found low-income and non-white children have less accessibility to the internet and suggests children in these groups will be especially harmed by social distancing requirements.

“Since we’re in this pandemic and so many things are changing, we wanted to present facts related to access to the internet for school children,” said Sen, an assistant professor of information systems and economics at CMU’s Heinz College. “As digital scholars we think the digital divide is still a very real thing. We wanted to see what it looks like and how that might exacerbate existing educational inequality.”

The study, “Social Distancing and School Closures: Documenting Disparity in Internet Access among School Children,” was conducted by researchers at CMU and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The research used data from the 2018 American Community Survey, which is administered by the Census Bureau.

The survey examines about 3 million households, recording the level of internet access — high-speed, dial-up or satellite — for students in first through 12th grades. The survey also records whether the households receive food assistance through SNAP benefits, and the student’s age, race, disability status and type of housing.

The researchers concluded poverty and race affect children’s access to the internet. Children in families that receive food stamps are 16% less likely to have high-speed internet and 10% more likely to have no access at all.

African American children are 8% less likely to have access to high-speed internet and 4% more likely to have no access at all. Decreased accessibility was a trend for all non-white children.

Sen said the findings are consistent even in large population centers where internet access is generally better, and in areas where statistics indicate higher incomes. Children of color are consistently less likely to have high-speed internet access, across geographic locations.

The idea that internet accessibility is an issue for low-income families is nothing new. It’s been recorded anecdotally in both rural communities and within the Pittsburgh Public Schools district. Educators across Western Pennsylvania have said the pandemic has highlighted inequities among districts and the communities they serve. But providing hard data on the topic is an important step forward, Sen said. The percentages are necessary to show the extent of the problem.

“Those magnitudes matter — if it’s 3-5% or if its 20-30%,” he said. “When you’re thinking of allocating resources to different areas, the magnitude of the problem matters.”

Sen and his fellow researchers hope the study can inform policy decisions during the pandemic, encouraging subsidies and other resources to students. Expanding broadband access has gotten less attention in policy circles in recent years, the report says, but there are still “lingering questions” about if a policy approach could help fix the problem.

“As policymakers debate the extent to which future stimulus packages should subsidize broadband internet, our results aim to highlight where subsidies may be useful so existing educational disparities in relatively underprivileged communities are not reinforced,” Catherine Tucker, a distinguished professor of management at MIT who co-authored the study, said in a statement.

As time passes and the pandemic continues, among fears that schools will not reopen normally in the fall, Sen said need for quick policy intervention is critical, so “the kids that are getting left behind don’t get further left behind.”

“A lot of things happen online and you can access so many resources online,” he said. “If this situation continues for a while, it’s just going to exacerbate those issues.”

The only exception researchers found in their study, Sen said, was that in areas with a large presence of technology jobs or tech-forward companies that use broadband internet, there are “positive spillovers” to disadvantaged youth, increasing their likelihood of having access to high-speed internet. Private firms may donate equipment, or certain internet plans may become more available to low-income families if a company is operating nearby, he said.

Sen hopes the study can encourage more companies to share their resources with their surrounding communities.