Investing in our future: Sustaining K-12 digital access

On this episode of Connected Nation, we tackle a topic impacting millions of students across the country — how to sustain digital access in K-12 education. 

As federal programs end, only 27% of states are ready to keep kids connected. Jessica Denson talks with Pam Lloyd, Ph.D., Strategic Advisor at Connected Nation, and Ji Soo Song, Director of Projects and Initiatives at SETDA, about a new report that outlines strategies to prevent students from falling behind. 

Together, they explore what must happen next to ensure every student has the online access they need to succeed — now and in the future.

Recommended Links: 

SETDA Report - The Universal Connectivity Imperative

Opinion Piece: Time for State Ed-Tech Leaders to Take Matters Into Our Own Hands

Production Note: There were issues with downloading Ji Soo Song's audio file and we apologize for moments of low audio quality. 

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction & meeting the guests
• 13:12 Hearing about SETDA's mission
• 20:40 Insights on the SETDA report
• 23:54 Differences between the "digital access divide" and the "homework gap"
• 30:20 Key findings in the report
• 35:46 Policy recommendations to close the Digital Divide in education
• 42:46 Audience takeaways
• 45:32 Conclusion + outro

Transcript

Jessica Denson (00:08):

This is Connected Nation, an award-winning podcast focused on all things broadband from closing the digital divide to improving your internet speeds with talk technology topics, and impact all of us, our families, and our neighborhoods. On today's podcast, a topic that should concern every parent, teacher, administrator, and well all of us. Really, the future of primary education in America, specifically when it comes to technology. A recent report found that only 27% of states are prepared to sustain K through 12 digital access. As federal programs end, we'll explore the strategies set out in that same report to prevent millions of students from losing internet access and falling further behind. I'm Jessica Sen, and this is Connected Nation. I'm Jessica Denson, and today my guests are GSU Song, who is the director of Projects and initiatives at CDA, which is short for the State Educational Technology Directors Association. And Dr. Pam Lloyd, who is a strategic advisor for Connected Nation, both played an important role in developing and informing a recently released report titled The 2025 Universal Connectivity Imperative Sustaining Progress to Close the Digital Access Divide in K through 12 Education. Welcome Dr. Lloyd and gsu. Pam Lloyd, Ph.D (01:33):

Well, thank you, Jessica. I'm so happy to be here. Ji Soo Song (01:36):

Thanks for having me. Jessica Denson (01:37):

Uh, before we dive into this report and its recommendations, I'd like to give our audience a little background on each of you. Um, we were talking before we started, uh, GSU has done a podcast with us and really changed how we, um, did our podcast in that we made it more accessible. We started doing transcripts. I really learned a lot from that podcast. I'm looking forward to this, but as we get started, I'm gonna give Dr. Lloyd a first crack. So you have a long history, uh, a professional history that really intersects at education, healthcare, and technology. Share some of that experience, Pam. Pam Lloyd, Ph.D (02:11):

Sure. Jessica Denson (02:11):

And, and forgive me, uh, Pam, I might end up going. Pam, Dr. Lloyd. Pam, Dr. Lloyd. Yeah, Pam Lloyd, Ph.D (02:18):

That's fine. You can just call me Pam <laugh>. I, well, I think, uh, you know, I'm gonna date myself, but, uh, I'm really, uh, a millennial in a boomer body. Um, I have a lot of, uh, lot of intersections in my careers, and probably because I was bored in what I was doing, wanted to try something new. But I started out in technology, um, actually working on, uh, a mainframe that we shared in the cloud. And, uh, it wasn't called cloud then. It was called timesharing, <laugh> <laugh>. And, uh, so from there, it just was very intriguing to me. I worked in health for a health insurance company connecting, um, mainframes to desktops to many mainframes. And then decided I wanted to be a teacher. 'cause I started doing training when I was working at this, um, health insurance company and became a teacher. Um, and it was great.
(03:10)
I was probably my most favorite career that I've ever had in my life. Um, but I soon left that and went into administration where I was the technology director for the Anchorage School District, uh, which is in the top 100 largest school districts in the nation, even though it's in, uh, Anchorage, Alaska. And, um, and then it wasn't too long after that that a, uh, a telecom company, the largest in Alaska, came knocking on my door and said, Hey, we'd love you to run our education division. And, um, I thought, well, that could be interesting. I could have an even bigger impact, be working at the whole state level. And, um, and from there I ended up, um, with my final corporate career as, as the vice president for, um, healthcare education and government sectors. And I've been with Connected Nation as a consultant and strategic advisor, I think, for almost four years now. And, um, it is really where I feel my sweet spot is where I'm doing good things, working with good people and getting a chance to work with GSU has been phenomenal. Jessica Denson (04:20):

Uh, I would be remiss if I didn't bring you back just a little bit to that time you were at the Anchorage School. Uh, I find that interesting, only because I'm kind of fascinated with Alaska. I've never been there. And, um, when I have someone on from Alaska, I, I'm interested in how you navigate that. So running a, you know, being at a school with, and dealing with technology and that type of thing in an environment that can be very tough. Uh, were a lot of your students rural kids? Or is there, are there, are there very urban areas there? And I, I'm mistaken Pam Lloyd, Ph.D (04:52):

<laugh>? Yeah. Well, Anchorage is, is very urban. Um, it's half the state's population lives in Anchorage, and the municipality itself is the size of the state of Rhode Island. So it's a large area. Um, but the technology there fiber is, is, is pretty much everywhere there now in Anchorage. Um, but when I was the technology director there, we just had copper between the, between the hundred schools at, at, I think it was less than 10 megabits. And it was difficult 'cause we were having to have servers in every, every building. But that is not as difficult as it was once I started working for GCI and I worked in rural Alaska. Um, that is where you have school districts that are the size of West Virginia that you're trying to connect with no roads. Um, so that the challenges that are in Alaska, if we can solve for there, you could solve for anywhere. Um, and I did serve on the Arctic Economic Council, um, and I was the chair for the working group on connectivity where we created a matrix, um, for, uh, uh, investing in, in infrastructure in a sustainable way. Um, and it was written for the Arctic countries with Canada and Alaska largely represented there. Jessica Denson (06:09):

Very cool. Very cool. Um, so you're not in Alaska now, right? You're, are you further south? Pam Lloyd, Ph.D (06:15):

I'm further south. I live in Florida. I still have a place in Alaska, and Alaska's always gonna be a home for me. I spent 50 years there and grew up in North Pole, Alaska, so it's always gonna be a special place. My family still lives there. Um, but I was, after 50 winters, I was just kind <laugh>. Jessica Denson (06:34):

That's a big change. Um, and, and gc where are you located right now? Ji Soo Song (06:39):

So, I recently relocated to Seattle after living in the DMV region, the DC area for about 10 years. Um, so enjoying the Pacific Northwest so far. Jessica Denson (06:50):

Oh, I love, that's a wonderful area. <laugh>. Well, let's just talk travel. No, I'm just kidding. Um, uh, jeez, you have a deep resume focused on education policy, including a master of education. What drew you to that early on? Talk a little bit about your background. Ji Soo Song (07:05):

Yeah, for sure. And like, uh, Dr. Laurie, there were kind of like pivots and turns and twists in my, uh, career as well. When I tell folks that I was actually, um, an ecology major in undergrad, that kind of surprises people. Like, how did you end up in education policy after like researching hermit, um, but yeah, um, actually during undergrad to just fulfill a graduation requirement, I took an education course, uh, that they were offering. Um, shout out to professor, uh, professor Michelle Ty over at Dartmouth College <laugh>. Um, that actually opened my eyes to a lot of the inequalities in the us um, educational system. So I'm an immigrant to this country. I moved to the US when I was in second grade, and fortunately, I had a chance to attend, uh, elementary, middle, and high school in a very well resourced district just outside of dc.
(08:02)
So I thought, Hey, this is awesome. This is great. The US education is great. There's so many different opportunities. My teachers have doctorates and they offer up cool, you know, curriculum and things like that. So I thought that was kind of the norm, right? And then I take this course in undergrad and I realize, oh, that is not the case. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Here, right? But the opportunities that I access to, um, the, one of the teachers that I had to that not the case across all states and all in the us. So that moment, that class actually made me realize that education policy field. So that, uh, interested in taking up an internship, the of educational technology at the education during, um, when Arnie Duncan was the Secretary of Education over there. Um, so during that time, 2016 version of the national ed tech plan, as well as the 20 higher education national ed tech plan.
(09:01)
Um, and then after undergrad, I decided that I wanted get further into, uh, policy, but I definitely wanted to have that firsthand experience first so that I kind of know what I'm talking about. So I decided to, um, do an AmeriCorps, uh, program through an organization called City Year that offers, um, K12 students with tutoring and mentorship services. Um, so I co-taught a third grade math, uh, classroom, and also gotta lead a robotics club, uh, at my elementary school in, uh, southeast dc This is actually where I kind of experienced the impact of the digital access divide firsthand. My third grade students, they were very much interested in technology and using technology to do things, pursue their hobbies and things like that, but just that access piece was preventing them from, um, doing the things that they wanted to do. So this was a really valuable experience for me, and I'm kind of reminded of that experience every now and then as they advocate for closing the digital access divide. And, um, through c or through AmeriCorps, actually, you got a scholarship to go to grad school. Uh, so I used that scholarship to, uh, or my master's in ed policy from American University. So that was the pivot into, um, ed policy, digital access divide that I arrived at after actually, you know, being in a STEM field for a while. Jessica Denson (10:24):

I do wanna, uh, pause you a little bit and, and talk about your AmeriCorps experience even further, because that's quite interesting that you as a child were an immigrant, and then you get involved in this. Is it just that you see some of, uh, yourself in these kids and these people that are, that need a little help? Or is it, what is it that drives you with that? Ji Soo Song (10:45):

I mean, for sure, right. You know, as an immigrant, you're having to sort of rely on yourself to be the primary resource, right? You're not getting through a system that you've never been exposed to before. There's no one in your community that can tell you, um, what to do. So that causes barriers and different opportunities, right? And again, I saw that also in my students, uh, in third grade. Now, they weren't primarily in an immigrant community, but they were having systemic barriers placed on it that prevented them from practicing opportunities that they were interested in. So that also sort of boosted my interest in pursuing a career in policy and tried to make systems as, uh, equal as possible. Jessica Denson (11:26):

Now the last one we talked to you, you, you had a different role at CDA. Uh, what are you doing now with the organization? Ji Soo Song (11:33):

Right. I think before, um, this, uh, current role I was actually at, in the Biden Harris Air Administration at the Use education at the Office of VE Tech. I mentioned that I did an internship during some previous administration uhhuh, but they called me back to, uh, join, um, as the digital equity advisor, um, got a chance to do some cool things there. I led, uh, what we call the Deer Initiative, where we provided guidance to, um, K12 districts on how to, you know, lead in terms of digital equity and inclusion. We pulled off some convenings, um, and we also did develop these story engine to feature stories, uh, you know, organizations, anchor institutions that are doing some cool things to advance digital skills, profit access in the communities. Uh, we also did the online for all campaign through a public private partnership with an organization called Civic Nation, uh, to promote the Affordable Connectivity Program when that was a thing. And then we also got a chance to develop the 2024 iteration of the plan I had in helping get that across the finish line and design the, uh, dissemination campaign for that plan. But, um, last year I transitioned over to this organization called Beta Data Directors Association. Um, my role when I was actually interviewing for this role, um, Julia, our executive director, described this role as the air traffic controller, uh, for various projects and partnerships, um, making sure that all the different projects that we launch off the ground land with the highest quality. Jessica Denson (12:58):

Oh, that's, Ji Soo Song (12:59):

So Jessica Denson (13:00):

That's a great way to put it. <laugh>. Ji Soo Song (13:01):

Yeah. So one of those projects was the, uh, univers Imperative Initiative. The, that we did a partnership with Dr. Lloyd and Connect Nation folks. So I had a lot of fun with that. Yeah. Jessica Denson (13:12):

Awesome. So, uh, speaking of a cita, uh, which again, for our audience stands for the State Educational Technology Directors Association. Well talk a little bit before we get into the study, talk a little bit about the organization itself and what its mission and focus is. Ji Soo Song (13:28):

Absolutely. Um, so we're a professional association that primarily represents state ed tech and visual learning leaders, um, from 40 member states, uh, as well as, uh, some affiliate nonprofits and corporate member organizations that share our mission, uh, advancing, um, the quality of visual education in the us. Uh, so we regularly convene our members, uh, to help exchange best practices on EdTech policy development and implementation. And we do research and advocacy on behalf of our members as well. Um, some of the major efforts, uh, coming out from CDA, actually in the two thousands when No Child Left Behind got passed, there was a dedicated ed tech program, um, called Enhancing Education through Technology Program, um, in that law. So we helped our state members implement that law in the two thousands. We also have our, um, topic based committees and collaboratives. Um, so members convene on issues right from the E-Rate program, title, QA of esa, which deals with professional learning, and also we have our cyber security and online privacy, um, collaborative, which, you know, which meet our members who lead things like the cybersecurity pilot, um, that the FC announced last year. Um, the, uh, c also was the lead contractor for the US Army Education and developing the, uh, 2024 national ed tech. And this was actually how I got acquainted with organization in the first place. So I'm actually working with the same group of, uh, partners and organizations that I used to when I was at the Department of Ed, which is really nice, kind of, uh, continuity there. Jessica Denson (14:59):

Yeah, that's, that's good to have an idea who the players are, but when you start a new position, definitely. Good. Well, let's move on to which brings, you know, our big topic, which is a new report from the organization titled The 2025 Universal Connectivity Imperative Sustaining Progress to Closing the Digital Access Divide in K through 12 Education. It focuses on helping states navigate technology as federal programs in, and it, it's very timely in a way with, uh, president Trump starting to move on plans to eliminate the Department of Education, which often, uh, provides, um, direction for a lot of schools at the state level, even though it's a federal organization. So, taking the politics out of it, I'd love to hear what each of you have to say, how you think that that's going to affect some of the things before we dive into the actual report. So, Dr. Lloyd, in your opinion, what do you really know about the impact that this could or would have if, if the Department of Education just went away? Pam Lloyd, Ph.D (15:58):

Well, sure, and I can speak from my experience. I think GSU will have, you know, a, a great perspective as well, because he lived and worked, worked there, from my perspective, at the administration level in the school district. Um, the Department of Education was instrumental to helping us with providing data, providing, uh, best practices that were out there. It gave us a viewpoint of what was happening as far as policies. You know, many school districts and states are either local control, state control. So the idea of what the curriculum needs to be, or some of the reasons, I think why the department or the, the, our, this administration is wanting to, um, take away the Department of Education, really are already happening at a state level. And I think that what we're going to miss, um, from this is the ability to have that data, that centralized data place.
(16:54)
Um, and I also feel that there are so many programs at the federal level that are instrumental to those students that have the highest needs. And I worry, uh, about that piece of it. I think, um, fundamentally, I am a strong component proponent of public education. I think it's the foundation for our democracy, and I feel strongly that it is the space in place that every child, every student can come to, to have opportunity. Um, and I think that the Department of Education actually helps build those bridges across those states. So I personally, um, I, I have some, some worry about how this happens and, and what will be lost. Um, but I will pass, I'd like to pass it over to Jisu for his thoughts, because I think he'll give us, um, an even better perspective. Jessica Denson (17:51):

And, and GCOI just wanna note, you worked for the US Department of Education, so you've actually had the other side, uh, the other point of view, whereas, uh, Dr. Lloyd has actually been a teacher. So, from your point of view, how do you view what's happening, the impact that action could have? Ji Soo Song (18:07):

Right. I definitely, you know, share with the concerns that Dr. Lloyd raised around the loss of data and research capacities education, right? Wrote a report, uh, this morning actually that the National Center for Education Statistics, like their number of staff, has dwindled a lot due to the reduction in mandates. Um, so that is a point of concern for, uh, but, uh, we released a statement about this a few weeks ago when that reduction in enforce, uh, order happened. Obviously, only Congress can shut down the federal agency and the program that it overseas, but we'll also have to see how the course respond with that recent action. Um, c as an organization, um, that, you know, convenes our state education leaders, we also have a few additional concerns regarding a potential shutdown of the US education. For example, any sort of reorganization these to significant levels of disruptions, uh, for SCAs, right?
(19:06)
They have to navigate new processes, requirements, reporting structures, new relationships to be built with new agencies, right? So what happens to districts, educators, and students in the meantime, as those system level s are being figured out? Right? That's a question that's causing con confirm a concern for our members. Um, eliminating entire federal programs means that SBAs have independently sustained them through their own legislatures, and they're already facing some tight budget issues. So that's another, um, issue that we've heard from our members. And then finally, we're concerned that basically all of the staff at my previous office, the Office of Ed Tech, were let go, right? They were critical in developing best practices around ed tech implementation and also, uh, the convening power it locked, uh, in making sure that decision makers could exchange ideas with one another, right? So that's another thing that we've heard from our members.
(20:03)
Um, but we also feel that this is an opportunity for our members, our state EdTech leaders to step up and build a void. Um, Julia Fallon, our executive director, and I published an opinion article on tech, uh, earlier this week about how this is the moment for states to continue convening through associations and organizations like cda, uh, to continue building on the progress made, making sure that those progress, uh, things aren't rolling back. And we hope that the recommendations in the UCI reports can help them think about where to get started as we sort of step up their role. Jessica Denson (20:40):

I, I'll find a link to that and put it in the description of this podcast to that op-ed. Uh, again, it just makes this report even more critical right now. So let's get into it. Um, gsu, uh, give us an overview of what the report is at addressing within K 12 schools. We talked about the digital access divide, what that means and why CDA decided to look closely at this issue. Ji Soo Song (21:03):

Yeah, absolutely. So in 2010, actually, we used to publish a series of reports that, uh, was called the Broadband Imperative. Um, I think the first report came out in 2012, and there was a follow up in 20, and Broadband three came out in, um, that series of reports really focused on school building, right? So it set them per student school bandwidth goals, um, that ultimately influenced the 2014 E-Rate modernization order from the FC and the broadband imperative reports also called for and state leadership recommendations around e implementation. But you can al already tell from the dates that I mentioned, right? 2019, we released a broadband imperative report, and literally a couple of months later, the world shut down mm-hmm <affirmative>. Because of covid-19, right? Um, and we quickly realized, hey, we've made so much investment into making school buildings connected to broadband, which is really amazing to see.
(22:02)
But what happens to our students when they go home? Um, what happens to our students when they go out into their communities and they're disconnected, right? Uh, but the good thing was the pandemic, uh, spurred this national movement towards K12 universal connectivity. There were programs created specifically to advance infrastructure investments through things like feed affordable service, got prioritized, um, through the Affordable Connectivity program, and there was also digital equity, right? So, knowing all of this, and as we're looking to 2025 and onwards, we were thinking, you know, how do we sustain the gains that we've made during the pandemic, right? All these investments that we've made, how do we accelerate the progress towards, uh, the theme of K 12 universal connectivity so that no students are fared from accessing technology integrated, uh, learning as described in the national ed tech plan? All of these wonderings that we had with our members was what led to us launching UCI with Connected Nation and our members, uh, last summer.
(23:00)
So we really, uh, aim to take stock of what we've learned so we can properly chart the way forward. We wanted to assess, assess the state of visual access in create 12 education across the country, explore some of the strategies that our state members are putting forth to address that issue of home internet access, and then, uh, provide some state and federal policy recommendations for moving forward. Uh, we had months of conversations with government leaders, researchers, nonprofits, um, industry leaders, and also K12 students and educators, uh, who are impacted by, so that we can get a firsthand account of how the digital Access divide manifests itself. And, uh, see the members on the Project working group help distill all of these conversations into some takeaways and policy recommendations. Um, so this was very much a whole, um, community effort to develop the recommendations that you see in the final report. Jessica Denson (23:54):

So, just a, a side note, a side question I guess that came to me as you were talking about this, uh, the digital access divide. How does that differ from the homework gap? Is that the same thing? Just two different ways to describe it. Ji Soo Song (24:08):

Right. So the term digital access divide was, uh, really defined in the 2024 national ed. Uh, the national ed tech described three different divides that we have to be solving for, um, in 12, the first divide that it calls out is a digital use divide. How do students use technology mm-hmm <affirmative>. Uh, in when it's in their hands, right? Is are they using it actively, which agency, or is it just another tool to display a, you know, a PF version of a worksheet? Right? Is it being used in those transformative ways, or is it being used in passive ways? So that's the digital use divide that it calls for. The next divide that it calls for is the digital design divide. Do teachers, um, have, uh, the necessary professional learning and coaching opportunities to be able to, um, design, um, instruction and curricula that allows students to use technology in those active ways?
(25:04)
And the final, uh, divide that the national plan calls for is the visual access divide, which was the theme of this report, right? Do all students, educators and families have access to productivity, the devices and the visual content they need, um, to, um, thrive in a today's economy in society? So that's where we borrowed that term from. I know, um, commissioner, former commissioner, uh, coined the term, um, the homework gap to refer to, um, the barriers that our students face when they home their lack of connectivity. But we sort of wanted to make sure that we don't focus just on that connectivity piece. There's so many other barriers, um, that students might face, including non-inclusive, um, platforms and tools, or the lack of digital skills that can also be a factor in them accessing those technology integrated opportunities. So that's why we went, uh, with the terms device for the purpose of the report. Jessica Denson (26:00):

Okay. That makes, that makes a lot of sense. Thank you. Uh, Dr. Lloyd, uh, talk about your role in developing this report and how this report was approached when it comes to studying this need and kind of what you took away from it in the, in the, in the immediate, um, days after. Pam Lloyd, Ph.D (26:17):

Sure. Um, well, I felt a little bit like I was rewriting my dissertation <laugh>. Um, it's kind of interesting that, uh, back in the early two thousands in Alaska, we had a one-to-one laptop program that the School Boards Association had, um, had received, uh, state funds to put laptops into, um, 16 school districts in the state, uh, of Alaska. And I studied the different, um, aspects of teaching and learning when, um, students have access to the device but don't have access to broadband in their homes. And I looked at it from satellite delivery to, um, fiber delivery to nothing in, in the home. And so it felt a little bit like we were revisiting some of that, but just more on steroids. And, um, so I was asked, uh, by CA early on, Juliet fall, Fallon had reached out and said, Hey, I'd like you to be lead writer as, um, part of the contribution of Connected Nations, uh, role, the sponsorship of this report.
(27:23)
And, um, and so I said, sure, uh, I would love to, and this is something that's near and dear to my heart. And so, uh, GSU was just a great organizer, and we had a limited time, um, because we were going to get started, and then we were started a little bit late. So we had some limited time, and we really pushed, pushed through this together. Um, had some late nights, uh, back and forth, but I think it was through the organization that GSU set up where we had guest speakers coming in, talking to a working group that, again, I think he mentioned, um, rep was representation of, of CDA members. It had representation from nonprofits including Connected Nation. Um, Emily Jordan, uh, served as the working group as, uh, um, from Connected Nation. We had people from the corporate sector. We had students that talked to us in teachers that came on. Um, and so it was a really great, well-rounded opportunity to listen and hear. And then taking all those notes and syn synthesizing them into the universal connectivity imperative report, um, was the what G gc G gsu and I worked on. So, um, that's pretty much how it all came about <laugh>. Jessica Denson (28:40):

And there was lots of represent representation from state education departments as well, right? Pam Lloyd, Ph.D (28:45):

Yes, yes. Which the senior members were there as well. Jessica Denson (28:49):

Which do you think, uh, because of your background in as a teacher and in the, in, in technology that give you kind of a unique, I mean, the fact that they invited you on to be one of the, the, a writer with it? I would think part of that is that unique background that you have where you can understand, you know, people from both sides of it, like from the educational side of the technology side, and how do you bring that together and where does that fit and how do you speak my language? And, you know, just like any industry, there's different jargons. Do, do you feel like you helped bridge that a little bit? Pam Lloyd, Ph.D (29:21):

I did. I think it helped me as a writer to have that background. I think it, if you were coming into this, um, because within, within the industries, whether it's, uh, the technology industry, the telecom industry, the healthcare industry, the education industry, uh, they all have their jargon. They all have their language. And so, um, that was helpful for me as a writer to be able to have that background. Definitely. Jessica Denson (29:47):

Gsu, what was her grade on this? Did she do all right, <laugh>, I'm just kidding. Ji Soo Song (29:50):

Oh, a plus for Jessica Denson (29:51):

Sure. A plus. Yes, I agree. <laugh>, Ji Soo Song (29:54):

She mentioned those latenight writing sessions, right? We would be like, it would be like 8:00 PM Eastern time. It would be like, oh my gosh, we need to get this section over our working group tomorrow so that they have at least a week to review it. <laugh> and Pam was already on deck. You make those edits and changes. So it was awesome working with her. I've worked with, uh, before projects, you know, Pam's writing definitely. Pam Lloyd, Ph.D (30:18):

Thank you. Gsu <laugh>. Jessica Denson (30:20):

And it just says something about your passion for it to do that. Um, you know, a lot of late nights, um, gsu, what are some of the key findings in this report? Some of the things that you really took away that, uh, schools can implement or people can understand when it comes to this topic? Ji Soo Song (30:37):

Yes. So the report dives into four dimensions of achieving connectivity in k12, um, by calling out the progress we made as a country, as well as the necessary areas. Go over those, um, in this. So the first one is, um, access to reliable, affordable broadband and enabled devices. So, um, obviously as I mentioned before, we've made some great progress over the past decade in connecting our school buildings, right? But as we mentioned in the report, the digital access divide we manifest right now in students exit their campus, um, often because of high cost of having a device that's like not shared with their other family members, or, you know, maintaining an internet subscription to, you know, a high speed broadband, right? Um, this actually causes a lot of our educators, uh, to limit their instructional strategies outta the fear of their students. You know, home connectivity, right?
(31:34)
If you have half of your, uh, students who, you know, you know, aren't connected to from home, you're not gonna be assigning those technology old sort of assignment and assessments for them to do, um, outside of the campus, right? So this was, uh, really, um, exposed to us through our conversations with educators that we had brief our group as well as, um, uh, the research a, uh, project tomorrow led by Dr. Julie Evans, um, and then with the affordable Contribu program that said, um, we're gonna need some permanent solutions to affordable, uh, affordability challenges, whether it be through things like a service bug or another policy vehicle. So that was the first piece. Um, the second piece that we dove into was that issue of digital skills, um, for students and families, right? There's this national discourse right now happening around screen time in our everyday lives.
(32:30)
So data, digital skills, um, do reach our students. Um, those training <inaudible> do reach our students, but often fail to reach, uh, their families. Um, but through national polls, we know that families do want to get educated on, you know, how to use different platforms and things like that to be able to support their kids from home. So we're gonna need technical assistance to help schools and districts create some dedicated additional technology plans that emphasize this issue of digital field development. Uh, we do an annual survey with our members, uh, funded by the Legal Family Endowment. And through that survey last year, we found that a lot of states don't require districts to have an EdTech plan in place. So there's certainly areas of, uh, inclusion there. The third piece that we dove into was, um, you know, online privacy and cybersecurity. Um, I mentioned that trend survey that we do annually.
(33:33)
Um, cybersecurity and privacy continues to be the concern for state agencies year after year. Um, they have lot barriers like handle issues, um, that handles data, you know, as well. So we're creating this sort of perfect storm of a lot of issues without necessarily capacity to handle them, right? So, uh, thankfully the FCC has their, you know, E-Rate cybersecurity able help in certain ways. So we actually recommended that, hey, as this pilot becomes implemented, that when that pilot eventually goes away, we know how to sustain some of the gain that we've made through, um, that program. And then the last image Yep. Jessica Denson (34:20):

No, go ahead. Go ahead. Uh, Ji Soo Song (34:21):

Yeah, sorry. The last issue that we dove into was the inclusive digital tools and platforms. Um, in talking with, uh, district superintendents or you chief academic officers, we know that when they, you know, do procurement popularity is often the driving force, right, on these decisions. Not whether the product responds to, you know, variability of different learners. If my districts, you know, neighbor across the street is, you know, using this tool, it causes me to wanna adopt that tool even more, right? But we're not sort of assessing that more in depth, um, for whether it's gonna respond to the variability of the learning that we serve in our district. So in the report, you know, we call for system level adoption. Uh, things like the Universal Design for Learning framework, uh, developed by cast, um, as a driving force behind decisions, uh, around curriculum professional development and procurement. Um, if you're familiar with CAST UDL framework, it's a research based framework that calls for using, uh, technology, uh, that provides with multiple means of engaging students, represent content assessing knowledge. Uh, we repeated that, uh, recommendation around as well. I hope I did a good job of giving you all some the executive summary of the things that we mentioned in the UCR report. Um, so yeah. Jessica Denson (35:46):

And, uh, the report also explore some policy recommendations to close the digital divided education. Share some of those with us and what they mean. Ji Soo Song (35:56):

Yeah, so the report closes out with some policy goals that we should work towards and the recommended, um, you know, policy action steps to work towards achieving those goals. Um, the first goal that we mentioned is making sure that all students have access services that need exceed thes, um, new broadband benchmark feeds, and also ensure that all K12 students have individual access to at least one, uh, internet enabled device. And if that device is provided to their school district, making sure that there's a robust, uh, refresh, uh, cycle built in place, right? Some, so some short term solutions that we can think about are things like collecting some better broadband, uh, data around household connectivity. Um, so we actually included our reports, some data standards, uh, that could be used to make sure that we're not just asking, you know, families do have internet connection or not, because we know that, you know, access sort of lies on the spectrum. There can be a lot of different factors into whether a student has access or not, and in the long term, um, some permanent affordability solutions. We call out, you know, examples from states, Mexico or New York that have worked with, uh, providers to provide more affordable solutions to families as well. And California recently proposed one. Jessica Denson (37:16):

So you mentioned that some states have some affordability solutions that they are putting into place, or are, or at least discussing or are moving that direction. Uh, is that something that every state really needs to do? It's not something that's just one group or all, all groups really need to, to tackle this, Ji Soo Song (37:33):

Right? No. Affordability of an internet connection is not just a rural issue. It's not just an urban issue, right? It impacts students no matter where certain they live. That's something that we call out in the UCI report as well. Um, the digital access divide is a problem that's unique to a certain group of states. We know that across the country, you know, 15 to 16 million students estimated are impacted by this divide. So this is something that we do recommend states taking a look, collecting better data to feed the extent of the problem extent, and seeing how their legislatures, their, uh, state tuition agencies can partner with, you know, folks like their state broadband office to, uh, provide some solutions. Uh, for example, in New Mexico, um, they've been working with their state broadband office to implement what think what they call their student connect program. Uh, providing students in remote areas of the state with three acted in the state to offer an affordable plan, um, to, uh, households to, uh, or low income. So there's a lot of progress being made by some states across the country. But yeah, just wanna iterate that affordability isn't just a rural or an urban problem, um, when it comes to the digital access. Jessica Denson (38:52):

Yeah, we talk a lot about that connect nation. It's not just, it's not just rural. And there might be this idea of that, but that's not necessarily the case. So, uh, what is the impact of ignoring the need for universal connectivity in education? If, if we don't follow these or at least try to implement some of these recommendations or move things forward in a positive way for kids, what, what will the impact of that be? Dr. Lord, why don't you go first and then gsu, why don't you pick up that, um, question as well. Pam Lloyd, Ph.D (39:20):

Sure. I think we all know, especially with AI that is, is, is here the, when we started working on this report, there's been even more movement with AI and more changes. But we, when we wrote the report, 92% of the jobs for the future require digital skills. And I know Connected Nation has been working hard at creating that gap where student, where people that are not in school, that are in the workforce, that don't have 'em, they continue to train. I believe you had, um, like 5,000 people trained last year. So this is, this is a need that's going to, I think, keep growing. If we don't see and don't have the ability for students to have access to digital skills training in their, in their, um, K 12 environment. They need access to a device for that, and they have to have access, um, to their, their devices at home.
(40:16)
Um, but this also impacts our GDP when we look at, in the research of the report, that 15 to 16 million students do not have affordable access in their home. This leads to academic achievement, um, that is, that is about 4% less, um, than what those students that have it are. And then they, they forecasting, uh, GDP loss of about 20 to $30 billion. And so this is a real impact for our society. It's not just an impact for our youth. We have to look at what happens in K 12 has a direct pathway and workflow to prosperity for the United States. Um, and so I think we have to really focus on what is it that we need to do to build that structure or infrastructure for our youth, because they are going to be the future workforce for us all. Jessica Denson (41:12):

And how about for you gsu? What is, what is the importance of this? Why does this matter? I Ji Soo Song (41:17):

Definitely agree with everything that Dr. Lloyd, uh, mentioned. Um, I'll just expand on a couple of different things. I think I'm, uh, in earlier questions I responded with, you know, how educators are limited in their terms of instruction because of, of digital access divide. So acting achievement is gonna be impacted if we don't pay attention to this. But on the flip side, there's the issue of the whole student wellbeing, right? Access to things like, you know, public health information and telehealth, s mental wellness resources. A lot of those things are online. So, and access to these resources has a definitive link to overall wellbeing. So how do we make sure that our students, uh, you know, aside from their academic skills, you know, get, experience, those wellbeing opportunities, which, you know, primarily reside online nowadays. And then career ready skills and pathways to opportunity, uh, is also something that we call out in the report, um, citing the research out of, you know, folks like the Natural Skills Coalition that says, you know, over 90% of jobs that are available right now require some level of digital skilling, and we expect that, you know, percentage to grow over the next, you know, matter of years, right?
(42:25)
So because of the rapid adoption of emerging technologies by different industries, right? So, uh, we need universal continuity as that foundation, um, to allow students to use tools that will help them develop these, uh, critical skills that'll need for the, uh, not just the workforce, um, but you know, overall participation in society as well. Jessica Denson (42:46):

And we're coming close on to our time, so I'm gonna start to wrap us, but I wanna give you each a chance to ask, to answer one important question. I think from all this, 'cause we could, we could talk about this all day, I feel like, um, and I'll include a link to this report in the description of this podcast. But before we wrap, I'd love to hear from each of you what you hope the audience takes away from the conversation or from this report. Dr. Lloyd will let you start, and then a GSU you could wrap us up for with the final world word of the day. Pam Lloyd, Ph.D (43:16):

Sure. I, um, thank you, Jessica. I think that what I hope that, uh, we take from this report, the policy makers and decision makers, that they look at this as an imperative that has to happen in order for our society to have a, a prosperous workforce. And I hope that, um, they recognize that the monies that have been given to schools and been used in schools are no longer there. And so we're, we're at it, we're looking at another gap that I think, uh, with the, the infrastructure deployment brought the bead program and with the money that's coming in is going to help with some of that, but it's not going to be the solution. And so I think there has to be a consistent movement of ensuring that our students have access to devices, to home connectivity, to teachers that know and understand how to teach digital skills so that they can be successful. Jessica Denson (44:18):

And what about for you, gsu? What do you, what do you hope people take away from this report or this conversation today? Ji Soo Song (44:25):

Just the fact that there's been a lot of momentum behind this work, and we need, you know, putting our foot on the jet, right? Um, as cited in the report, a lot of states and also the federal government have put in the investments over the last four or five years to ensure that our students are connected from home, right? Um, and there's more that we can do to continue building on that momentum from the four, uh, four or five years. And this issue is also, you know, nonpartisan, right? Uh, making sure that our students are connected to opportunities, uh, in workforce for full participation in our, uh, modern society. I don't think this is an issue that, you know, should divide us. It's something that should, you know, bring us together. So I hope the menu of, you know, recommendations that we cite in the report can be sort of that convening point for, uh, both sides to come together and talk about, okay, how we maintain the momentum that we've, you know, worked together on, uh, for the better half of this decade. So, yep, that's something that I wanted to close out with. Jessica Denson (45:32):

That is a great place to leave it. I love the idea of working together and us doing good together. So thank you GSU song and Dr. Pam Lloyd. Thank you both. Pam Lloyd, Ph.D (45:43):

Thank you Jessica Denson (45:53):

Again. My guests today have been GSU Song, who's the director of projects and initiatives at cita. And Dr. Pam Lloyd, who is the strategic advisor for Connected Nation, both played an important role in developing and informing the report titled The 2025 Universal Connectivity Imperative Sustaining Progress To Close the Digital Access Divide in K through 12 Education. Again, I'll include a link to the report and related resources in the description of this podcast. I'm Jessica Denson. Thanks for listening to Connected Nation. If you'd like our show and wanna know more about us, head to connect nation.org or look for the latest episodes on iTunes, iHeartRadio, Google Podcast, Pandora, or Spotify.