Black teens and those living in lower-income households were more likely to say they cannot complete homework assignments for this reason.įor example, one-quarter of black teens said they often or sometimes cannot do homework assignments due to lack of reliable access to a computer or internet connectivity, compared with 13% of white teens and 17% of Hispanic teens. In a 2018 Center survey, about one-in-five teens ages 13 to 17 (17%) said they are often or sometimes unable to complete homework assignments because they do not have reliable access to a computer or internet connection. These broadband gaps are particularly pronounced in black and Hispanic households with school-age children – especially those with low incomes.ģSome lower-income teens say they lack resources to complete schoolwork at home. Roughly one-third (35%) of households with children ages 6 to 17 and an annual income below $30,000 a year do not have a high-speed internet connection at home, compared with just 6% of such households earning $75,000 or more a year. School-age children in lower-income households are especially likely to lack broadband access.
households with school-age children do not have a high-speed internet connection at home, according to a previously published Pew Research Center analysis of 2015 U.S. For more, see the ACS methodology.ĢThe “homework gap” – which refers to school-age children lacking the connectivity they need to complete schoolwork at home – is more pronounced for black, Hispanic and lower-income households.
In the survey, a series of monthly samples produce annual estimates for the same small areas (census tracts and block groups) formerly surveyed via the decennial census long-form sample. The ACS is a national survey using continuous measurement methods. For more, see the assessment methodology.Īnother part of this analysis uses the 2015 American Community Survey (ACS) data from the U.S. know and can do in the areas of technology and engineering. The NAEP administers the digitally based Technology and Engineering Literacy assessment to better understand what students in the U.S. Part of this analysis also relies on data from the 2018 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). More details about the NORC AmeriSpeak panel methodology are available here. mail, telephone or face-to-face interviewers. households are sampled with a known probability of selection from the NORC National Frame, and then contacted by U.S. AmeriSpeak is a nationally representative, probability-based panel of the U.S. teens conducted March 7 to April 10, 2018, using the NORC AmeriSpeak panel. The survey data cited here comes from a Pew Research Center poll of 743 U.S. This analysis examines the impact of the internet and the digital divide on youth in the United States. Some 62% of these students use the internet at home for homework, compared with smaller shares of students whose parents have some post-high school education (53%), have only a high school education (52%) or have no high school education (48%). Students whose parents graduated from college are more likely to use the internet for homework at home. Roughly two-thirds of students attending suburban schools (65%) say they use the internet for homework every day or almost every day, compared with 58% who attend schools in cities, 50% of those who attend in rural areas and 44% of those attending schools in towns.
There are differences in these patterns by community type and parents’ education level.
Just 6% of students say they never use the internet at home for this purpose. Roughly six-in-ten students (58%) say they use the internet at their home to do homework every day or almost every day, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of data from the 2018 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Here are key findings about the internet, homework and how the digital divide impacts American youth.ġThe majority of eighth-grade students in the United States rely on the internet at home to get their homework done. (Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)Īs K-12 officials in many states close schools and shift classes and assignments online due to the spread of the new coronavirus, they confront the reality that some students do not have reliable access to the internet at home – particularly those who are from lower-income households. A high school sophomore in Brooklyn, New York, checks into a class from home after her school announced it would be closed due to concerns about the new coronavirus.