I recently attended a conference and learned that lots of educators and students do not have access to technology.
In this day and age, that's a crime.
Technology holds the power to transform a child's learning life. Technology bridges the gap, in many cases, between education that is inaccessible to education that's readily accessible.
Our most challenged learners can benefit from technology in significant ways.
It is the responsibility of every community member everywhere to work with their school systems to put a computer in the hands of every educator and every student. At the elementary level, though I support 100% 1:1, I believe that 50% 1:1 access is a good first goal, and at all other levels I believe it needs to be 100% 1:1.
I suggest utilizing a variety of reliable tools including state-of-the-art lap tops, tablets, and low-cost web books such as Chromebooks, and when possible ask families to send the child to school with one of the reliable devices your school is using. Many homes can support this.
It's also essential to build the infrastructure because the tools are useless if you don't have the infrastructure to support the tools.
Community members can and should work together to prioritize this goal right now because it's simply not fair to students that the tech divide exists in schools throughout the country and world.
