CCSSO’s Digital Equity Collaborative Community 

The COVID-19 pandemic forced much of the U.S. education system into emergency digital learning, exposing the existing barriers and inequities in the digital learning space. The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) supported state education agencies (SEAs) as they led the transformation to remote learning in their states. CCSSO helped states work with critical partners to ensure access to broadband connectivity, resources, tools and high-quality digital instructional materials. While significant progress was made in advancing a more equitable system for digital learning, much work remains to be done.

To maintain momentum and build on successes, CCSSO formed a Digital Equity Collaborative Community comprised of state leads in California, Connecticut, Kentucky, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Nebraska, Michigan, Mississippi, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming along with representatives from the U.S. Department of Education Technology, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), Education Superhighway, the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), the Consortium for School Network (CoSN), the Fresno Unified School District, Verizon, ATT, Learn Platform, Classlink and Resultant. This Community leverages existing resources and identifies gaps where new tools and resources are needed to effectively maintain momentum on digital equity initiatives. It also works in leveraging and creating resources for states, districts and communities to inform policy, practice and progress.

The Community’s digital equity focus is rooted in its commitment to CCSSO’s core priorities: equity, access, and critical infrastructure, as well as modernizing the education system. This strategic direction aligns seamlessly with the objectives of CCSSO’s Education Information Management Advisory Collaborative (EIMAC), a longstanding consortium comprising Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and their teams from State Education Agencies (SEAs) and influential entities in the education data technology domain.  EIMAC has worked for over 30 years to advance education data, technology and digital learning equity and securely modernize the national education system.

The Community’s active members have access to a robust resource bank to facilitate shared learning. Explore examples from states below:

• California’s district readiness tool 
• Connecticut’s broadband mapping tool 
• Idaho’s digital access plan  
• Idaho’s digital learning resource 

For membership information, or questions about the Digital Equity Collaborative Community, please contact Dean Folkers, CCSSO Director of Education Data and Technology.