Digital Learning in High-Needs Schools A Critical Approach to Technology Access and Equity in PreK-12

Digital Learning in High-Needs Schools examines the challenges and affordances that arise when high-needs school communities integrate educational technologies into their unique settings. Although remote, blended, and networked learning are ubiquitous today, a number of cultural, economic, and political realities—from the digital divide and digital literacy to poverty and language barriers—affect our most vulnerable and underresourced teachers and students. This book uses critical theory to compassionately scrutinize and unpack the systemic issues that impact high-needs schools’ implementation of digital learning tools. Incisive sociocultural analyses across fifteen original chapters explore the intersection of society, technology, people, politics, and education in high-needs school contexts. Informed by real-world cases pertaining to technology infrastructure, formative feedback, Universal Design for Learning, and more, these chapters illuminate how best practices emerge from culturally responsive and context-specific foundations.

Section I: Understanding the Intersection of Students, Families, and Schooling in High-Needs Communities 1. Understanding the Sociocultural and Sociopolitical Contexts of U.S.High-Needs Public Schools Before, During, and After the COVID-19 Pandemic 2. Ramifications of the Digital Divide on Cognitive Development and School Preparedness 3. Strategies to Help Administrators, Teachers, and Parents to Achieve Equitable Digital Learning in U.S. High-Needs School Communities SectionII: Vision and Leadership for Digital Learning in High-Needs Communities 4. Bridging the Digital Divide: An Analysis of Federal, State, and Local Policies in U.S. Schools 5.Twitter for Professional Development and Learning in High-Needs Schools: Considerations for School Leaders 6. Feedback, Evaluation, and Grading: The Unique Considerations Distance Learning Poses to the Evaluation Cycle and the Task of Ensuring Equitable Practices 7. Students’ Informational Needs: Applying the Principles of Universal Design to Address Inequity in High-Needs Schools During Virtual Learning Section III: Pedagogical Strategies and Digital Tools Across the Curriculum 8. Content-Neutral Technologies as a Pedagogical Response in High-Needs Schools and Communities: Design Thinking, Making, and Learning9. Strategies to Facilitate Digital Learning in Urban High-Needs Social Studies Classrooms 10. Designing a Culturally Responsive Multilingual Arts-Integration Program: Read-Aloud and Book-Inspired Art-Making Videos11. The Influence of an Online Mathematics Activity on Elementary School Students’ Engagement and Learning in a High-Needs Context 12. Digital Learning for Students With Disabilities 13. Using Bitmoji® and Google Classroom® to Support Remote Literacy Instruction in High-Needs Schools 14. A Whole New World: Virtual Excursions for Learners From Urban Settings15. Rural Social Studies Teachers’ Postpandemic Use of Technology Tools

Heejung An is Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Professional Studies in the College of Education at William Paterson University of New Jersey, USA. David A. Fuentes is Interim Associate Dean and Professor in the College of Education at William Paterson University of New Jersey, USA.