The Schott Foundation for Public Education has stated “the opportunity gap is the greatest crisis facing America’s schools.”

So, what is the opportunity gap?

The Glossary of Education Reform defines the opportunity gap as “ways in which race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, English proficiency, community wealth, familial situations, or other factors contribute to or perpetuate lower educational aspirations, achievement, and attainment for certain groups of students.”

This is different from the achievement gap because it places emphasis on the factors that contribute to differences in achievement among certain demographics rather than the achievement difference itself.

It acknowledges the idea of privilege and that not everybody has equal access to certain resources and opportunities as others do in their upbringing. For example, a wealthy family might be able to afford to send their child to a well-funded private school with smaller class sizes whereas a lower income family might not be able to afford that same educational experience.

Therefore, it draws more attention to the problem of systemic inequality rather than attributing lack of achievement with barriers that are out of people’s control.

Being proactive about the terminology we use to describe inequalities is crucial. It helps us get to the root of the problem and find solutions to combat them.

One possible solution to the opportunity gap is technology. However, technology is somewhat controversial because it has notable pros and cons.

Technology has the potential to bridge the opportunity gap with many of the Open Education Resources (OER) available online today. According to the Hewlett Foundation, Open Educational Resources “are high-quality teaching, learning, and research materials that are free for people everywhere to use and repurpose.”

A common OER used by students is Khan Academy. Khan Academy is a nonprofit educational organization that offers a variety of free online courses and test prep.

Other OERs include Massachusetts Institute of Technology Opencourseware and Open Yale Courses.These online resources release educational materials used in undergraduate courses from their respective institutions to the public for free.

Having access to the internet gives people access to endless amounts of high quality free education. This is revolutionary because it makes education accessible to a much larger population of people, which helps close the opportunity gap for lots people.

A 2015 study by the National Center for Educational Statistics revealed that 94 percent of children ages 3 to 18-years-old had access to a computer at home and 61 percent of children ages 3 to 18-years-old had access to internet at home.

While these numbers for children with access to internet at home spans the majority, the 39 percent of children ages 3 to 18-years-old still don’t have access to the internet at home. Children without access to the internet at home are losing access to phenomenal databases of educational materials that are available online.

In the same 2015 study, some barriers to home internet access included cost and perceived usefulness. Internet access at home needs to become more affordable so that every student has internet access at home.

Technology and internet access can level the playing field and give people equal access to adequate educational resources. However, it also further disadvantages others who don’t have access to the same resources.

When it comes to narrowing the opportunity gap, technology has large implications in making education more accessible.

Currently, technology is both narrowing and widening the opportunity gap — helping those who have access to it and is leaving those who don’t have access to it behind. For technology to be as impactful on education as it can be, access to the internet must be more affordable.