The coronavirus pandemic has forced students to do most of their learning online, but what about the tens of millions of families who don’t have access to reliable high-speed internet? Reporter Will Carless investigates why an estimated $100 billion in federal spending has failed to close the digital divide. 

In our next story, high school junior Sarah Alli-Brown shares an audio diary of what life has been like since her Chicago high school closed its doors in mid-March. Alli-Brown has twin 8-year-old brothers. With their school shuttered and their single mom working two jobs as an essential worker, Alli-Brown now cares for her siblings full time while also trying to balance the challenges of distance learning. 

Next, host Al Letson talks to Michelle Sandoval Villegas, who last year was named Texas secondary teacher of the year. Villegas, a math teacher at Parkland Middle School in El Paso, describes the challenges of teaching remotely while also helping to ensure her students have their basic needs met.

Finally, we dip into Ginger Cook’s class at Acorn Woodland Elementary School in Oakland, California, to hear what her third-grade students like best about sheltering in place and what they wish they could change. 

Full episode and transcript at Reveal News.