The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) honored Prince William County Public Schools (PWCS) with the 2024 Community Leadership Award for Digital Equity. This award recognizes school districts working to address digital equity, narrow the homework gap, and ensure all students have the opportunity to achieve their full potential.  

“PWCS’ commitment to bridging the digital divide is unwavering, and receiving the Community Leadership Award for Digital Equity recognizes the collaborative efforts of our division and schools,” said Matt Guilfoyle, PWCS chief information officer. “We believe that equitable access to technology is essential, and it is our responsibility to empower our students to be digital citizens who use information technology to better themselves and the world around them.” 

PWCS leverages and champions technology in innovative ways to enhance the educational experience for both our students and teachers. Every PWCS student has access to a device to help them learn and complete coursework. In total, PWCS has distributed more than 91,000 instructional devices to their students, ranging from iPads for PreK-2 students to HP laptops for grades 3-12. During the summer, all student devices are collected, inventoried, repaired, cleaned, and replaced by dedicated teams of technology support specialists across the division. To ensure equitable access, hotspots have been supplied to students lacking internet connectivity at home. In addition to a technical support specialist who supports any technical issues, each school also has an instructional technology coach who provides professional development and assistance to classroom teachers to support the use of technology in improving student academic achievement.  

PWCS has adopted a range of effective techniques to foster community engagement and drive positive change within education. PWCS has leveraged tools such as SchoolStatus, which enables two-way translated communication with families and provides a data dashboard for monitoring absenteeism, grades, infractions, and absences. Additionally, Attention2Attendance has been implemented to combat chronic absenteeism, involving the sending of letters to families. The rich data culture has positively affected attendance, student support, and graduation rates. 

Watch this video to learn more about equitable access to technology at PWCS.