How Technology Demands and Demographic Change Created a Perfect Storm
Moses Lake School District | 1990-2025
Between 1990 and 2025, Moses Lake School District underwent two simultaneous transformations that intersected to create compounding disadvantages for English Language Learner students in low-income families:
This research documents exactly when and how these changes occurred—and why the gaps they created persist today.
How Moses Lake transformed from majority-white to majority-Hispanic in one generation
Key findings:
Why this matters: By 2010, Moses Lake crossed the tipping point to Hispanic majority—just as technology requirements began to accelerate.
Read Part 1 →From paper tests to 100% digital: How technology demands exploded
Major milestones:
Why this matters: Every new technology requirement assumed resources that 20% of families didn't have.
Read Part 2 →Why 19% still lack home internet after 26 years of "closing the gap"
Current reality:
Why this matters: We solved the device problem but not the access problem. The homework gap that started in 1998 STILL exists in 2025.
Read Part 3 →How barriers multiply when demographic change coincides with technology change
The compounding disadvantages:
ELL student takes paper WASL test
ELL student takes Smarter Balanced on computer
ELL student attempts remote learning
Why this matters: Achievement gaps that emerged during this period may be PERMANENT. Students who fell behind in 2020 are still behind in 2025.
Read Part 4 →Pre-Internet Era
Moses Lake: 60% white, paper tests, computer labs optional
Homework Gap Begins
Teachers start assigning internet research. Moses Lake: ~55% white. Families without home internet fall behind.
Gradual Digital Creep
More homework moves online. K-20 Network provides school internet. Moses Lake crosses to Hispanic majority (2010). Small rural districts wait for fiber infrastructure.
THE REVOLUTION
Smarter Balanced REQUIRES computers for state testing. Moses Lake: 60% Hispanic. Districts scramble to buy hundreds of devices. Testing infrastructure crisis.
LMS Adoption Spreads
Google Classroom becomes standard. ALL homework moves online. Moses Lake: 65% Hispanic. Students without home internet severely disadvantaged.
1:1 Programs Launch
Moses Lake implements 1:1 Chromebooks (grades 5-12). Every student gets device. But 20% lack home internet. Homework gap continues.
COVID Exposes Everything
100% remote learning mandatory. Students without home internet fall off grid for MONTHS. Achievement gaps explode. Learning loss may be permanent.
Infrastructure Finally Complete
Grant County PUD finishes 24-year fiber project. 100% of county has fiber available. But 19% of Moses Lake families STILL don't subscribe. Economic and language barriers persist.
The Gap Remains
Moses Lake: 70% Hispanic. All students have Chromebooks. Google Classroom mandatory. But 19% still lack home internet. The homework gap that began in 1998 STILL EXISTS after 26 years.
The years of fastest technology adoption (2015-2020) coincided EXACTLY with the period when Moses Lake had highest ELL enrollment and highest poverty rates. This was not coincidental—it was a perfect storm of overlapping challenges.
Moses Lake had fiber internet and 1:1 devices by 2019-20. Soap Lake didn't get Grant County PUD fiber until 2024—a 20-year infrastructure gap. Same county, vastly different timelines.
When Smarter Balanced testing went computer-based in Spring 2015, computers went from "nice to have" to "ABSOLUTELY REQUIRED" overnight. Districts without adequate infrastructure scrambled for YEARS to catch up.
In 2024, 100% of students have Chromebooks but 19% still lack home internet. The device is useless without connectivity. We solved one problem but not the other.
The system was failing ELL students in poor families BEFORE COVID. Remote learning just made the failure visible. The 20% who "fell off the grid" in March 2020 were already falling behind—we just hadn't been looking closely enough.
For 26 years, students without home internet have been at a systematic disadvantage. Every technology "solution" (devices, hotspots, library access) has been insufficient. The gap remains.
Access the complete research documents:
📥 Part 1: Demographics (PDF) 📥 Part 2: Technology (PDF) 📥 Part 3: Digital Divide (PDF) 📥 Part 4: Integration (PDF)This independent research project documents 35 years of demographic and technological change in Moses Lake School District and surrounding Columbia Basin districts. All data comes from publicly available sources including OSPI reports, Census data, school district documents, and archived news articles.
Research compiled: December 2024
Researcher: Independent community member
Purpose: To provide factual documentation of historical trends and promote informed community dialogue about education equity