Washington
CNN
—
Some kids in Houston only got three weeks of summer vacation this year. In Richmond, Virginia, two elementary schools added 20 days to the school year.In Indiana, students across the state have taken more than 36,000 hours of her instruction. For the past year, I have provided free tutoring to families.
Research has long shown that adding quality instructional time can have a significant impact on students’ ability to learn. Although academic achievements are not always easy to obtain, Students, teachers, or parents participating in longer school years, summer school, or after-school tutoring.
However, a significant decline in learning ability What we’ve experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with historic federal investments in K-12 education, is ripe for some schools to make big changes. From March 2020 to March 2021, Congress approved $190 billion in funding for K-12 schools. That’s about six times the amount it receives from the federal government in a typical year.
It is too early to declare these new programs in Virginia, Texas, and Indiana. Although there are success stories, it shows promising results and could serve as a model for significant change in American schools.
Most Richmond public school students returned to school on August 21st of this year. But for about 1,000 families attending two elementary schools, July 24th 2023-2024 academic year.
The district added 20 days of classes to help students at Fairfield Court Elementary School and Cardinal Elementary School catch up after the pandemic.
“This has been talked about for a while, and we were a little bit cautious about bringing it in even before the pandemic,” Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamrath said.
“But coming out of the pandemic…our kids were really, really behind and we had to put everything on the table,” he said.
Twelve schools in the district applied for a pilot program to extend the school year, but only two schools found support from a majority of families and teachers, and the district decided to use it to move forward. I was looking for it. At Fairfield Court Elementary School and Cardinal Elementary School, about 90% of families and teachers supported the plan.
Kamras said several teachers and more than a dozen families who did not want to participate in the extended school year were transferred to other schools in the district.
“Most of the families I spoke to were really excited to get their kids back to school,” he said.
Fairfield Court School and Cardinal School serve many low-income and immigrant families who may not have the money to take their children on vacation, send them to camp, or pay for child care. Masu. during the summer, Kamras added.
The pilot program will pay teachers a $10,000 bonus, with the possibility of a second bonus if they meet criteria, and is currently part of the broader pandemic relief package passed by Congress in 2021. It is funded with federal funds from the Rescue Plan Act. The subsidy will expire next September and other funding will be needed to continue offering longer school years.
Summer vacation is This year, about 1,600 elementary school students in Houston received just three weeks of classes.
Four elementary schools in the Aldine Independent School District on Houston’s north side have added 30 days to their academic calendars. This means that children returned to school in mid-July and remained there until the end of the year. June. Due to some calendar changes, students are expected to take up to six weeks of summer vacation next year even though school will have an additional 30 days.
The schedule for the additional days will appear to be different from the traditional school days.The class time will be the same, but the class time will increase. More time is devoted to students’ individual needs and to work on projects with their peers. Plus 210 minutes of accelerated math and reading time each day.
In the Aldine Independent School District, where more than 90% of students come from low-income families eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, two elementary schools began the 2021-2022 school year with an extended school year. Two more schools followed suit the following year as it became clear that the pandemic was exacerbating problems in low-performing districts.
Aldine Independent School District Superintendent Latonya Goffney said the results so far have been promising. One of the schools was the lowest-performing elementary school in the district before 2020, but is now one of the highest-performing elementary schools, she said.
Additionally, attendance rates at schools that have increased the number of days continue to be higher than other schools in the district.
Legislation passed by the Texas Legislature in 2019 helped pave the way for an extended school year to become a reality. The legislation creates a program known as Addition Days to the Academic Year, which covers half the cost of adding up to 30 days of instruction to the academic calendar. Schools from preschool through her fifth grade will be eligible.
The remaining costs will be covered by local school districts. At Aldine University, federal COVID-19 relief funds were not used directly to pay for increasing the number of days in the school year, but the support freed up other funds to pay for the effort, the university said. said Goffney.
When Aldine began bringing children back to in-person learning in 2021, Goffney said the extra school day seemed like the “perfect solution” to address learning loss.
Goffney admitted she was nervous on her first day of school in July 2021.
“But the parents were there and happy. And the kids were overjoyed to get out of the house. People were ready to come back,” she said.
Indiana uses federal pandemic aid to provide tutoring to students in the state Third through eighth grade students are students who come from low-income families and struggle academically.
The program, called “Indiana Learns,” connects families with tutors and provides a $1,000 grant to cover costs. Roughly six months after the program launched in October 2022, the state provided even more funding to families who had already taken advantage of the $1,000.
Research shows that high-quality tutoring in small groups can have a profound impact on pre-K-12 students.
Indiana families can use the Indiana Learns online platform to schedule math and reading tutoring for their children at a time and place that is convenient for them. Sessions can be held in person or online and are delivered to students individually or in groups of up to four students per instructor.
“We wanted to involve parents and families in this solution and support their children,” said Indiana Education Secretary Katie Jenner.
“It was a big gamble. But there were so many students who didn’t pass our state assessments, and their families didn’t have the additional disposable income to support their children with tutoring,” she said. added.
At least 15,000 students have enrolled in the program and completed more than 36,000 hours of tutoring, according to Mind Trust, a nonprofit hired by the state to help run Indiana Learns. Nearly 20,000 more hours are planned.
Tutors are vetted by Mind Trust and come from a variety of sources, including existing tutoring companies, current and retired teachers. Brandon Brown, CEO of community group Mind Trust, said: A tutor cannot charge more than $100 per hour, and the average hourly wage is about $50.
Funding for the program is scheduled to end in September 2024, when the American Rescue Plan Act requires states to spend federal pandemic funds. But if the program proves to be a good investment, states could decide to provide their own funding.
It is unlikely that all students will catch up by the start of the next school year.
“I think learning loss during the pandemic is a national crisis, and I think it’s important for our country to treat it as such,” Brown said.