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It is week 226 in our new reality and we are thinking about the state of learning loss in our country.
“The analysis from the testing group NWEA released Tuesday estimates that eighth graders would need an additional nine months of schooling — an entire school year, essentially — to do as well as their counterparts before the pandemic,” Erica Meltzer reports for Chalkbeat. “‘The analysis underscores that pandemic-era strategies like additional instructional time, tutoring, and summer school must continue, even after the expiration of federal COVID relief, if students are to continue recovering academically,’ said report author Karyn Lewis, director of NWEA’s Center for School and Student Progress.”
The new data by NWEA also shows that while overall academic achievement has suffered, some students suffered more than others: “NWEA found that Hispanic students in particular suffered relatively large academic impacts and likely need more support to catch up.”
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Last week, we looked at open enrollment and checked in on the next phase of work for the Carnegie Foundation in shifting to mastery-based assessments. This week we spotlight new research on tutoring and provide a chance for our readers to get a free copy of our new book.
TOP TASKS
Make tutoring a permanent feature in our education system
In their new study, the Education Lab at the University of Chicago offers a powerful assessment of the effectiveness of high dosage tutoring in Chicago public schools: “Students who participated in tutoring during the school day saw large and positive gains on end-of-year test scores.” Specifically, they find that the “impact on math scores is equivalent to about two-thirds of a year of learning, which would be enough to totally undo the effects of the pandemic for the average student.”
You read that right: totally undo the effects of the pandemic.
This research adds to a growing body of evidence on the power of tutoring. Accelerate’s Matthew Steinberg wrote earlier this year for Education Next that “tutoring significantly outperforms other educational interventions.” And thanks to Accelerate, more analysis will soon be available as a result of their newly launched Inaugural Research Learning Community, which aims to provide evidence-based insights into best practices, curriculum and implementation.
The challenge confronting most states and districts, with the ESSER fiscal cliff looming, is a fundamental one: how do we pay for it?
Susanna Loeb and Alan Safran have some ideas in The 74 Million, from investing a dedicated percentage of Title 1 dollars to leveraging work study programs. They also take a page from the efforts of one of JerseyCAN’s partners, the New Jersey Tutoring Corps with their work in tapping Department of Labor apprenticeship programs in creating tutoring-to-teaching career pathways. JerseyCAN Executive Director Paula White shared, “Here in the Garden State, we have clear proof of the positive effects of high-quality, high-dosage tutoring as well as the benefits of diversifying the teacher workforce. It’s exciting to see the synergy between these game-changing strategies.”
THE TASK OF THE WEEK IS
FROM THE FIELD
GeorgiaCAN announced the 2024-2025 class of parent fellows from across the Peach State. Over the course of the next twelve months, fellows will develop advocacy projects, organize at the Capitol and will build a team of parent advocates to accomplish their goals.
In Education Next, 50CAN President Derrell Bradford reviews Jonathan Kozol’s newest book. Derrell also partnered with Available to All‘s Tim DeRoche to note the 50th anniversary of the Milliken v. Bradley Supreme Court case, contrasting those desegregation efforts with the current fight against school boundary lines.
Key Resources
Urban charter schools in Massachusetts boosted college enrollment, college preparation and college graduation rates according to a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Research from the Urban Institute suggests New York City’s new class size cap will have a negative impact on the highest-poverty schools, primarily due to teacher vacancies as teachers move to newly opened positions at schools in higher income neighborhoods.
Fordham’s Brandon Brown makes the case that doubling down on innovation will be key to charter schools’ political future.
The Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy argues that it’s time for Virginia to take a chance on charter schools, calling the effort long overdue and tracing the root causes for why that’s the case.
Brookings looks at potential lessons learned from the success of the Department of Defense’s schools, which outperformed all states in both reading and math on the NAEP.
Chalkbeat reports Colorado Governor Jared Polis has been named as the new chair of the National Governors Association. His tenure will focus on education, with forthcoming discussions on standards, measurement and workforce alignment.
In FutureEd’s “Incomplete: The Unfinished Revolution in College Remedial Education,” Annie Kim examines the $3 billion spent annually on remedial college courses and the 68% of community college students enrolled in them.
Moment of Resilience
Spirit competitions, dancing, singing, sports–the camps of Change Summer are thriving this year with thousands of students. The prior subject of a New Reality Roundup video interview, Change Summer partners with charter schools to provide meaningful summer experiences for all their students.