Legislator

AB 185 CDE Learning Acceleration

Funds learning recovery initiatives. The State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced the availability of $4 billion in funding for intensive tutoring, additional instructional time, accelerated learning strategies, early literacy intervention, and other learning supports. This is the second disbursement of funds, following one of $4 billion in November 2022. The funds are intended to aid in pandemic learning loss.

High-Impact Tutoring: Some Research-Based Essentials

Of all academic interventions, so-called “high-dosage” tutoring has shown the most evidence of helping students gain academic ground quickly.

Susanna Loeb, the founder and executive director of the National Student Support Accelerator, studies how schools can use and scale up intensive tutoring, which involves one-on-one situations or very small groups meeting at least 30 minutes, three or more times a week.

Loeb, who is also a professor and the director of the education policy initiative at the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University, spoke with Education Week about what goes into effective tutoring.

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Imagining what’s possible in lifelong learning: Six insights from Stanford scholars at ASU+GSV

High-quality tutoring is one of the most effective educational interventions we have – but we need both humans and technology for it to work. In a standing-room-only session, GSE Professor Susanna Loeb, a faculty lead at the Stanford Accelerator for Learning, spoke alongside school district superintendents on the value of high-impact tutoring. The most important factors in effective tutoring, she said, are (1) the tutor has data on specific areas where the student needs support, (2) the tutor has high-quality materials and training, and (3) there is a positive, trusting relationship between the tutor and student. New technologies, including AI, can make the first and second elements much easier – but they will never be able to replace human adults in the relational piece, which is crucial to student engagement and motivation.

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NSSA 2023 Conference - High-Impact Tutoring: From Research to Sustainability

NSSA 2023 Conference

Join this invitation-only gathering of researchers, district, state, and higher education leaders, tutoring providers, and funders to:

  • Learn about implications of recent research findings and innovative and sustainable practices in tutoring;
  • Explore successful state and district strategies for scaling and sustainability; and
  • Make connections with education leaders in the field.

Overdeck Family Foundation Awarded 1 Million Ecosystem Grant to NSSA

A two-year grant of $1,000,000 to the National Student Support Accelerator (NSSA), a program devoted to translating research on how tutoring can benefit students into action. This grant will strengthen the high-impact tutoring ecosystem by supporting NSSA in disseminating research on what makes tutoring programs effective to state and local education agencies, ensuring that evidence-based tutoring reaches the students who need it most.

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Afterschool Child Enrichment Educational Savings Program

Provides qualifying families with a $500 credit that can be used to pay for after school enrichment programs that will support learning for students impacted by COVID-19. The credit will be paid directly to vendors from the state. Qualified activities include tutoring, language classes, and music classes. On April 6, 2023, anyone living in an EdChoice school district will qualify for the credit without any income qualifications.

High Impact Tutoring Program

Launches High Impact Tutoring program in which districts can apply for reimbursement of high-impact tutoring programs that focus on third and fourth grade students using pre-qualified tutoring providers (including district programs). The $17 million for the high-impact tutoring program comes from Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) Fund.

 

Portland schools finally offer tutoring — to a fraction of students who need it

“Portland is probably doing the right thing by starting small and getting it right,” Loeb said. “Using your own teachers can be effective and easier to implement since the teachers are well versed in what the students should be learning and they likely already know the students.”

Critically, though, structuring the program this way could limit the district’s ability to scale it up, Loeb added. That’s a particular concern given the millions of dollars in federal pandemic relief money that has to be spent or returned by September 2024.

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