Dive Brief:
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The White House and U.S. Department of Education are urging schools to implement three strategies to improve student achievement: Increase student attendance, provide high-dosage tutoring and expand extended and summer learning.
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In a Wednesday announcement, the Biden administration also said it would publish examples of activities from states, districts and education nonprofits that show progress made toward these strategies. Likewise, states should target any school districts not showing progress toward reducing achievement gaps with extra supports and resources.
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Post-pandemic student progress — while showing signs of improvement for some student groups — has been stagnant or lower than expected for students from marginalized communities and those in the youngest grades. Although remaining American Rescue Plan funds can help with learning interventions, educators, families and policymakers say the challenge will be to sustain the investments after the federal COVID-19 emergency funds run out.
Dive Insight:
In a livestreamed event on Wednesday alongside governors, state education superintendents and the White House domestic policy advisor, U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona called this "a moment of truth in education in our country" with both "big challenges" and "immense opportunity."
Meeting or exceeding pre-pandemic achievement levels will "require additional bold actions" from states, districts and communities, according to the announcement from the White House and Education Department. Specifically, the announcement calls for greater state accountability for using evidence-based practices to help students accelerate learning and for tracking progress toward closing pandemic-related achievement gaps.
The Education Department will also hold states accountable for using Title I funds to support schools designated for improvement, as required under the Every Student Succeeds Act. The department released a resource on specific actions education communities can take for addressing chronic absenteeism, providing high-dosage tutoring and expanding access to extended and summer learning.
Charlene Russell-Tucker, commissioner of education for the Connecticut State Department of Education, spoke about how the state analyzed data to combat a chronic absenteeism rate that climbed to 24% during the 2021-22 school year and then dropped to 17.8% by October of last year.
To increase attendance, the state and its districts are also implementing home visits to encourage school-family connections. A state research collaborative was created with partner universities to study the impact on those programs. But there's much work left to do — the chronic absenteeism rate prior to the pandemic was just 9%, Russell-Tucker said.
"Chronic absence is an issue that we really have to pay attention to when we think about the nonacademic barriers to learning," Russell-Tucker said. "That's one that looms large."
Alabama State Superintendent of Education Eric Mackey said efforts in his state to boost summer camp access to 30,000 K-3 students have brought math and reading gains. He said the state is planning to use ARP funding to continue programming this summer, and the hope is that the state legislature will see the benefits and dedicate funding for future years.
"We focused on those students who are below grade level, need that extra help, and it just shows that it works," Mackey said.
In the District of Columbia, State Superintendent of Education Christina Grant shared how the school system dedicated $35 million for high-impact tutoring for about 13,000 students at around 100 school sites. This effort was coordinated through partners such as area universities, and extra staff helped schedule tutoring sessions.
"We know that students who have access to tutoring, they will meet their growth goals faster," Grant said.
