The Maryland State Department of Education recently announced it is launching a $10 million grant program, providing school districts the opportunity to apply for funds that will establish permanent math tutoring programs across the state.
The Maryland Tutoring Corps program is tapping into remaining American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds to implement scalable, high-quality tutoring that zeroes in on secondary students’ math skills as districts work to mitigate long-term learning loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The funds distributed by Maryland Tutoring Corps include a 2-1 match to bolster investments from $10 million to a total of $30 million. To encourage partnerships and community involvement, the matching funds provided by grantees can come from a variety of sources beyond districts such as private philanthropic efforts, businesses or community organizations.
The program is specifically looking for district applicants that will focus their programming on middle school students or Algebra students in any grade level. Historically underserved populations such as Black students, economically disadvantaged students, English learners and students with disabilities are also a priority for the initiative.
This latest statewide investment in high-dosage tutoring comes as recently released data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress showed 13-year-olds across the country had the steepest math score declines ever recorded since the long-term test was first implemented in the 1970s. The average math score for students in grades 4 and 5 declined by 9 points between the start of the pandemic in 2019-20 and the 2022-23 school year, which marks a 14-point decline from scores recorded a decade ago in 2012.
As the spending deadline for ESSER funds is almost a year away, states like Maryland have continued to invest in high-dosage tutoring and are hoping to financially sustain those efforts.
Other states that have invested in similar large-scale tutoring programs since the pandemic sparked learning loss concerns include Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana and Colorado.
Dive Awards
