New Research Suggests Pandemic Learning Loss Recovery Will Require Largest Number of Tutors in U.S. History
09 Août 2021 - 1:01PM
The American Rescue Plan Act was designed to help fund
learning recovery, requiring local school districts to reserve 20
percent of the approximately $109.8 billion they'll receive for
evidence-based interventions to address the impact of COVID-19 on
student learning. But how is this funding best allocated? New
research shows students, parents, teachers and administrators
across the country agree that tutoring is poised to reverse the
negative effects of pandemic learning loss, with most preferring a
model in which this intervention is free, in person, and
incorporated into the school day.
The research findings were released today in a special report,
The Tutoring Solution, commissioned by Kelly Education and
administered by the EdWeek Research Center. The report reveals the
typical district-level administrator expects their district to
spend $750 on tutoring per one in three pupils within the next year
to address pandemic learning loss. That could amount to a
nationwide total of $12.75 billion. Even with funding in place,
this effort will require an unprecedented number of tutoring staff,
as schools are challenged to find the largest number of tutors in
U.S. history amid an education talent shortage. At least 76 percent
of district leaders who had tried to hire learning recovery tutors
said it was somewhat or very difficult to find qualified
candidates.
“This new research tells us that, while tutoring is an effective
way to address the learning loss recovery, school district leaders
who are doing their best to close the gap may not be equipped to
staff up despite all the additional funding,” says Nicola Soares,
president of Kelly Education, the largest education talent provider
in the country.
A Question of ConfidenceParents, teachers and
administrators are split when it comes to the question of whether
schools have what it takes to help students recover from the
educational impact of the pandemic, according to the research.
Parents and teachers are relatively skeptical, with less than half
expressing a great deal of confidence that districts or schools
will ensure students learn material or skills missed due to the
pandemic. By contrast, more than 70% of school and district leaders
express the same level of confidence in their ability to promote
learning recovery.
That discrepancy may be explained by parents being unaware of
just how concerned teachers and administrators are about learning
recovery. Only 22% of parents believe educators are very concerned
about their children’s learning recovery. Yet more than 60% of
teachers and administrators say that they are very concerned.
The research also shows disagreement among students, parents,
teachers and administrators about the estimated length of the
recovery period. The majority of educators believe it will take a
year or more. One in five educators say it could take three years
to recover. However, parents and students say it will take six
months or less. Parents and educators do agree that tutoring should
be offered on an ongoing basis.
"It's surprising that there is such a substantial gap between
the way in which parents and educators perceive learning recovery,
with parents far less likely than teachers and administrators to
say that students have fallen behind," says EdWeek Research Center
Director Holly Kurtz. "While I hope that parents' rosier view is
accurate, I fear that educators' less optimistic outlook may be
closer to reality and that we have a long road to recovery
ahead."
What Will It Take to Get Schools Staffed for
Tutoring?
The majority of the educators surveyed say most tutoring support
will be in-person. Since educators are fatigued by balancing
virtual learning with tending to the needs of their families, the
largest influx of tutors inside the classroom will need a more
strategic approach to staffing. This thinking aligns with the
Annenberg Foundation’s National Student Support Accelerator
recommendation of what makes for high-impact tutoring: steady,
ongoing instruction by skilled tutors to students in groups of four
or less.
The capacity to match tutors with students, the logistics of
when and where to host sessions, and the ability to track and
report student progress also put a new burden on administrators,
who are already overwhelmed with filling teacher vacancies. The
tight timeline to meet the American Rescue Plan Act requirements
adds additional pressure. To put this effort into perspective, the
nation’s only other large-scale tutoring intervention was much
smaller by comparison. Funding for Supplemental Educational
Services under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 amounted to
about $2 billion annually.“The last federal tutoring intervention
program happened just before the national teacher shortage began.
Since the pandemic, the shortage of teachers, substitute teachers
and paraeducators has notably worsened,” Soares says. “Yet, if
there’s one thing the pandemic taught us, it’s that the presence of
a caring, nurturing individual is required for learning to occur.
The basis of effective tutoring is a strong tutor-to-student
relationship.”
Soares says she’s seeing school districts design completely new
tutoring programs, starting from scratch, and none is a
one-size-fits-all solution.
“The level of innovation needed to solve this issue is unlike
anything we’ve ever witnessed in schools. The combination of
American Rescue Plan Act funding, solid agreement on tutoring as a
way forward, and qualified tutors can pay off in terms of catching
up an entire generation of learners,” she says. “The stakes are
high.”
For more information and to access the full report – The
Tutoring Solution – visit edweek.org.
About the SurveyThe report, The Tutoring
Solution, analyzed trends based on the following
surveys:Who: 2,084 parents of students who were,
are or will be in grades K-12 during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school
years; 1,066 K-12 educators, including 246 district leaders, 282
principals, and 538 teachers and 2,127 students who will be in
grades 9-12 in 2021-22 or who graduated from high school in 2021.
The margin of error is plus or minus 2% with a 95% confidence
level.What: Three nationally representative
surveys: one for parents, one for students and one for
educators.When: Spring and summer 2021
How: The surveys were administered online.
About Kelly EducationKelly Education powers the
future of learning by helping make early childhood education
centers, K-12 school districts and institutions of higher
education, stronger and more stable for leaders, administrators,
professors, teachers, and students. Kelly Education is a business
of Kelly, a global workforce solutions provider that’s always
asking what’s next in the world of work. Learn more at
KellyEducation.com.
Contact: Anna Schryver Kelly
Educationanna.schryver@kellyservices.com608.225.5476@Lifelong_Learns
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ffb24867-d71c-447c-ae52-19323ae20aec
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