With students back in classrooms and the true measure of missed learning during the pandemic becoming apparent, we at Zearn are often asked for “the one thing that schools should be doing to get students back on track.”
While there are an abundance of folks who are more than happy to use this moment to promote the newest fad, the simple truth is that there’s no one thing—no silver bullet—that will single-handedly kickstart learning recovery and erase the impact of the pandemic. However, there are steps state and district leaders can adopt to set teachers and students up for success. Here’s a look, not just at the strategies, but the places putting in the hard work that will make learning recovery a reality:
Last school year, across our country, students of color and those from low-income backgrounds were more likely than their white or wealthier peers to experience remediation—even when they had already mastered grade-level content. Detroit Public Schools, in which 78% of students come from low-income households, is proactively using Zearn to assess and adjust student assignments so all students have equitable access to grade-level instruction.
Districts and schools tasked with selecting high-quality instructional materials have a dizzying array of choices of varying quality. The Massachusetts Department of Education is providing guidance and funding so that districts have free access not only to pre-vetted high-quality, coherent core curricula, but also engaging and interactive digital instructional materials and learning programs.
In recognition of the extraordinary toll the pandemic has taken on student learning, the American Rescue Plan is sending billions of dollars to the states to support learning recovery. This summer, the Texas Education agency allocated some of these funds to an initiative to provide high-impact tutoring for one million students, making it the first in the nation to provide subsidized, evidence-based tutoring for schools and districts at a statewide scale.
Meeting students’ diverse needs before the pandemic was already incredibly challenging. In fact, a recent survey found that the average teacher spends seven hours each week searching for instructional materials for their students, and another five hours creating their own. Nebraska is making educators’ jobs easier by arming them with new tools and professional learning to address unfinished learning.
A year and a half of school closings, distance learning, and quarantines gave parents and caregivers a deeper understanding of what their children are learning, where they are excelling, and where they are struggling. The Delaware Department of Education is leveraging this moment to communicate with families about educational tools and learning opportunities available to them at home and in their communities.
The pandemic set millions of students back in their learning, but it also provided us with an opportunity to rethink how we educate students and how we can move them more quickly on the path to success. There’s no quick fix, but districts and states can make smart investments and seize this moment to better meet kids’ needs.