Michelle Mercer 
Widespread teacher shortages are placing even more stress on school communities across the country. To help support schools during the pandemic, the federal government issued more than $189 billion in relief funding to K-12 schools in the United States. There are criteria for using these funds to support education interventions, school infrastructure, technology investments, and pay for district employees.
As students return to school for the 2022-23 school year, the ongoing challenges to K-12 education because of the pandemic continue to create stress for students, families, and educators.
It’s estimated that, on average, students are two-to-four months behind where they should be in math and reading, according to a recent study by The White House. As educators knew all too well before the pandemic, addressing learning loss while also trying to keep students engaged with grade level curriculum has always been a formidable endeavor, and it’s been exacerbated by disruptions over the last two years. Although declines might be measured in months of learning loss, it can take years for students to catch up.
Now that many districts have made expenditures to directly address issues uncovered by the pandemic – upgrading HVAC systems to improve air quality in schools and investing in 1:1 tech devices, for example – remaining funds are being allocated to address many issues still facing learning communities according to Hayley Spira-Bauer, Chief Academic Officer of iTutor, an edtech company, focused on solving teacher shortages with certified educators in all 50 states.
Spira-Bauer recently joined Tafshier Cosby, the National Organizing Director of the National Parents Union, for a live discussion with New 12 Long Island focused on current best practices and strategies to support students and teachers as they head back to school.
High-dosage tutoring
Tutoring has always been a great way to help students close learning gaps, but for most families, access to supplemental tutoring required an expensive commitment to after-school sessions by third-party providers once or twice a week.
Now, many districts are seeing the benefits of providing high-dosage tutoring during the school day. For this intervention to be most effective, Spira-Bauer says that tutoring should be offered at least three times a week for an hour at a time. She says devoting an hour at a time really helps students grapple with concepts and gives tutors a chance to do formative assessments.
Spira-Bauer says learning gaps are most effectively addressed by frequent, consistent tutoring, ideally with the help of a long-term tutor who can build relationships with students and parallel the learning that is currently taking place in the classroom. School-provided tutoring can be offered as an afterschool program, but providing it during the school day can ease the burden on working parents and ensure that a high-dosage tutoring initiative is as inclusive as possible.
SEL is not a fad
Both Spira-Bauer and Cosby emphasize the importance of Social Emotional Learning to help create learning communities that are safe, inclusive, and healthy for both students and teachers.
SEL is not a one or two-time intervention, according to Spira-Bauer, and says it needs to be at the forefront of high-dosage tutoring to help unwind the trauma students and teachers have endured during the pandemic. “You cannot academically progress without attending to the social-emotional needs of the students,” she said.
Meaningful support for teachers
Teacher shortages are at a crisis level in many schools across the country, and Spira-Bauer says changing the way we think about the teaching profession and how it functions is critical to mitigating teacher burnout.
Spira-Bauer says she’s been inspired by community-based efforts to make school systems more sustainable by not placing all of the responsibility on people with teaching degrees. For example, organizations like the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and arts and music programs can provide alternative environments for students, and introducing other adults to the school environment, like interventionists who can offer support to subject teachers, can relieve a lot of the pressure on teachers.
For this reason, support roles are critical to school communities. Office employees, bus drivers, and other staff can provide attention and SEL support to students.
How parents can help
Parents have always played a critical role in the success of their students’ education, and many district leaders were encouraged to see increased engagement with families during the pandemic. Building on those relationships is key to helping teachers and students right now and going forward.
The best thing parents can do is to learn about what interventions are available to their students and advocate for them. For example, if your school proposes a high-dosage tutoring program, it’s important to keep an open mind and support innovative interventions that can provide districts with valuable data insights and help your student catch up.
Connecting with advocacy organizations like Parent Impact, which Cosby also helps lead, can help parents understand the challenges facing school districts, learn about new interventions, provide support to teachers, and feel empowered to join important discussions about the future of education.
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EdCircuit Staff