Three months ago Gov. Phil Murphy announced with great fanfare an initiative called called the New Jersey Partnership for Student Success, which would recruit 5,000 volunteers to provide high-dosage tutoring to students who lost learning during school closures and remote instruction. The  training and collaboration is funded with $15 million in state funds. Angelica Allen-McMillan, the acting commissioner of the state Department of Education, said the DOE “will support parents, educators, and other stakeholders in fulfilling roles designed to improve academic performance, increase high-school graduation rates, and reduce chronic absenteeism.”

Great idea! High-dosage tutoring is considered the best intervention to combat learning loss and disengagement, with research from Annenberg showing quality programs that serve children in small groups with regular, frequent sessions can increase learning by up to 10 months.

So how is it going?

According to Tina Kelley at the Star-Ledger, Allen-McMillan told the State Board at Wednesday’s meeting, the DOE has “received applications from 400 individuals and organizations out of the 5,000 it sought.” And, “It is so exciting as we’re moving forward.”

The DOE could do with a little less excitement and a little more competence. Via Kelley,

One volunteer, who wished to remain anonymous, said they had filled out a form to join the effort in December and only received a welcome email from the department on Feb. 23, followed by a retraction, a repeat welcome email, and another retraction. It did not inspire confidence, they said.

“It’s not too late to rev the engine up on this effort, but the lesson here is that improvements in education require far more than publicity and good intentions,” said Paula White, executive director of JerseyCAN, a schools advocacy group. “We have an implementation problem in education, and the only way to solve for that is to have a well-thought-out academic plan and then hammer out the crucial logistics so that folks on the ground can do the unsexy work to see it through til the end.”

Scott Taylor, superintendent of the Township of Union district, said district officials had not heard anything from the department about the program.

Oscar James II, a former Newark city councilman who writes the blog Newark Truth, said he had seen no ads or outreach for the program.

This shouldn’t be so hard. Other states have been doing this successfully since fall 2021, not starting out three years after Covid-19 closed schools, especially with data showing New Jersey students suffered some of the steepest drops in proficiency in the nation.

Currently your DOE has recruited 400 volunteers, or 8% of their anticipated 5,000 tutors with three months left of this school year. Maybe Allen-McMillan should focus less on PR and more on competent leadership.