Today’s big national education story is the release of new test data that shows, even with the unprecedented federal investment of $122 billion in learning recovery, students actually lost ground this year in reading and math, making less progress than in the years before the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Today’s big New Jersey education story? The release of new data that shows “tremendous results” in learning recovery through a grant-funded program that provides research-driven interventions for our most disadvantaged students.

Across the country state departments of education are failing to muster the sense of urgency to address desperate needs among students (with a few exceptions, like Mississippi). New Jersey’s DOE has failed as well but we can all learn a lot from the New Jersey Tutoring Corps (NJTC). 

First let’s take the national news, which comes from just-released results of NWEA tests taken this spring by about 6.7 million public school students in third through eighth grade.

“We are actually seeing evidence of backsliding,” said Karyn Lewis, a lead researcher on the study, pointing to results that showed  younger students need the equivalent of an additional 4.5 months of instruction in math and reading to catch up with pre-pandemic students, and that’s on top of regular school. Older students need even more: 7.4 months in reading and 9.1 months in math; low-income students, disproportionately Black and Brown, have even larger gaps.

I don't know what to say about the latest NWEA results except: slow. moving. train. wreck. We are all watching as we fail a generation of students. Those who care about equity, the economy, etc should be demanding evidence-based solutions, whatever it takes. Now.

— Robin Lake (@RbnLake) July 11, 2023

Educators agree that the best intervention is high-dosage tutoring, which means a trained tutor works with a small group of students at least three times a week. But state departments of education, including New Jersey’s, have failed to equip students with what they need. “Do you need an Executive Order to get troops on the ground?,” demanded Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz of DOE Commissioner Angelica Allen-McMillan. “You may think everything sound great but nothing’s up and running…Where’s your sense of urgency?”

That’s where New Jersey Tutoring Corps comes in, a non-profit funded by the New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund and the Overdeck Family Foundation. (The FY24 budget passed by the State Legislature includes a $1.5 million grant to NJTC.)

Why does NJTC work where other learning recovery programs fall short? 

It follows the research-based intervention considered most effective in combatting learning loss: high-dosage tutoring, which today’s New York Times describes as “expensive and difficult to scale.”

This morning NJTC released its 2022-2023 report which shows the 500 K-5 scholars served during the 2022-23 school year pilot showed substantial learning gains in reading and math. (The program uses iReady tests, assessments similar to NWEA’s MAP tests, as well as iReady curricula.)  Students performing at grade level in math improved from 16% to 40%, and in literacy from 23% to 40%, across all grade levels. “This is significant,” say NJTC leaders,“ as results from the New Jersey Student Learning Assessments, released in December 2022, revealed that 64.6% and 51.1% of NJ students are not meeting grade-level expectations in Math and ELA, respectively.”

In order to maximize learning recovery, NJTC didn’t use “volunteer mentors,” like the Murphy Administration’s tutoring program but worked in partnership with school districts, YMCA’s, and Boys and Girls Clubs to imbed tutoring during the school day, during the summer, and after school. To attain consistency, students were tutored in small groups of 3-5 students for 1-hour sessions 2-3 times per week with the same tutor. Those tutors were education professionals (pre-service teachers, classroom aides, certified teachers, retired superintendents) who were closely supervised using a modified Danielson model of observation and coaching.

Districts included in the pilot year were Hamilton, KIPP schools (in Newark and Camden), Clinton, Stillwater, Waterford, and Roseville Community Charter (also in Newark). The vast majority of scholars are eligible for free and reduced lunch. 

Here are the test results:

Math:

• Kindergarten: In kindergarten, the percent of scholars performing at or above grade level increased from 5% to 58%.
• Grade 1: In 1st grade, the percent of scholars performing at or above grade level increased from 4% to 30%. 
• Grade 2: In 2nd grade, the percent of scholars performing at or above grade level increased from 3% to 33%.
• Grade 3: In 3rd grade, the percent of scholars performing at or above grade level increased from 19% to 42%.
• Grade 4: In 4th grade, the percent of scholars performing at or above grade level increased from 8% to 28%.
• Grade 5: In 5th grade, the percent of scholars performing at or above grade level increased from 36% to 61%.

Literacy:

• Grade 1: In 1st grade, the percent of scholars performing at or above grade level increased from 14% to 39%.
• Grade 2: In 2nd grade, the percent of scholars performing at or above grade level increased from 14% to 46%.
• Grade 3: In 3rd grade, the percent of scholars performing at or above grade level increased from 46% to 64%.
• Grade 4: In 4th grade, the percent of scholars performing at or above grade level increased from 20% to 29%.
• Grade 5: In 5th grade, the percent of scholars performing at or above grade level showed a slight decline from 8% to 4%. (NJSLA testing overlapped NJTC end-of-program testing, and the emphasis was placed on NJSLA; in addition, one site refused to allow grade 5 scholars to participate in NJTC post-testing due to the demands of NJSLA.)

(Kindergarten students weren’t tested in literacy.)

Here’s a different way to look at the NJTC’s learning recovery efforts:

NJTC’s model works.

NWEA researchers agree. In this white paper issued concurrently with the test scores, analysts could have been speaking of the Murphy Administration’s DOE when they conclude, “recovery efforts” have been “slow to start,” compounded by “intervention implementation delays and political debates.”  

Yet there’s a spark of light among the grimness: we can do this right, given the proper decision-making, leadership, and oversight. New Jersey State Board of Education members, who will convene their monthly public meeting tomorrow, should take note.

Searching for Competence: The NJ Education Department Has Recruited 8% of the Tutors It Needs For Learning Loss Initiative

[photo credit] Flickr: Phil Murphy