Earlier this month the New Jersey Department of Education announced 240 school districts had won tutoring grants, totaling $41 million, intended to ameliorate learning loss among students. The announcement came two months late but district leaders were relieved, especially after a bit of confusion about whether districts would need to go through a bidding process for tutoring agencies that had already been DOE-approved. 

Media outlets took notice:  in the 74, an article called “High Dosage Tutoring $$$ Delays Wreak Havoc Across New Jersey” concluded the delays are “causing frustration among New Jersey superintendents unaware of when they can either pay staff to offer the help or contract with tutoring companies.” The Star-Ledger published a piece called “Mounting Delays in N.J. Tutoring Program Called ‘Hugely Frustrating.”

The frustration continues. Late last week grant recipients received an email from the DOE (printed below), informing them they would have to go through a “Pre-Award Revision Process” that acknowledged the completion of the process would be “challenging. Districts can attend a one-hour tutorial this week to learn about this process. One district leader said,

“The DOE has turned the application process into a Rube Goldberg mess!  In the meantime, students aren’t getting the extra help they need to remediate and advance in accordance with the state’s academic standards where standards build upon each other in a school year time frame!”

It doesn’t have to be this way. Other states have shown us how to administer and oversee statewide high-dosage tutoring programs that have already demonstrated successful learning recovery. Meanwhile, just-released standardized test scores show no improvement in reading proficiency among NJ’s third-graders, a key benchmark for future academic success; at some schools, like Newark’s Quitman Street School, the percentage of proficient readers is 1.9%. Of course, more affluent NJ families pay for their own private tutoring. Other children? They’re dependent on a dysfunctional state agency that appears more interested in culture wars than its primary business of ensuring students learn how to read and do math..

Good afternoon,

Congratulations on your award for the New Jersey Learning Acceleration Program: High Impact Tutoring Grant! We are very excited to work with you and your colleagues to bring high-quality tutoring to your students.

We understand that the pre-award revision process can be challenging, and we would like to offer you the opportunity to join us for a quick session to help move your grant forward. During the session, we will explore the common areas needing attention and discuss remediation solutions and strategies. We will also have time to answer any questions you may have.

We understand that you may not be the primary contact person responsible for the oversight of this grant, so we ask that you share this with the appropriate colleague(s) within your LEA to ensure they can attend if interested. This invitation is only being shared with schools and districts currently engaged in pre-award revisions.

For your convenience, these sessions will be offered at the following times; preregistration is not required:

Tuesday, December 12, 2023, from 10:00-11:00. Click here to join the meeting, Meeting ID: 286 326 659 566, Passcode: FUNtCe

Tuesday, December 12, 2023, from 2:00-3:00. Click here to join the meeting, Meeting ID: 254 066 371 455, Passcode: tQin83

Thursday, December 14, 2023, from 10:00-11:00. Click here to join the meeting, Meeting ID: 289 145 222 692, Passcode: VSJG2r

Thursday, December 14, 2023, from 2:00-3:00. Click here to join the meeting, Meeting ID: 295 561 836 805, Passcode: aAvPvp