Summer school, tutoring: Texas needs big plans to make up learning lost to pandemic

Summer school. Year-round classes. Repeating grades.

There are plenty of splashy ideas for the tremendous challenge of making up the ground students have lost to the COVID-19 pandemic. But the fix will lean much more on targeted initiatives such as tutoring and other extended instruction for those who need it.

School district officials need to be blunt about what they’re up against and their plans to fix it. Too many children, many among groups that can least afford to fall behind academically, are at risk of lifelong damage. Even engaged parents have seen their children struggle in the virtual learning environment, so it’s chilling to think how far behind those without such support may be.

It’s especially important to hear districts’ plans now that money, a frequent go-to excuse, is largely off the table. State education officials declared recently that districts won’t be docked their allotments for this school year based on a lack of student attendance. Future funding cuts appear unlikely, too, thanks in part to a mostly resilient Texas economy that has the state budget in better shape than most imagined.

And President Joe Biden’s signature on the $1.9 trillion pandemic package means a flood of relief dollars for Texas schools: $12.4 billion. That’s on top of more than $8 billion from previous legislation. The Fort Worth district is in line for more than $29 million from the new law, according to estimates by Raise Your Hand Texas, a group that advocates for more investment in public schools.

The depth of the problem is staggering. Fort Worth ISD officials have said that more than half of students have lost ground in math. And while students’ reading skills have fared better than expected, keep in mind that measurements miss a troubling number of students who are barely engaged or whom educators can’t find at all.

Education officials need help from the state, parents and the community. All of us have a stake in getting this right.

Sen. Beverly Powell, D-Burleson, said the state’s first obligation is making sure the federal dollars get where they’re needed quickly so districts can manage their budgets.

“Districts do a great job in balancing budgets, dealing with uncertainty in the budget process,” said Powell, a member of the Senate Education Committee. “Let’s remove that uncertainty where we can.”

Powell pointed to programs created to help students from poorer families, including more provided meals, an extended school day, tutoring, and social or emotional support. Now, she said, “children from other populations need those wraparound services just as much.”

Districts are largely planning to use summer school to make up lost ground, Powell said. But it wouldn’t hurt for the Legislature to give districts a push, as other states are. In North Carolina, for instance, lawmakers are weighing a bill to require districts to report their plans for extended school.

Fort Worth district officials say they are trying to tailor catch-up programs to individual students’ needs, with teachers using the district’s virtual platform to target instruction.

“We’re able to pinpoint when a student has an individual need, and the teacher can support that,” said Cherie Washington, chief of student and school support.

One challenge is helping students deal with trauma their families may have suffered as a result of the pandemic, said Raul Peña, also chief of student and school support. “Our kids have experienced more in their short lifetimes than we have as adults,” he said, noting the pandemic, Texas’ winter storm and social-justice issues.

Peña estimated that FWISD has enrolled about 5,500 fewer students this academic year than expected. It may be that parents delayed a youngster’s school start because of COVID-19 concerns or that an older student has gone to work to help make up for a parent’s unemployment. Reaching them and drawing them back often takes individual outreach; Peña noted that the Dallas district recently targeted 9,000 missing high school students with direct mail, and only 12 responded initially.

Support, understanding and patience are crucial, but in some cases, tough love might be the answer. Washington said that the district’s truancy system recently ramped up after courts shut down in the pandemic. But it’s not a tool to be used lightly, Washington said.

“That’s why we’re very intentional about visits,” she said. “You want to make sure you understand what’s happening with that family.”

The district has also expanded outreach efforts aimed at spurring parents to enroll children in kindergarten and pre-K, spokesman Clint Bond said.

Even students whose parents remained involved in a trying year will need help. Powell cited efforts to bring in retired teachers for individual instruction, along with the promise of peer tutoring, in which a student who’s excelling in a subject can help another.

Fort Worth’s large businesses could help by encouraging employees to volunteer, perhaps even letting them tutor students on company time. It would pay off down the road with a better educated workforce.

Lost learning could follow COVID-19 children for years. One study estimates the diminishment of skills could cost the economy up to $30 trillion of lost output in the decades to come, according to The Wall Street Journal. The more we do now to close the gaps, the smaller the blow Texas will suffer.

And of course, the best tool for helping children learn is getting them into the classroom with good teachers. Powell said that while most Texas districts are doing at least some in-person instruction, vaccinating educators should make it the norm in the next academic year.

Let’s work to make sure it happens, so the great learning catch-up can take off.