In tutoring we trust: Time to do away with educational disparities widened by COVID

Nini McClain's niece Laila - like scores of other children during the pandemic - completed the last school year without ever stepping foot in a classroom. The lack of in-person schooling made the 8-year-old struggle academically and less motivated to learn.

The NJ Summer Tutoring Corps program came to her rescue. She was one of about 2,000 "scholars" in grades K-5 who for eight weeks participated in the free program at 23 sites throughout the state aimed at tackling pandemic-related learning losses in elementary students.

By the end of the summer, Laila, now in second grade, "was excited about learning," McClain said. And her academic progress? Well, it could only be summed up by one word - "undeniable."

Helping children catch up academically is a hefty goal, considering New Jersey's students likely lost about 30% of expected learning in English and 36% in math by the beginning of the 2020-21 school year, according to a March report by the advocacy group JerseyCAN.

Add to that the findings of an analysis, which shows the health crisis widened pre-existing opportunity and achievement gaps nationwide, hitting historically disadvantaged students - students of color and low-income students - the hardest.

Students in majority-Black schools ended the school year six months behind in both math and reading, while students in majority-white schools ended up just four months behind in math and three months behind in reading, according to the firm's analysis.

These stats are nothing short of alarming. But being alarmed is not enough.

We must be invested. Invested in making sure initiatives designed to reduce these learning losses and educational disparities among students of different races and income levels get the financial backing they need. Not doing so, shouldn't be an option, especially when we know these efforts are so effective.

The research on the positive results produced by one-on-one tutoring, or tutoring done in very small groups at least three times a week, often referred to as high-dosage tutoring - is strong and persuasive. And has led researchers to agree that tutoring programs for students who lost ground during the pandemic should be a top priority for federal investment.

Tutors with the Corps met with groups of three to four students in one-hour sessions, three times a week, to go through a math curriculum. By the program's conclusion, students in all grades K-4 showed significant academic improvement. Program officials said there weren't enough fifth-graders to determine if improvements were made in that grade level.

The NJ Summer Tutoring Corps program, which was launched by The College of New Jersey's School of Education, was paid for by a combined $2.4 million grant from the New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund and the Overdeck Family Foundation. It's now set to resume operations in January and run through May.

But Katherine Bassett, executive director of the NJ Tutoring Corps, said there's not enough "funding to run the program for that entire length of time." They're looking to raise about $400,000 to make sure it continues.

The hope is that they can tap into the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds (ESSER), federal Title funds or both. And of course, both Bassett and Laura Overdeck, co-founder of the Overdeck Family Foundation, say philanthropic donations are "more than welcome."

"The goal is to make it a year-round program," said Overdeck. "We'd like to scale it into a permanent, statewide program that reaches every kid who needs it and can't afford it."

It's no secret tutoring is expensive. It's, after all, what parents with the means have routinely paid for to help their children make it to the top of the class. Often the high costs of tutoring prevent students whose families are already strapped for cash from getting the help.

Mysti Diaz, who tutored children in Lawrenceville and Trenton as part of the Tutoring Corp., said she worked with a fourth-grader with poor math and reading skills, who also had behavioral issues she attributed to a lack of confidence. By summer's end, the boy's skills and confidence were up. Diaz said he kept asking if he could join more small group sessions. What?! A child asking for more tutoring? And she said it happened more than once?

For Laila, tutoring became her favorite thing this summer. That's right. Not swimming, not basketball, not any of the other activities offered at the Club - tutoring.

"I know it's hard to believe," she said. "Especially because it was summertime when most kids don't even want to open up a book." Can you imagine just how successful the program might be during the school year?