The ESSER cliff is coming. Most districts and states that have initiated high-impact education using federal ESSER dollars are in turmoil. Many believe they should eliminate or reduce the scope of their programs; but this is not the case. Here are six sustainable funding streams that could replace ESSER dollars to help deliver highly effective education in new, cost-effective ways.
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Title 1: Of all the federal Department of Education funding streams, Title 1 is the best known, the largest, and the most appropriate for tutoring (although the others are also useful places to look). It is designed to target additional resources to schools with high needs, particularly in math and reading. The good news is that not every student needs a tutor in every subject, so only a portion of Title 1 dollars is needed. Tutoring is of utmost importance for students who are struggling with their studies, including those who are not on track with reading skills by the end of third grade or who are not passing Algebra by the end of ninth grade 1. Students who meet these criteria are four times more likely to graduate from high school than students who do not. Districts should take a hard look at how they spend Title 1 dollars to help students achieve these two goals, by redirecting staff positions or funds toward tutoring programs with a demonstrable return on investment.
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Multi-layer support systems: Districts across the country are using multi-tiered systems of support to target appropriate interventions to students with learning, social, emotional or behavioral challenges. Many districts could improve these offerings by using a high-impact approach, ensuring their interventions build relationships between students and teachers that motivate, engage, and target student growth areas using data and high-quality instructional materials. Schools can integrate high-impact tutoring with the funds already used for MTSS, reallocating resources to more effective approaches.
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AmeriCorps: One of the priorities of this 30-year-old program is to support effective tutoring for struggling students. AmeriCorps awards tens of millions of dollars in grants for guidance and mentorship in K-12 schools. Districts can apply for federal funds directly through their State AmeriCorps committees. These three-year grants can largely cover the costs of teachers and supervisory staff. Districts can also find vendors who are AmeriCorps partners to provide tutoring, which will bring a grant from the vendor directly to the district.
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Work study: This 60-year-old program allows lower-income students to work their way through college. Of the 20 million students in the U.S., approximately 600,000 receive work-study as part of their financial aid packages. This allows colleges to use federal funds to subsidize their students’ work. Recent guidelines have called for colleges and universities to spend at least 15% of that money on community-based jobs, and tutoring is one of the priority tasks. With a district as a community partner, a college can subsidize up to 100% of a teacher’s salary.
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U.S. Department of Education Teacher Preparation Funds: The 60-year-old Hawkins program is designed to increase the number of well-prepared teachers from diverse backgrounds. The focus is on various aspects of the teacher preparation pipeline, including recruitment, support, and placement in under-resourced schools and underserved students. This fund goes directly to higher education; districts should work with local colleges to design a teacher-to-teacher pathway.
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U.S. Department of Labor Apprenticeship Funds: These can support internship programs for future teachers. State education departments can help districts address the teacher shortage by strengthening the path to the classroom through the hands-on experience of tutoring in schools. For example, New Jersey’s Tutor Corps just became a federal tutoring company.
Because school districts often lack the capacity to apply for grants or manage compliance requirements, leaders could ask local charitable organizations for help. They could also reconsider some of their current procedures to save money in the short and long term.
Equity builder or racial barrier: Debate rages over the role of algebra in 8th grade
For example, some contracts pay providers based on student hours, not teacher hours. In other words, instead of paying a salesperson $25 an hour for a teacher’s time (and overhead), some districts paid $75 for an hour in which that teacher worked with three students. Districts would have to renegotiate those contracts to pay for the mentor’s time, regardless of how many students were assigned. They should also monitor the implementation and effectiveness of the guidance to make adjustments and maximize impact; Outcome-based contracts with suppliers can help.
And they can reevaluate the timing of their tutoring programs.
Providing high-quality guidance during the school day makes it easier to connect with the children and teachers, since they are already in the building, than providing services outside regular class times; helps cultivate a pipeline of talent entering the education system; and can help combat chronic absenteeism and reduce dropout rates.
Investing in third grade literacy and Algebra 1 tutoring makes financial sense, especially in the long term. Retaining more children is not only the morally and educationally right thing to do, but it also has financial benefits. Allocating $500 to $1,000 per student for high-impact tutoring in 9th grade could generate an average of $15,000 in annual state funding per student for each student who remains in high school for the next three years, until graduation. It is essentially an insurance policy that potentially retains up to $45,000 in future funding per student, which can support tutoring initiatives and other school needs.
The New Game of Tutoring: Better Academic Results Deliver Greater Returns for Providers
Clearly, districts have opportunities to sustain high-impact tutoring programs. Some may require challenging choices and changes, while others require schools to form partnerships, which takes time and coordination. But if schools want to help students recover from the effects of COVID-related learning disruptions, they will need to focus on the strategies that can produce the strongest results. Schools that make high-impact tutoring a funding priority now will set their students up for success for years to come.
