By next spring, Maryland hopes to have an army of 800 trained tutors helping up to 60,000 students in the initial phase of the program.
The Maryland State Department of Education will harness $10 million in American Rescue Plan Funds to provide academic help to secondary students with a focus on math.
Maryland State Superintendent of Schools Mohammed Choudhury explained in a Zoom call announcing the program that he wanted the focus on secondary math 鈥渂ecause mathematics has taken a huge hit. We have single digits, for example, in our middle school proficiency rates.鈥�
The sense of urgency isn鈥檛 restricted to concerns about learning loss among secondary students, but Choudhury explained why the first phase of the tutoring program is focusing on secondary rather than elementary students.
鈥淲e know that it gets harder to intervene as they grow at the higher grade level, so now鈥檚 the time to do it,鈥� said Choudhury.
He said the program would not require extending the school day, 鈥渢hough I am a fan of lengthening and extending time for students, especially students in high poverty settings,鈥� saying that strategy worked in the Texas school district where he worked before his appointment as state superintendent in Maryland.
The key to success in tutoring programs, said Choudhury, is consistency: 鈥淭he research is three times a week, 30 minutes (and) the same kids in a consistent manner.鈥�
But not all of the state鈥檚 school systems will necessarily take part. 鈥淭he challenge is not 鈥� put in high quality school day tutoring in all 1,400 schools in Maryland; it鈥檚 put it in where we truly need it,鈥� said Choudhury.
He said his priority is leveraging federal funds to make sure that the program is sustainable over time. To that end, he鈥檚 seeking matching funds that could come from sources like private philanthropy, businesses and community organizations.
Under the Maryland Tutoring Corps grant program, grants would be made to local school districts or groups of districts, focusing primarily on middle school students in grades 6, 7 and 8, plus Algebra students. The emphasis would be on 鈥渦nderserved鈥� students, including students identified as African American, economically disadvantaged, English language learners and special needs.
Grant applicants would be expected to come up with matching funds, either a 1-to-1 match or a 2-to-1 match for each dollar coming from the state’s education department.
Under the plan, it鈥檚 expected that the greatest number of tutors would come from colleges and universities.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Cindy Martin and Maryland鈥檚 Secretary of Service and Civic Innovation Paul Monteiro also took part in the call. Monteiro said the program is 鈥渋n line鈥� with the mandates of his office, by partnering with community colleges, HBCUs 鈥渁nd all others鈥� across the state to 鈥渟upport our young students as they increase their math proficiency.鈥�
