Montgomery County Public Schools are working to help students recover from learning loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Among the strategies outlined during Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting — a focus on literacy and math; professional development for teachers; team teaching for students learning English; curriculum materials aimed at getting students to perform at or above their grade level; and intensive tutoring.
Scott Murphy, the school system’s director of college and career readiness, outlined the tutoring programs adopted using federal funds in the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief program.
Tutoring services provided by two contractors, FEV Tutor and TutorMe Education, began in late January, said Murphy.
By the end of February, Murphy said, “Over 1,600 students had participated in over 2,800 hours of tutoring, and this number is truly increasing exponentially every day.”
Murphy pointed to a slide that showed the results of a group of students that had taken part in reading and math interventions provided by tutors.
“They demonstrated more growth in both reading and math than the MCPS average on the whole,” he said.
Among students who took part in the tutoring, Murphy said, the rate of growth was double that of students who did not.
“For example, in literacy, you can see the average growth in MCPS was about four points. But among the students who participated consistently in this intervention, it was twice that,” Murphy said.
Along with the tutoring, there are plans to provide instruction throughout the summer.
Niki Hazel, the school system’s associate superintendent for curriculum and instructional programs, said that given staffing shortages over the last year, she anticipated some challenges in providing staffing for summer school.
“We are actually going to survey teachers to just get a sense of the interest with our [summer] programs,” she told board members.
Two board members had questions about the push to make certain that students catch up after two years of learning during a pandemic.
The principal of Shady Grove Middle School, Alana Murray, presented some of the ways her staff has been working to prepare to accelerate learning while supporting staff.
“How do you balance the need to keep the social and emotional health of students in mind while still pushing them toward that acceleration of learning?” board member Scott Joftus asked after the presentation.
Murray explained that there is a balance of messages, between telling students that they are behind and that they need to “pick up the pace,” and coupling that with a message that says “We care about you.”
Murray also said that her school adopts something called “prime time,” in which students get a 45-minute session of pure fun at least once a quarter. It could be playing soccer or some other physical activity, “and the kids love it,” she said.
Another board member, Lynn Harris, also had concerns about the emphasis on getting kids to catch up academically.
“The interventions are more and more and more instruction,” Harris said. “We can’t grind our students into dust when they’re already telling us that they’re exhausted and stressed.”
She suggested that there also be an emphasis on the arts, including music and theater. Those things, she said, could prove to be powerful motivators to get students excited about school.
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