EdTech: How to Use Federal Education Funds to Ease STEM Learning Loss
The past two school years have been unprecedented in their difficulty. Students feel it. Teachers and administration feel it. But thankfully, the U.S. government is providing federal funds to help state and local education agencies meet all their students’ increased learning needs.
In this episode of the Marketscale EdTech podcast, host Shelby Skrhak sat down with two experts on educational funding, Dr. Karen Ingram and Mitchelle Kelley of iStation, to discuss how these federal funds may be used.
The federal funds we’re talking about relate to the Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief, or ESSER, fund, which provides $122 billion in relief for pre-K-12 schools. The Department of Education is encouraging state and local education agencies to use these funds for reopening schools and addressing the academic, social, emotional, mental health and safety needs of their students.
But there are specific criteria that state and local education agencies must meet to use these funds. These funds relate to learning loss or unfinished learning and cover how schools can measure learning loss, administer high-quality assessments, provide information to parents and improve student attendance and engagement.
A recent study by iStation found that learning loss, in particular, has been significant and unprecedented.
“Our study shows COVID-19 school closures have contributed to as much as two months of learning loss in reading and four to five months of learning loss in math. This is in addition to the regular one to two months of loss students usually experience during the summer months,” Kelley said. “The losses were most significant in math and became more pronounced at higher grade levels. Second graders, for example, saw one month of learning loss in math, third graders saw two months and fourth graders saw five months of loss.”
Kelley and Ingram say data will be critical to determine students’ academic levels as they return to the classroom.
“We need to understand what this data does,” Ingram said. “When we think about administrators, it empowers schools to strategize professional development. Data helps teachers feel empowered, because they can target specific needs for students. And then, of course, students feel empowered, because they take ownership of their learning.”
Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!
Twitter – @MarketScale
Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale
LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale
Latest
Mark Tina Explores the Importance of Partners in Verizon Business Group Success
A special episode of The Verizon Partner Network focuses on an examination of an industry marked by fierce competition and rapid innovation. But most importantly, how the role of partnerships in a company’s success is increasingly vital. Mark Tina, the VP of Indirect Channel Distribution and Channel Chief at Verizon, details why partners are essential […]
Mark Tina Highlights Three Pillars of Success in Verizon’s Partner Network
For a continuation episode of The Verizon Partner Network’s special segment with team leaders, Mark Tina, VP of Indirect Channel Distribution and Channel Chief at Verizon Business Group, joined again to outline the three top aspects that define the Verizon Partner Network and its approach to collaborative success. The video centers on Tina’s explanation of […]
Examining How the Verizon Partner Network Supports its Members with Mark Tina
The support systems within partner networks are more crucial than ever as the telecommunications industry witnesses more and more shifts in its landscape. To discuss this on an episode of The Verizon Partner Network, Mark Tina, VP of Indirect Channel Distribution and Channel Chief at Verizon Business Group, provided an outlook into how Verizon […]