Some kids in Houston got just a three-week summer break this year. In Richmond, Virginia, two elementary schools have added 20 days to the academic year. And in Indiana, students across the state have received more than 36,000 hours of tutoring over the past year, at no cost to their families.
Research has long shown that adding quality instruction time can have a significant impact on students’ academic achievement, though it may not always be easy to get students, teachers or parents on board with a longer school year, summer school or after-school tutoring.
But the significant learning loss experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic coupled with a historic federal investment in K-12 education made the timing ripe for some schools to make big changes. Between March 2020 and March 2021, Congress authorized $190 billion in funding for K-12 schools – roughly six times what they receive from the federal government in a normal year.
It’s too early to declare these new programs in Virginia, Texas and Indiana as success stories, but they are showing promising results – and could set the example for some significant changes at America’s schools.
Most of Richmond’s public school students returned on August 21 this year. But for roughly 1,000 families at two elementary schools, July 24 was the first day of the 2023-2024 school year.
The district added 20 days of school to help students at Fairfield Court and Cardinal elementary schools catch up after the pandemic.
“It’s something that we had been discussing for some time but were a little bit wary of taking it on pre-pandemic,” said Jason Kamras, superintendent of Richmond Public Schools.
“But coming out of the pandemic … our kids were really, really behind and we had to put everything on the table,” he said.
Twelve schools in the district applied…
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